Travel Information

In spite of its remoteness, travelling to the Chiquitania is a straightforward matter: once you're in the country (which for most visitors means starting at the de facto capital, La Paz), just head east until you come to Santa Cruz, the jumping-off point for nearly all expeditions into the region. The challenging part isn't getting to the Chiquitania; it's travelling through it. This isn't a trip for the faint of heart.

(Before we go any further, if you are a citizen of the United States, be aware that no, you do not now need a special entry visa before arriving in Bolivia. This is a rumour only, and is disavowed by both governments. For more details, check the Bolivian Embassy's Web site, or see the section entitled "Tourist Visas" on this page.)

Back to the Chiquitania.... Occasionally people - usually smugglers (known as hormigas or "ants") - make the trip in reverse, invariably travelling by the aptly named tren de muerte ("death train") from the Brazilian rail terminus at Corumbá, crossing the border into Puerto Quijarro and after a short walk or taxi ride to the Bolivian railhead, resuming the journey by train again westwards. Everyone else, however, enters the area heading eastward, either by rail from Santa Cruz, or by 4WD or bus, usually via the Jesuit Missions Circuit. These two routes converge in San José de Chiquitos, one of the region's two main transport centres (the other being San Ignacio de Velasco).

If you're game for the trip by road (a much easier journey now that the first 190 miles - 305 kms - are paved), the route goes in a generally northeast direction from Santa Cruz along Bolivia's Routes 9 and 502, connecting six of the Chiquitos mission towns to each other, and then eastward again (via one of two roughly parallel routes) as far as San Matías. From there the road - such as it is - crosses into Brazil, eventually reaching Cáceres 62 miles (100 kms) to the northeast. For more information on this route, go here.

By rail - an equally adventurous proposition - the journey continues eastward as well, but in a southeast direction until its terminus at Puerto Quijarro, a few miles east of Puerto Suárez. If you want a preview of the Apocalypse, you can't do much better than Puerto Quijarro, especially in the rainy season. For more information on this route, go here.

Note: No matter what some guidebooks claim, there is no direct rail service through to Brazil. Although the tracks do continue across the border, all passengers en route to Brazil must debark at Puerto Quijarro, cross the border via the Paso Frontiera bridge (a 5-minute ride by taxi), and from there take a bus or taxi into the pleasant, colonial city of Corumbá to resume travel by rail. (Once in Brazil, one can travel onward by train as far as Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo.)

No train in sight: crossing the Río Grande at Puerto Pailas

Travel by Train
Travelling through the Chiquitania along the rails of a narrow-gauge railway is an experience unlike any other. Along with the better known Oriental, Patagonian, and Trans-Siberian Expresses, Bolivia's infamous red oriental ("eastern line") also belongs in the list of elite railway journeys. But not for the same reasons, let's be clear about that right away.

You won't find rare Ceylon tea being served on silver salvers by an attentive and impeccably dressed waitstaff, nor will sweeping vistas of the Eurasian tundra unfold before you. More likely you'll find yourself slaking your thirst on a warm bottle of pineapple soda handed to you by a toothless hag who feels sorry for the lone gringo, or watching in shock as an entire campesino family of eight dislodges itself from the w.c. when it's finally your turn. And that's just the beginning.

If anything can be both surreal and monotonous at the same time, the tren de muerte is it. As it cuts its folorn swath through Chiquitos and Germán Busch Provinces, much of the landscape you'll pass is simultaenously awesomely beautiful and very strange: huge, silent monolithic rock towers in the distance; eerie swamps from which thousands of birds take flight simultaneously; otherwordly serranías and escarpments that appear and disappear out of nowhere; and primeval forests that seem on the verge of engulfing the train at any moment. This - the Sureste Cruceño - really is the land that time forgot.

The few towns you'll pass have an ethereal quality about them, as though they're not really there. Ah, but the minute your train stops - regardless of the hour (which is almost always at some ungodly time of night), you'll see faces on all sides, trying to sell you and your fellow passengers everything from fruit to umbrellas, and other things you really don't want to know about.

