Where Is It?

Thinking of going? Here's a quick geography lesson, just in case....

The area known as la gran Chiquitania once equated to essentially all of the territory east of the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra as far as the Río Paraguay. It is now considered formally to encompass the six provinces of Guarayos; Ñuflo de Chávez; Velasco; Angel Sandóval; Germán Busch; and the heartland province of Chiquitos. These provinces alone cover almost 150,000 sq. miles (241,350 sq. kms) and make up roughly two-thirds of the entire Santa Cruz Department (Bolivia's largest by far). You won't lack for room to breathe: all told, there are less than 300,000 inhabitants (288,109 exactly, according to the official Bolivian census of 2001, the latest year for which figures are available), spread across an area larger than the United Kingdom and Ireland combined.

Here's where it can get a bit confusing. While the Chiquitania - which properly does not carry an accent on the final "i" - embraces all of the above, the area within it referred to as Chiquitos technically implies one of two sub-regions of the Chiquitania: a) the area corresponding to the ten Jesuit missions (but not the Pantanal - a part of Angel Sandóval and Germán Busch provinces - Guarayos Province; or the northern halves of Ñuflo de Chávez and Velasco provinces); or b) Chiquitos Province alone (although this is rare).

Beware, those of you poring over Colonial Era maps: Chiquitos originally was used also for the name of a much broader area, namely, the entire Chiquitania and then some. And note that Chiquitania is also an adjective (e.g., "Chiquitania pottery"), although the word Chiquitano - in spite of it being properly the name of a tribe - also functions as an adjective for the entire region, usually when referring to its inhabitants or culture.

South America: Bolivia is coloured orange	Bolivia: The Chiquitania is in central Santa Cruz Department

An etymological note: The word chiquito means "very small" in Spanish. It is sometimes used (again incorrectly) interchangeably with Chiquitano to designate one of the main indigenous tribes who inhabit the Chiquitania (the others being the Ayoreo, Guaraní, and Guarayo). The Chiquitanos have their unflattering name from the first Spanish explorers, who thought they must have been very short because the doors of their huts were very low to the ground. However, this was not because their inhabitants were short of stature, but to prevent mosquitoes from entering at night, and, some say, arrows shot by enemies during the day.

Enough of the fractured linguistics. In spite of the wealth and diversity of its offerings, much of the Chiquitania remains shrouded in mystery. Apart from the Amazonian hell of the Pando - a place you never want to see - it is the least accessible and least visited of Bolivia's nine departments. Although its intact folk traditions and authentic colonial towns are unrivalled anywhere on the continent, and its national parks and waterways have possibly the richest bio-diversity on the planet, along with some of the most stunning scenery anywhere, for the most part, visitors are few and far between, and good maps nearly non-existent. Bolivia is, after all, a very poor country, and the government's tourism drones are not exactly marketing luminaries.

Most who visit the area come on the legendary tren de muerte ("death train"), which runs from Santa Cruz to Puerto Quijarro and then across the border into Brazil. Along this route fascinating destinations await. The frontier towns of San José de Chiquitos and Roboré; the idyllic hamlet of Santiago de Chiquitos; the still-unexplored serranías of Chiquitos; untouched battlefields dating from from the Chaco War; myriad thermal springs, waterfalls, and secluded swimming ponds; petrified forests carpeted with rare orchids; and the amazing Pantanal ecosystem: the largest wetland area on the planet. All are accessed through this infamous railway.

The six provinces of the Chiquitania (click on one to go to that province's page)

Apart from this one dilapidated railway line, there are basically two paved roads, and a handful of small landing strips. Even now, it is still so uncharted that most maps, including those published by the government's Instituto Geográfico Militar, misplace towns, lakes, rivers, even entire mountain ranges. Towns that were abandoned decades ago magically reappear, rivers trickle off to nowhere, and a welter of natural features - bañados, hitos, arroyos, salinas, serranías - are placed seemingly at random on the map. If you haven't guessed, the Chiquitania is (or is not, depending upon your preferences) an ideal place to be lost.

See the Travel Information page, however, and you'll have no trouble planning your trip. Three other pages, each entitled "Getting There" (for the three primary sub-regions of the Chiquitania - Jesuit Missions, Sureste Cruceño, and Pantanal - respectively), provide information on these areas.

If you have questions, travel-related or otherwise, on the Chiquitania, email me: I live for this stuff.