Cochabamba: Calle España N. # 615, Frente al Hotel/Apart Regina. (591) 4-4894540,  70398720, 79770312

Hours: Monday-Friday: 9AM-1PM & 3PM-8PM  Saturday: 9AM-1PM  Sunday: Closed

 

Cochabamba

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Overview: Cochabamba is a city of some 800,000 people including its outlying suburbs, located in the very heart of Bolivia at 2,558 meters of elevation. Cochabamba is a largely Quechua city and a majority of the population are fluent or speak some Quechua. The name Cochabamba comes from the Quechua "Qocha" meaning lake and "pampa" meaning plains and the city is famous for its lovely warm climate, wide range of traditional foods and fabulous chicha (an indigenous fermented corn drink). While not a traditional tourist attraction, Cochabamba draws in many foreigners for extended periods of time because of its high quality of living, fantastic market places, and numerous volunteering and language school facilities. The city has a thriving nightlife consisting of three major clubbing areas and is a good example of an "average" Bolivian city.

Climate and Geography: Cochabamba is famous for its lovely climate which throughout the year rarely fails to produce warm or hot days and cool comfortable nights. The rainy season or "winter" as the pampered Cochabambinos call it occurs between November and March, however it rarely rains for more than one hour per day. Lush flowering vegetation abounds throughout the city and surrounding valley. There is a relatively large foreign population that lives permanently here; everyone from ex-Marines to Korean restaurateurs call Cochabamba home. The Andes and high Altiplano rise up to the North of the city and provide a gorgeous backdrop, especially when their peaks receive snowfall. The highest peak, Cerro Tunari, rises 5035 meters above sea level and makes an excellent day trip or overnight camping excursion. Several beautiful waterfalls and lakes are within an easy daytrip from the city along with many great hikes and small villages famous for certain traditional crafts or foods. From the city of Cochabamba within two hours travelers can be roasting in the Amazonian cloud forest (the nearest region is called Chapare) or looking down on the city from the high altiplano.

History: The Cochabamba valley has some of the earliest documented settlement in Bolivia and archeological sites have been uncovered close to the city dating back over 4,000 years. Among many ancient cultures, the Tiwanakota civilization was influential in the Cochabamba valley for over 1,300 years dating from before Christ to roughly 1100 AD. Historians believe that the Incans either conquered or peacefully absorbed the valley in the early 1400s or 1300s into their sphere of influence. Several important Incan sites dot the area in including Incarakay, and Incallajta (Home to the largest roofed Incan structure Kallanka known to archeologists, larger than anything in Peru). The Incans clearly maintained extensive control of the region's agricultural and mineralogical production and recruited locals for their armies and work crews (the mit'a, a traditional Incan form of national service that the Spaniards corrupted into the most brutal and genocidal slavery project in the Americas in which over 9,000,000 indigenous men are estimated to have died in the Potosi mines alone).