This trip, made by the infamous tren de muerte, must be experienced first-hand to be believed. The lifeblood of the region, the railway cuts its 397-mile (640-km) arc through the Sureste Cruceño until it grinds to a halt in Puerto Quijarro, a humid nightmare of dank concrete bunkers and rusting tin shacks, before heading on to the infinitely more appealing Brazilian frontier. For the latest details on prices, times, and the like, always check the Red Oriental Web site.

Looking for a first-hand account of one traveler's journey on the tren de muerte? Read Colin Churcher's hilarious and true account here. The story is priceless, and if anything, understated.

On track: the infamous "tren de muerte" outside of Chochís

Travel by Auto
There are numerous dirt roads throughout the Chiquitania, but many are unmarked and usually in poor to outright horrendous condition. A 4WD vehicle (with plenty of supplies, as surtidors - service stations - are rare outside the towns) is essential in these parts. Under no circumstances should the trip be undertaken in the rainy season. If you are fortunate enough to find a vehicle rental agency willing to provide transportation for the trip, of which there are several in Santa Cruz, including the highly regarded A. Barron's (3.3420160), it most assuredly will offer a jeep or other 4WD.

Asphalt roads are non-existent for the most part, except for the initial 190-mile (305-km) stretch of highway from Santa Cruz to just past Concepción. However, the packed earth roads that connect the other major settlements usually are fine. Plans exist for paving the rough track that parallels the railway from Santa Cruz to Puerto Quijarro...perhaps in your great-grandchildren's lifetime. But the main roads of Puerto Suárez and Puerto Quijarro are now paved, and a section between San José de Chiquitos and Roboré is as well. Almost miraculously (you will think so if you make the trip), there also is a paved road in San Matías as one approaches the northern border with Brazil.

There are no truly reliable maps of the area (for that matter, most of the country), although some decent topographical maps can be purchased at the Instituto Geográfico Militar in La Paz and Santa Cruz. (North American visitors are advised to purchase in advance from MAPSCO whatever maps - the German-made ones tend to be the best - are available online.) Beware of cheap maps for sale in most librerías: in many cases, the positioning of towns and roads is at best a cruel joke. However, locals certainly will know the surrounding area, and invariably will go out of their way to assist travellers. In these cases, even a rudimentary knowledge of Spanish can go a long way to ensuring you'll reach your destination.

Potential road hazards in the Chiquitania: Bolivian SUVs in foreground

Travel by Bus
A better, although more limited, option for travel by road is with one of the numerous bus collectives that ply their trade between Santa Cruz and the Jesuit mission towns. There are several outfits, of which Jenecherú (3.3488618, 3.3348861), Misiones del Oriente (3.3475257), Norte (3.3541348), Transbolivia (3.3363866), and 31 del Este (3.3345390) are the best known. Each has an office in the Santa Cruz bi-modal bus/railway station as well as in the major towns of the Chiquitania. If you want a modicum of comfort and to curtail expenses, this is your best option. One-way fare to San Xavier, for example, is only Bs. 20; for Concepción, tack on another Bs. 5; and for San Ignacio, another Bs. 10 after that. A current schedule can be downloaded here.

Travel by Air
If a trip by rail or road seems a bit dicey, there is regular air service between Santa Cruz and Puerto Suárez and Roboré, as well as to San Matías. Smaller commuter airlines also fly sporadically into Concepción, San Ignacio de Velasco, and San José de Chiquitos. The pricipal route, however, remains Santa Cruz to Puerto Suárez (roughly US$95 one way); carriers that make these trips are Aerosur (3.3364446) - on Fridays and Mondays - and TAM (3.3368222) on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. SAVE (3.3577557) also makes the trip. All have offices in Santa Cruz and Puerto Suárez. Aerosur's Web site offers detailed information in English and Spanish. TAM does not have a Web site. SAVE does - a bizarre one at that - but information is in Spanish only.