Capital: La Paz

Language: Spanish / Quechua

Currency: Boliviano

With Spanish, Quechua and many other indigenous dialects as official languages, Bolivia is one of the most culturally diverse countries in South America and has two capitals: La Paz and Sucre.

A favourite among tourist, Bolivia is home to beautiful and little-explored landscapes as the Sajama National Park, which is nestled close to the extinct Sajama volcano and the Payachata volcano complex (on the frontier between Bolivia and Chile), plenty of the natural wildlife of the Andean region, such as the vicuña, a close relative of the llama and alpaca, and the viscacha, a species of Bolivian chinchilla.

Geography

With 1,098,581 square kilometres of area and located in western-central South America, the country is bordered to the north and east by Brazil, to the southeast by Paraguay, to the south by Argentina, to the southwest by Chile, and to the northwest by Peru. One-third of the country is within the Andean mountain range.

Climate

The climate of Bolivia varies drastically, from the tropics in the eastern llanos to a polar climate in the western Andes. The summers are warm, humid in the east and dry in the west, with rains that often modify temperatures, humidity, winds, atmospheric pressure and evaporation, yielding very different climates in different areas. When the climatological phenomenon known as El Niño takes place, it causes great alterations in the weather. Winters are very cold in the west, and it snows in the mountain ranges, while in the western regions, windy days are more common. The autumn is dry in the non-tropical regions.

Culture

Bolivia’s culture is a well-crafted blend of the Native Americans of the continent and the Spanish conquistadors that, despite their terrible deeds, forever moulded Bolivian culture, allowing a unique people to emerge, with roots in both Catholic Europe and tribal America.

Gastronomy

After an active day, how about ordering a majao or majadito? This is a local dish made with dried meat, rice, paprika, fried plantains and a fried egg.

Bolivian cuisine is born of the mixture of indigenous and Spanish traditions. The country offers a varied cuisine, essentially based on starchy foods, poultry, meat and vegetables. The meat is cooked with rice, potatoes and shredded lettuce and enlivened with a spicy tomato sauce called llajwa.