
What to see in Samaipata
If you are in Cochabamba you might want to go to Samaipata before continuing to Santa Cruz or vise versa. Samaipata is a nice little village that is good as a base to the Amboro national park with the cloud forest or the ruta del Che or to visit the el fuerte, a preincan ruin or to simply relax.
If you want to take a direct bus from Cochabamba to Samaipata you have to go to the Calle Pojo, where there is the office of Trans Pojo. A bus leaves at 7 am and 8:30 am and the ride dures around 10 hours.
From Samaipata to Cochabamba the bus leaves at 8 am and 3 pm.

Between Santa Cruz and Samaipata there are minibuses leaving as soon as they are full. The journey takes around 3 hours. In Santa Cruz they start at the crossing of Avenida Omar Chavez Ortiz and Solis de Olguin.
For visiting the national park you need a guide. There are several tour offices in the village, such as Jukumari Tours, Michael Blendinger Tours, Samaipata Tours or Tucandera Tours.
As Samaipata has a high amount of hippies there is also a lot of vegetarian and also vegan food to find. The Cafe Tango has wifi, vegetarian and vegan food and pastry. The Tierra Libre has a lot of well marked vegetarian options and some of them are vegan (ask the owner), but it’s a bit overpriced.
I stayed in the hostel Serena, which is a slightly higher price category, but has the richest breakfast ever, a beautiful view over the village, a big garden and a familiar atmosphere. The best place to relax for some days.
