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The “Che” Guevara Route - Samaipata
Vallegrande and La Higuera - Museum and the Fortress
- Itinerary of 3 Days 2 Nights
From the City of Santa Cruz
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3 Days 2 Nights
1st Day
We pick you up from your hotel or home at 07:00 a.m. to go to the town of Vallegrande, located at 6,660 feet (203 0 meters) above sea-level, a population of approximately 8,000 inhabitants in the urban zone and approximately 27,000 if we include the bordering communities. Vallegrande is located 149 miles (240 meters) away from the city of Santa Cruz, and the trip to this population lasts approximately 6 hours.
This trip will be in an express vehicle 4x4. The highway that leads to Vallegrande is mostly paved; part of this highway borders the Piraí River, which can be appreciated from above in some parts, this highway goes through mountains. The landscape vegetation diminishes as we approach the population of Vallegrande.
Once in this town, we will meet a local tour guide with whom we will proceed to the community of La Higuera.
This road is similar to the last part of the road from Santa Cruz to Vallegrande, because it borders the  mountains, but with the difference that this road is dirt one and it is narrower. The peak altitude that we arrive is 9,200 feet (2800 meters) above sea level. We will stop whenever the visitor wishes to take some photos or to appreciate to the Andean Condor flying over the area.
We will arrive to the population of La Higuera at approximately at 19:30 hours; this population is at 6,560 feet (2,000 meters) above sea level and is near the refuge that “Che” had in the nearby forest.
Over night in La Higuera.
2nd Day
After breakfast we will have a walk around the plaza, where we will be able to appreciate the paintings on the 
On the way back to Vallegrande we will stop to trek down to a hill for about 1 1/2 hours to visit ¨The Churo¨ Creek, where “El Che” fought his last battle in total disadvantage, malnourished, without adequate clothing or boots (he made his own boots with some leather in disuse) and with his rifle was not working well.
We will do this in company of our guide. He will tell us in details how this uneven battle took place and how “Che” was captured by the military and taken to the small village´s school of La Higuera, which at the time had more inhabitants than it does at the present time.
We will return the same way that we arrived, stop at Vallegrande where we will visit the old laundry of the hospital, which maintains its originality, where Ernesto “Che” Guevara was exposed to the press after having been brought in a helicopter from the town of La Higuera, where he was killed. We will also visit the place where “Che” was buried next to his companions in battle.
Lunch in a restaurant in Vallegrande.
We will leave our guide and continue to the town of Samaipata on the same highway to Santa Cruz city. Samaipata is approximately at 5,900 feet or 1800 meter above sea level. Samaipata has tempered climate during the day and it is a little cold during the night.
Dinner en Overnight in Samaipata.
3rd Day
After breakfast, we will visit the museum, where we will be able to appreciate different objects and ceramics  that remain as a testimony of the different cultures that settled in the surroundings or from sites of Bolivia. The museum also has different pictures that explain the pass of the different cultures that left their signs on the famous carved rock known as “El Fuerte” (The Fortress) which is said to be the largest carved rock of the planet Earth. The museum has a small model of this rock.
Later, we go to El Fuerte, the entrance to the secondary road that leads to the fort is located 2.5 miles or 4 kilometers away from the town of Samaipata by the paved road to Santa Cruz. From this point we go up on a secondary unpaved road in the vehicle to the top of the mountain where El Fuerte is located and from where the footpath begins.
Once we are there, a specialized guide will accompany us during the long walk around the big carved rock, providing us with the explanations of the possible reasons for the carving made there, the strategic location that this place had in those days and the clash of different cultures that happened in this location for this reason.
 During the hike it is fascinating to wonder about the experiences lived by the different cultures that passed through this magnificent place. (Take a sweater with you)
When the tour of El Fuerte is over, we return in the same vehicle to the highway that leads to Samaipata.
Lunch in Samaipata, and after a short rest we start our return to Santa Cruz.
We will arrive at the city in the afternoon hours or at evening and leave you in your hotel or address.
End of our services. Thanks.
Please Read The Terms and Conditions of our Services
Amboró Tours is the only original source of this Itinerary
Amboró Tours also offers longer tours to this destination.
Adverse climatologic conditions or social unrest can change the original itinerary.
“Take only photographs and leave only footprints”
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