Rurrenabaque
Rurrenabaque located about 300 km (186 miles) north from La Paz, is a charming little settlement on the river "Beni" in the Bolivian lowland. It is famous for its original inhabitants who resisted Christianity and Western-style during the Spanish civilization. Until today they have preserved their way of living, customs and traditions of their forefathers.
Trips from Rurrenabaque are unbeatable as the environment is abundant in Amazonian wildlife. That's why most travelers use the lovely village as a starting point for tours in the jungle or in the pampas. The jungle tours invite you to get to know the diversity of tropical flora and fauna of an enormous diversity of birds, monkeys and plants). The Pampas consist of a grassy, flat plain with many rivers and waterholes that swell several times during the year. The immense quantity of water in this region gives home to an impressive amount of wildlife like a great variety of birds, alligators, monkeys, capybaras, anacondas, pink river dolphins, as well as jaguar or tapir.
La Paz
La Paz is situated in a narrow bottom of a canyon surrounded by Andean mountains, snow covered peaks and volcanoes, what makes its scenery mystic and unique in the world.
It's Bolivia's administrative center, as well as its most populated state department. Over the last 20 years its population has doubled and is estimated today at nearly 1,3 million people. It is the highest capital in the world (located at 3,580 meters/ 11,740 feet above sea level), where people apparently never stop selling food and walking up and down the endless thin streets from the foot to the top of the city.
You will find an incredible mixture of Bolivian poor people dressed in traditional colorful clothes, business men, churches and places, colonial and modern buildings, interesting museums, and innumerous markets with the most famous "Witch market" where you can buy dried llama fetuses or the rarest species of potions you have ever seen in your life. The geographical location causes cold temperatures during the nights in La Paz, although the day sun keeps usually strong during the whole year.
La Paz has a good tourist infrastructure with many good restaurants, hotels and travel agency to various attractions close to the city.
Some of the most famous trips are the steeply falling jungle road to the little town "Coroico" in the Yungas", the blue-colored "Lake Titicaca", the Cordillera highlands and the ruins of "Tahuanaco".
Oruro
Oruro, with a population of 182,000 mostly poor people, is an old mining town which turns one time during carnival into the most lively and colorful festival of the country called "La Diablada". It is famous for its imaginative folklore costumes including the celebrated wild devil costume. The devil represents the Spanish colonizers who explored the regions and its people and forced indigenous people to work under horrible circumstances in the mines. The city has some interesting sights like the cemetery "Virgin del Savon" and the Museum of Archaeology with an interesting carnival masks collection.
Oruro is a good starting point to visit one of the must-see attraction of Bolivia: the "Salar de Uyuni".
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