Santa Cruz de La Sierra

A Tapir peed on us. But I’ll get to that…

Tuesday, March 8

From Uyuni we had to take the night bus up to La Paz. We got to La Paz early on Tuesday morning and headed straight to the airport. We spent many hours in the airport, eating overpriced food and stretching the WiFi to its limits with our photo uploads. Finally, it was time for our flight to Santa Cruz, Bolivia. For some reason the gate was in the international section and when we walked into this part of the airport, we were literally the only ones there. We found seats to lay on and I fell asleep. When I woke up the seats around our gate were full. We were pleased to see some women in the traditional indigenous outfit of puffy skirts and tiny bowler hats. Several people had big plastic rice or sugar bags as their carry-ons. It was an uneventful flight and we landed while it was still light outside. I asked our Uber driver where to get local food and he recommended Casa de Camba, which serves food traditional to the indigenous peoples of the rainforest around Santa Cruz.

We got to the Airbnb and collected ourselves before going out to eat. Luckily enough, the Casa de Camba restaurant was right down the street from our Airbnb so we could walk to it. They offered me a free glass of wine to celebrate International Women’s Day. Carl and I ordered the traditional ‘buffet’ which was a sampling of hefty portions of different traditional food including a sticky rice with chicken, a drier rice with duck, fried eggs, brisket, and jerked chicken. It was really good and we were so happy our Airbnb had a fridge because we had to take most of it home.

Wednesday, March 9

We slept in and wandered down the primary commercial street near us, Avenue Monseñor Rivero. We found Martinez Cafe (the name of our hometown) so we had to go in. We got cappuccinos and Medialunas (crescent rolls). I ordered a waffle with avocado and salmon thinking it would be like a crepe or something but it was like a cold Eggo waffle with salmon and avo. Weird, but still good. It took forever and a day to get our food and drinks. The fast service is one thing I really miss about the US when I travel.

After breakfast we walked into the center of town. The city of Santa Cruz de La Sierras (full name) is divided into a center circle and an outer circle, before getting into the suburbs and then jungle. Our Airbnb was just on the outer northern edge of the center circle so we walked through to the middle and then to the other side of the circle, to see what the downtown had to offer. In the middle is the church, the Catedral Metropolitana Basílica Menor de San Lorenzo de Santa Cruz. It was very beautiful and had great masonry swirls and designs.

Unfortunately we went at exactly the wrong time, between 12-3pm, when EVERYTHING is closed for siesta hour. It was hot and humid, so I understand the afternoon break time but it’s not so great for us tourists. So, we were not able to climb the church clock tower but we were able to find a place that had fans and cold drinks. We thought it was a brewery but then realized it was a chain restaurant from Mexico, Chapultepec, that is really a taqueria that serves some beers. I got a mojito and Carl got a fernet and coca (cola) that tasted like someone poured bathroom cleaner and dirty water into a cup (he liked it though).

We walked back to the north and then to the northwest to Barrio Equipetrol where the rich people are supposed to hang out. We found Nick’s Travel Agency in a nice looking strip mall/ office park. We spoke with a nice woman named Gladys for a long time and arranged two day tours for the following days.

After we walked back to the fancy street, up to another office park (Gladys mentioned her building was in a Smart Studio, which was also written on this other office park but we didn’t know what that meant). We had to sign in at the front desk but then took an elevator to the 7th floor to a brewery called Santa Cruz Beer Company (SBC). The rooftop was filled with plants, wicker ornaments, and trendy but uncomfortable chairs. Despite seeing many staff and few other customers, we probably waited 30 minutes to order before I finally went to the inside area to flag someone down and order. We got beers that were actually pretty good and mini empanadas that were arguably even better.

We eventually walked back to our Airbnb and had a comforting dinner of leftovers and cheap Bolivian wine before watching Narcos.

Thursday, March 10

Ready for the Tapir story?

We got an Uber to a biopark called Guembe. If you’ve been to Tulum, then you’ll understand that Guembe is the Bolivian version of Xcaret. There are animal exhibits as well as swimming pools and lounge areas. Plus a buffet lunch. We started with the animals and immediately saw monkeys everywhere. Walking by one of the cages we saw black monkeys that were so eager to reach out their hands and tails to touch us. We overheard a guide say one of them was born and raised as a pet and is too used to humans to be returned to the wild.

Then we walked through the turtle area (so many frisky turtles!) to the bird cage. I think all the birds had just been fed. The Green Parrots, Macaws, and other tropical birds were screeching so loudly it was hard to hear anything else. We walked all around and up into a little tree house, marveling at the beautiful colors of the tropical birds. There was one Macaw that had the red, yellow, and blue coloring but the colors blended together to make orange and green and it looked like a rainbow bird.

Then onto the butterfly house. There weren’t as many butterflies as we had seen before (as in Key West) but the exhibit was nicely laid out and we saw big iridescent blue ones and lots of tiny black and red ones. We also saw a new type that flew erratically with very fragile looking wings.

After the butterflies we decided to get some lunch. The park offered a buffet and a snack bar but the snack bar only had hamburgers, a chicken dish, a pork dish, and French fries. When we asked if they could make Karen the vegetarian a cheese sandwich they said no, she’d have to eat at the buffet. Ok then. The buffet was actually good. It had a salad bar, lots of traditional rice dishes, a meat grill, and they even brought out deserts for us!

Bellies full, we decided to check out the pools. We lounged around for a while and took photos with the fake waterfall. Then we tested our kayaking skills which proved to be greater than needed for the sad, small pond that the park offered. It was still fun to get out into the water on a kayak and use our arms a bit chasing each other around.

After we tried out some of the smaller pools, designed to look like natural pools in a river. Some had water slides in between that we couldn’t resist, though we almost got stuck or flew over the side of them.

We’d decided to take a break and go to the bathroom before figuring out what to do next and all of a sudden it started to downpour rain. Our timing was amazing. We changed out of our swimsuits and by the time we were organized the rain had stopped. We sat under an awning and saw everyone in the park had been caught unawares and was drenched.

As our last activity of the day we went looking to see if we could spot the tapir in it’s pen. When we got there it was in the mud, eating leaves toward the right side of the pen. We were able to walk around to get closer to it. It seemed to notice we were there and stopped chewing and meandered up the bank. We couldn’t believe it! It came right up to the fence and licked Carl’s hand. Then it stood there for a bit and let me pet it on the head. It’s neck fur was thick and, not soft, but not too wiry. Kind of wooly.

It started to walk away and we decided to do the same when all of a sudden we saw it turn its butt toward us and -spppppsssshhhh- it peed all over our legs. I was so grateful I had just put my phone away AND that I was wearing shorts. We ran back to one of the pools to rinse off.
When we got home, Carl found a photo online warning of Tapir pee. Now you know, you’ve been warned.