Cochabamba Travel Information and Travel Guide - Bolivia

Introducing Cochabamba

Busy, buzzy Cochabamba is one of Bolivia’s boom cities, and has a distinct, almost Mediterranean vitality that perhaps owes something to its clement climate. While much of the city’s population is typically poor, parts of town have a notably prosperous feel. The spacious new-town avenues have a wide choice of restaurants, eagerly grazed by the food-crazy cochabambinos, and the bar life is lively, driven by students and young professionals. Despite this, Cochabamba remains a very affordable city, with prices far below those in Sucre or La Paz.

The city’s name is derived from the Quechua khocha pampa, meaning ‘swampy plain.’ Cochabamba lies in a fertile green bowl, 25km long by 10km wide, set in a landscape of fields and low hills. To the northwest rises Cerro Tunari (5035m), the highest peak in central Bolivia. The area’s rich soil yields abundant crops of maize, barley, wheat, alfalfa, and orchard and citrus fruits. Cochabamba is famous for its chicha, a refreshing fermented drink made from maize. It gets drunk in liberal quantities by campesinos (subsistence farmers) at village fiestas.

Last updated: Sep 29, 2008