The setting as well is excellent, close to the mountains of the Cordillera de los Frailes.
But what makes a tour to Sucre even more valuable is going there via the old trade road from Samaipata (or Santa Cruz).
This tour can be done best in 3 or 4 days, depending on the day of departure and your travel schedule. We would strongly advise you to visit Tarabuco on a Sunday morning anyway, when a colourful market takes place, one event that you shouldn´t miss.
- 1st day:
This day we will focus our attention on the legendary Ché Guevara.
In Vallegrande we will visit the Ché Guevara museum and the hospital. Here we can see the laundry where Ché Guevara's corpse was shown to the world press and his last letter to his children painted on a wall. We will also go to the mausoleum where Ché was buried for over 30 years, and the place where Tania Bunke, the only female guerrilla fighter, was buried.
Between those visits we´ll have lunch in Vallegrande.
In the afternoon we´ll drive via picturesque Pucará to the community of La Higuera. This is a beautiful part of the day where we regularly see condors. In Pucará we´ll make a stop to stroll through the small streets and maybe you would like to have a chat with the friendly inhabitants.
On the small square of La Higuera we will see 3 statues in honour of Ché.
We will spend the night in La Higuera in the quiet and romantic hostal, which used to be the telegraphists house in Ché´s time. There is no electricity in La Higuera so we will enjoy dinner by candlelight!
- 2nd day:
We will visit the school where Ché was executed in 1967. Nowadays the school building holds a small museum.
After breakfast there´s an option of doing a hike of about three hours into the Quebrada del Churo, the place where Ché was captured. Or you can also go downhill biking to the Rio Grande; the choice is yours!
During the drive down we will enjoy the constantly changing landscapes and probably see many parrots, vultures and other birds. We will make a stop on the impressive bridge which crosses the Rio Grande. The landscape between the Rio Grande and Nuevo Mundo is beautiful and varied; cacti, black earth, red rocks, river and mountain views. We will pass the community of El Oro with its white houses, red roofs, black earth, green banana trees, and sugarcane.
We continue to the pleasant town of Villa Serrano where we will see the biggest charango in the world. This guitar-like instrument is played, only twice a year, by a group of musicians at the same time.
From Monday till Friday it's possible to visit an evening school where the children learn to make and to play the charango.
We will have dinner and stay overnight in Villa Serrano.
- 3rd day:
If possible we will make an appointment with the charango teacher to visit him in his house/workshop where he makes the charango. Here he will explain how the instrument is made, what materials he works with, etc. On the road again we will appreciate a constant changing landscape consisting of higher mountains, different style of houses and costumes.
This day we will also visit a woman who makes hand weavings. Via Tomina and Zudañez we will drive in the direction of Tarabuco. We will pass a beautiful gorge where, time permitting, we will walk in to enjoy nature and to search for fossils.
If this last day of the tour falls on a Sunday, we will pay an extensive visit to the famous and colourful market which Tarabuco is famous for. After lunch we´ll continue to Sucre where we will bring you to the hotel or hostal of your choice.
- 1st day:
This day is equal to the first day of the 3-days tour.
- 2nd day:
This day is equal to the second day of the 3-days tour, except that we will leave the visit to the local museum for the next morning.
- 3rd day:
If possible we will make an appointment with the charango teacher to visit him in his house/workshop after breakfast. Here he will explain how the instrument is made, what materials he works with, etc.
In the museum we will see the biggest charango in the world. This guitar-like instrument is played, only twice a year, by a group of musicians at the same time.
We will have the possibility to walk around a bit more in Villa Serrano and after that we will drive via Padilla to Tomina where we will have lunch and visit the church. The tower of this church has been build by one man only.
We´ll end the day in Zudañez.
In the afternoon you can stroll around the village of Zudañez to see all days´ life and at night we can make ourselves comfortable in the living of the hostal where you can also listen to a cd of the musicians of Vallegrande that you might have bought.
- 4th day:
From Zudañez we´ll drive in the direction of Tarabuco. We depart to Sucre, where we will arrive around noon.
We will pass a beautiful gorge that, time permitting, we will walk in to enjoy nature and to search for fossils.
If we pass Tarabuco on a Sunday morning, we will spend the morning here of course to visit the famous Sunday market!
After lunch we´ll continue to Sucre where the tour ends when later in the afternoon we will bring you to the hotel or hostal of your choice.
