One of the highlights of our visit was dinner and entertainment at the Club de Tenis Santa Cruz. The club is a non-profit sports, social, and cultural institution of a private nature that began its activities on April 14, 1947. We felt so welcomed and special by all the locals that treated us as if we were royalty. The Bolivian’s showed us how they love to party and party we did. What we didn’t expect was that we were generously served with cocktails while viewing entertaining dancers but didn’t sit down to eat until 11:00 pm.  The libations were plentiful and the food was worth the wait. I especially liked a chicken dish called sajta de pollo, one of Bolivia’s signature dishes. It was like a stew that had chicken, potatoes, peas and bit of peppery spice. It was so succulent and tasty all the way to the bone.  It was served over rice but some times is served with chuño, a freeze-dried potato product traditionally found in Bolivia and Peru, and is known in various other countries of South America. Being a rice lover, I also enjoyed one of the country’s other signature dishes, arroz con queso (rice with cheese).

And, as usual, with a visit to any place, I like to check out the sites and especially the food markets.

Two of my favorite cites were the Plaza 24 de Septiembre and Guarani Museum.

Plaza 24 de Septiembre is Santa Cruz, Bolivia’s central square around which the entire city has been built. Nearly 500 years old, it was renovated in 2005. On the Southern end is the Basilica de San Lorenzo, the equally ancient Catholic cathedral. During the day you can climb the Clock Tower to overlook the city. The Sacred Art Museum is a small, but fascinating museum found inside the San Lorenzo cathedral. You can see centuries-old religious art and church relics, including the opulent robes worn by bishops and priests, silver and gold items, gem-encrusted ritual pieces, and more.

The Guarani Museum (Museo Guaraní) of Santa Cruz, Bolivia houses about 150 pieces recovered from areas of Bolivia inhabited by native Guaraní peoples. Guarani are a group of culturally-related indigenous people of South America.  They are distinguished from the related Tupi by their use of theGuarani language.  The traditional range of the Guarani people is in present-day Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Bolivia.  

At this museum you can see some of the clay pots used to bury the dead, other clay household items, some of the musical instruments used in the “pinguyu” (also known as the “pinguyu yambol”) as part of the Arete Guazú, a Guaraní carnaval-type cultural festival. There are also some masks (the winged masks are of the Ancestors and the wooden masks are the “Abuelos”, or grandparents). There are also clay pots used to make chicha, a traditional alcoholic drink based on corn, and others for cooking. There are hunting tools like bows and arrows and slings and you’ll see woven goods such as hammocks and purses, each with its own unique and different design.

As always, the highlight of any of my travels is to visit the local markets and learn of the cuisines of the places I visit.

Another great touring experience was visiting the Amboró National Park, created in 1973. It was originally established as the Reserva de Vida Silvestre German Busch. The park is a nature reserve with over 912 species of birds, over 177 mammalian species including puma, ocelot,  and the rare spectacled bear. Amboró National Park is protected from human settlements, hunting, mining and deforestation even though problems with all these still exist within the park. Parque Nacionál Amboró is one of the most botanically rich national parks in the world. The number of bird species observed within the area exceeds 912, or more than 60% of the country’s total. 

The city of Santa Cruz has benefited from a fast-growing economy for the last 15 years. Despite its rapid growth the city preserves much of its traditions and culture. This is particularly reflected in its typical foods.

The Spaniards introduced cows, poultry, rice, citrus fruits, from southern Asia they brought sugar cane and from Africa plantains, bananas and coffee (which is cultivated in the Yungas near Buena Vista. Moreover, local dishes include native vegetables such as corn, peanuts, yuca and squash, and also local fish such as surubi and pacu.

Native spices such as urucum, and native fruits (unique to the region) such as achachairu, guapuru and guabira, add to the uniqueness of Santa Cruz’s rich traditional cuisine. The agricultural richness of the region allows Santa Cruz to enjoy a vast variety of flavors and ingredients.

I had the pleasure of visiting the Mercado Abasto Sur during my stay. Allie Lazar said it best regarding this market: You can pretty much bet all the ingredients you come across in Santa Cruz de la Sierra have passed through the chaotic Mercado Abasto Sur, a 35-year-old market that stands on 2,000 square meters of land. Dirt walkways underneath bright blue, red and yellow tarp roofs wind around armies of vendors who sell mass quantities of produce like rainbows of Andean tubers stacked to the sky, seas of Bolivian chili peppers, unrecognizable (and unpronounceable) Amazonian fruits, and huge plastic vats of multicolored quinoa – and this is all before you have even entered the market.

She goes on to describe the market as featuring high quality fruits, vegetables and meat to buy in bulk at cheap prices. Traditionally the Abasto Sur market sold only wholesale to intermediary distributors, but as the food scene has evolved, with an importance placed on quality ingredients, standards have improved and local purveyors are more open to creating relationships directly with cooks.

I wanted to take so much home with me but, sadly, not allowed.

Santa Cruz was a memorable trip and I will always keep in my heart the friendliness of its citizens and the beauty of its land.