What to See in Bolivia - Top Sights and Attractions

Large rock formations created by erosion. Valle de la Luna, also calling Killa Qhichwa is situated about 10 kilometers from downtown La Paz, in the Pedro Domingo Murillo Province, La Paz Department, Bolivia. It consists of an area where erosion has worn away the majority of a mountain, composed primarily of clay rather than rock, leaving tall spires. It is similar to another zone of La Paz that is known as El Valle de las Animas. It is an important site of the famous holiday, Dias de los Muertos.

Because the mineral content of the mountains varies greatly between individual mountains, the sides of the mountains are different colors, creating striking optical illusions. A majority of them are a clear beige or light brown color, but some are almost red, with sections of dark violet.^[1]

Archeologically significant stone blocks. Pumapunku or Puma Punku is a 6th-century T-shaped and strategically aligned man-made terraced platform mound with a sunken court and monumental structure on top that is part of the Pumapunku complex, at the Tiwanaku Site near Tiwanacu, in western Bolivia. The Pumapunku complex is an alignment of plazas and ramps centered on the Pumapunku platform mound. Today the monumental complex on top of the platform mound lies in ruins.

It is believed to date to AD 536. After Akapana, which is believed to be "Pumapunku's twin", Pumapunku was the second most important construction in Tiwanaku. Among all the names for the areas in Tiwanaku only the names "Akapana" and "Pumapunku" have historical relevance. At Pumapunku several miniature gates which are perfect replicas of once standing full-size gateways were found. Additionally to these miniature gateways, likely, at least five gateways were once integrated into the Pumapunku monumental complex. The foundation platform of Pumapunku supported as many as eight andesite gateways. The fragments of five andesite gateways with similar characteristics to the Gateway of the Sun were found.

Tiwanaku is significant in Inca traditions because it is believed to be the site where the world was created. In Aymara, Puma Punku's name means "Gate of the Puma". The Pumapunku complex consists of an unwalled western court, a central unwalled esplanade, a terraced platform mound that is faced with stone, and a walled eastern court.

At its peak, Pumapunku is thought to have been "unimaginably wondrous," adorned with polished metal plaques, brightly colored ceramic and fabric ornamentation, and visited by costumed citizens, elaborately dressed priests, and elites decked in exotic jewelry. Current understanding of this complex is limited due to its age, the lack of a written record, and the current deteriorated state of the structures due to treasure hunting, looting, stone mining for building stone and railroad ballast, and natural weathering.^[5]

Archaeological site in Tiwanaku, La Paz, Bolivia. The Kalasasaya or Stopped Stones is a major archaeological structure that is part of Tiwanaku, an ancient archeological complex in the Andes of western Bolivia that is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Kalasasaya is a low platform mound with a large courtyard, which is surrounded by high stone walls. The Kalasasaya is about 120 by 130 meters in dimension and aligned to the cardinal directions. Like the other platform mounds within Tiwanaku, it has a central sunken court. This sunken court can be reached by a monumental staircase through an opening in its eastern wall. The walls are composed of sandstone pillars that alternated with sections of smaller blocks of Ashlar masonry. This wall has been reconstructed in modern times. From 1957-1960 excavations took place at the site where all 4 walls were reconstructed along with the entrance gate.

The Kalasasaya dates to at least 200 BCE - 200 CE. It is located to the north of the Akapana and west of the Semi-Subterranean Temple, other structures in the complex.^[7]

Archaeological site in Tiwanaku, La Paz, Bolivia. The Gate of the Sun, also known as the Gateway of the Sun, is a monolith carved in the form of an arch or gateway at the site of Tiahuanaco by the Tiwanaku culture, an Andean civilization of Bolivia that thrived around Lake Titicaca in the Andes of western South America around 500-950 CE.

Tiwanaku is located near Lake Titicaca at about 12,549.2 ft (3,825.0 m) above sea level near La Paz, Bolivia. The Gate of the Sun is approximately 9.8 ft (3.0 m) tall and 13 ft (4.0 m) wide, and was carved from a single piece of stone. Its weight is estimated to be 10 tons. When rediscovered by European explorers in the mid-19th century, the megalith was lying horizontally and had a large crack through it. It presently stands in the location where it was found, although it is believed that this is not its original site, which remains uncertain.

Some elements of Tiwanaku iconography spread throughout Peru and parts of Bolivia. Although there have been various modern interpretations of the mysterious inscriptions found on the object, the carvings that decorate the gate are believed to possess astronomical and/or astrological significance and may have served a calendrical purpose. In addition, scholars have found that the design below the central figure is meant to represent celestial cycles. Being a later monument to the site in which it stands, the Gateway of the Sun could have also represented a transition from lunar religion to a solar religion based on its positioning to the sun to the West.^[8]

Basilica in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. The Cathedral Basilica of St. Lawrence, also called Santa Cruz de la Sierra Cathedral, is the main Catholic church in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. It is located in the city center, opposite the 24 de Septiembre Square.

The first church was built by the Mercedarian Fray Diego de Porres in times of Viceroy Francisco Álvarez de Toledo. In 1770, Bishop Ramán de Herbosos rebuilt the church, commending the sacristan Antonio Lombardo greatest gift the execution of the works. At the time of Marshal Andrés de Santa Cruz (1838), the old temple was replaced by a new church of eclectic style, designed by the French architect Felipe Bertres. It is notable for its wooden vaults and the pictorial decoration that covers them. In the main altar part of the original carved silver coating of the Jesuit mission of San Pedro de Moxos it is conserved. Four sculptural reliefs from the same mission are also exhibited.^[9]

Archaeological site in Sucre, Bolivia. Cal Orck’o is a fossil bed in Bolivia. It is located in a quarry approximately 4.4 km northwest of Sucre in the Altiplano/Cordillera Oriental, in the El Molino Formation.

The bed is composed of oolitic fossiliferous limestone, associated with large, freshwater stromatolites and nine levels of dinosaur tracks (trace fossils) in the El Molino Formation document an open lacustrine environment.

The main track-bearing level is almost vertical with a surface area of ~ 65,000 m2. The high-resolution mapping of the site from 1998 to 2015 revealed a total of 12,092 individual dinosaur tracks in 465 trackways. Nine different morphotypes of dinosaur tracks have been documented. Amongst them are several trackways of theropods, ornithopods, ankylosaurs and sauropods, with the latter group accounting for 26% of the trackways.^[11]

The Municipal Zoo of South American Fauna Noel Kempff Mercado, is located in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. It is the most important in the country and in South America, for the extensive biodiversity of native species, it is also one of the main tourist attractions of the city.

Its founder was Prof. Noel Kempff Mercado, who in the early 1960s, had already made a career as a naturalist and creator of the Botanical Garden Hortus Amazonicus Tropicalis Boliviensis, located on the banks of the Piraí River (Bolivia). As a result, he conceived the idea of building a zoo dedicated exclusively to South American fauna. It should also be remembered that, simultaneously and as Municipal Director of Parks and Gardens, it was he who initiated the process of urban tree planting that has given the city an unmistakable appearance.

At the entrance of the zoo, you can see a statue of the naturalist mentioned above, in which his figure holds with his hands several animals, this sculpture was made in tribute to the great work he carried out for the conservation of the fauna and flora of South America.