Santa Cruz to Cochabamba

Yesterday (Tuesday) I drove from Santa Cruz to Cochabamba.  My day started early and I was on the road by 8:30 am.  I really enjoyed my stay at Hotel Las Americas and hope I will be back in Santa Cruz sometime soon in the future.

The route out of town was easy.  The little map the hotel provided was sufficient to get me past the first four rings of the city.  About 50 miles north of the city I turned west onto the Ruta 4.  Not long after the interchange at Montero I encountered a traffic jam.  The highway is only two lanes at this point and our westerly direction didn’t move for about 10 minutes.  For a little while traffic came from the opposite direction but when that stopped the real frustration started in my direction.  People were getting in and out of their cars, talking and looking down the highway.  We moved a couple hundred feet and I passed a sign that said bridge work ahead.  Then we stopped for another ten minutes.

Soon the frustration became unbearable for my cohorts heading west.   First only a few and then more cars would pass us going west but in the oncoming lane.  Then when the cars in front of me and behind me decided to go for it I couldn’t resist and we swung into the incoming lane and proceeded west.  I knew what was going to happen but I thought I might as well get the full experience.  We moved a couple hundred feet down the road, enough to see the bridge ahead, and then came to a full stop. We’d essentially plugged the road.  In some places we were three cars wide aimed west on the two lane highway.  It wasn’t long before we could see the trucks and other vehicles coming at us and they weren’t going to stop.  I don’t know how we did it but we wiggled our way around to make two lanes proceeding west on our side of the highway barely leaving enough room to allow one lane moving east.

Once the east bound traffic had passed then more mayhem ensued.  We had two lanes that had to merge into one. It all worked out and without any directions from anyone of authority.   Once on the bridge there appeared to be no problem.  But on the other side of the bridge it became apparent that the river had shifted and was basically flowing directly at the land at the other west end of the bridge undermining the road.  There were tractors and heavy machinery working on an island in the middle of the river digging a channel out of the island to try and divert the river. But it if the river continued it’s route it could easily take out the land beyond the bridge leaving the bridge intact but going to nowhere.

After traffic delay the traffic spread out and moved at a decent pace.  Despite being rural this part of the country seemed fairly populated.  There were short stretches of farmland (5-10 miles) and then a town or village.  I could have actually managed the drive fairly fast except for the constant slowing to drive directly through the many villages.  Eventually the villages subsided and the road turned a little south heading into the mountain.

It has been a while since I have driven in the mountains.  It was the same as always; many slow moving trucks going up hill and many slower moving trucks going downhill.  This is supposed to be the new route to Cochabamba from Santa Cruz, but the road in the mountains had already suffered many degradations.  The smoth asphalt often gave way to  cobblestone road in the severely unstable areas.  The stone road was made up of large river rock combined in a manner that would actually look good in some generic old town. They even had a little design to them in places.  These stone roads could shift and move more easily with the moving earth. Needless to say top speed on the stone road was about 10 miles per hour.

The climb through the mountains seemed to last forever. The total drive was less than 300 miles and it over eight hours.  This was about the same I was averaging in the mountains in Colombia.  The drive was beautiful with deep river canyons and cloud covered mountain tops.  Finally I started descending into a long valley that stretched west ahead of me.  Soon I could see a tall hilltop directly ahead of me with a large Jesus on top, arms stretched out wide exactly like in Rio.  In fact it is the same Jesus only a little bigger.  I approached the back side of Jesus and rounded the hill that he stands on to finally enter the Cochabamba valley.

This area has been called the breadbasket of Bolivia.  The city has been dubbed the City of Eternal Spring because the temperate climate is a constant, never too hot or cold.  Apparently the Cochabamba valley was of interest to the Incas who were after the fertile lands.

I didn’t expect the city to be so large.  I again didn’t have any map other than the guide book which gave me enough info to find my way.  I had picked a hotel, The Gran Hotel Cochabamba, that sounded like it had some charactor, had a pool and was in the Recoleta area just north of the city center.  I also assumed it wasn’t far from the road I was driving in on from the east.  I only got lost once and that was when I ended up at the end of a one way street.  Fortunately the people standing in the street were helpful – a little too helpful.  All three were telling me all at the same time that I was only two blocks away but the problem was the one way streets.  I finally drove by the hotel and had to circle back around a number of one ways to get back to the hotel.

I parked and walked a block to the hotel which was obviously closed.  I’ve since learned it closed three years ago.  No one seems to have told the guide books or the online hotel websites. But that may explain why I never found the actual site for the hotel.  In my circling around Recoleta I had passed another hotel that was in the book, Portales Hotel.  So that is where I headed next.  It is a little more expensive than I’d like but it has a pool, great wifi in the room and is a great location.  On the front entrance it has a plaque for when it was awarded five stars – in 1989.  I can see how it was five starts then.  But it is a little tired now.  However the staff is fantastic.

I took the aerial tram up to Jesus today and took some photos of the valley and walked around town. I also sat in the main square and took a number of photos of the people of Cochabamba. Before I went out I made some phone calls to determine if it is worth my while to go to La Paz this Friday.  This weekend is easter and Friday is a national holiday.  I have four opportunities to see apartments on Saturday so I will be driving to La Paz on Friday.