Cochabamba

Cochabamba is a city in central Bolivia, located in a valley bearing the same name in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cochabamba Department and is the third largest city in Bolivia with a metropolitan population of more than 800,000 people. The name derives from a compound of the Quechua words qhocha, or lake, and pampa, or open plain. Residents of the city and surrounding areas are commonly referred to as Cochabambinos. Cochabamba is known throughout South America as the "City of Eternal Spring" and "The Garden City" due to its warm temperatures year round and abundant well kept parks. It is located at 17°5′S 66°1′W / 17.083°S 66.017°W / -17.083; -66.017.

History

The Cochabamba valley has been populated for over a thousand years due to its fertile productive soils and spring-like year round climate. Archealogical evidence suggests that the initial valley inhabitants were of various ethnic indigenous groups. Inca, Tupuraya, Mojocoya, Omereque, and Tiwanaku inhabited the valley at various times before the Spanish arrived.

The first Spanish inhabitant of the Valley was Garci Ruiz de Orellana in 1542. He purchased the majority of the land from local tribal chiefs Achata and Consavana through a title registered in 1552 at the Imperial City of Potosí. The price paid was 130 pesos. His residence known as the House of Mayorazgo still stands in the Cala Cala neighborhood of the city.

Villa de Oropesa (as Cochabamba was first called) was founded on 2 August 1571 by order of Viceroy Francisco de Toledo, Count of Oropesa. It was to be an agricultural production center to provide food for the mining towns of the relatively nearby Altiplano region, particularly the city of Potosí which became one of the largest and richest cities in the world during the 17th century - funding the vast wealth that ultimately made Spain a world power at the time. With the silver mining industry in Potosi at its height, Cochabamba thrived during its first centuries of existence. The city entered a period of decline during the 18th century as mining began to wane.

The 1793 census shows that the city had a population of 22,305 persons. There were 12,980 mestizos, 6,368 Spaniards, 1,182 indigenous natives, 1,600 mulattos and 175 African slaves.

In 1786, King Charles III of Spain renamed the city to the 'loyal and valiant' Villa of Cochabamba. This was done to commend the city's pivotal role in suppressing the indigenous rebellions of 1781 in Oruro by sending armed forces to Oruro to quell the uprisings. Since the late 19th century it has again been generally successful as an agricultural centre for Bolivia.

In 2000, Cochabamba was wracked with large-scale protests over the privatisation of the city's water supply. See Cochabamba protests of 2000.

In January 2007 a clash between middle class city dwellers and poorer rural campesinos left 2 dead and over 130 injured. The campesinos had paralyzed the city by blockading the highways, bridges, and main roads, and days earlier had set fire to the departmental seat of government, trying to force the resignation of the democratically elected Prefect of Cochabamba, Manfred Reyes Villa. The city dwellers clashed with the campesinos, breaking the blockade and routing the protestors, while the police did little to interfere on either side. Further attempts by the campesinos to reinstate the blockade and threaten the government were unsuccesful, but the underlying tensions have not been resolved.

People and Culture

Cochabamba skyline near El Prado

Currently, Cochabamba is an economically active city and tends to be one of the more socially liberal locations in the nation. Like other large cities in the Andes, Cochabamba is a city of contrasts. Its downtown core, around areas such as Plaza Colón or Plaza 14 de Septiembre, is generally quite modern. There are bright lights, bustling streets, and countless automobiles and internet cafes. It is in these locations where the majority of the city's business and commercial industries are found. An active nightlife is centred around Calle España and also along a broad tree-lined boulevard called El Prado. As one moves further out from the city centre, however, the communities become less technologically advanced. Cochabamba's outlying neighbourhoods often find themselves with higher crime rates and lacking electricity, indoor plumbing, and paved streets. An extreme example of this is the area immediately south of the airport where half built adobe homes lie on unpaved dirt streets - which is often the first impression visitors get when flying into the city.

The most widely spoken languages in the city of Cochabamba are Castilian Spanish (or Castellano, as locals refer to it) and Quechua. Although the Spanish that is spoken in the Cochabamba region is generally regarded as conservative in its vocabulary and phonetic evolution, hundreds of Quechua and Aymara words have been incorporated into everyday use.

As with most cities around the globe, the English language is increasingly spoken and understood, particularly amongst business executives and westernized Cochabambinos. English-language instruction has become incorporated into various levels of Bolivian education from elementary to college-level.

The city's racial demographics consist of the following visible groups in order of prevalence: western hemispheric Indigenous (mainly of Quechua ethnicity), Mestizo, Mestizo-Zambo (visibly triracial), Castizo, and Caucasoid. Other ethnic groups of lesser visibility include: Afro-Bolivian, Mulatto, Middle Eastern/North African, and subcontinental Indian immigrants.

Places to see

South America's biggest open-air market, called La Cancha, is open seven days a week in Cochabamba, though the busy market days are Wednesdays and Saturdays. Here merchants sell everything imaginable from witchcraft talismans to LCD TVs and iPods. The market is organized and divided in areas depending on the wares being sold.

Perched atop the San Pedro hill, the 33m (109ft) tall statue of the Cristo de la Concordia (seen at right) is the tallest of its kind in the world (although it is commonly believed that the Cristo del Corcovado in Rio de Janeiro is the tallest). Visitors can climb inside up to the arms for a unique view of the city.

The Palacio Portales is an eclectic style mansion with French Renaissance architectural influences. It includes a Louis XVI room, a moor themed room and influences of Alhambra de Granada. It is located in the northern neighborhood of Queru Queru. It was built for Simon Patino, Bolivia's wealthiest industrialist. Currently the Palacio Portales holds tours as well as a library, art galleries and many gardens on the property.

The Tunari National Park flanks the city like a crescent to the north and northwest. Paragliding, trekking and bird watching tours are offered by several tourist agencies.

View of the Cristo from the Plaza Colon in Cochabamba's Northeast Sector

Villa Tunari is not to be confused with the Tunari National Park. Villa Tunari is a small town in the Bolivian rainforest where visitors often go to see the animal refuge Inti Wara Yassi that houses several monkey species, pumas and exotic birds. An annual fish fair is held, where many varieties of trout and surubi fish can be delected.

The Parque Mariscal Santa Cruz is a recreational park located in the Chimba neighborhood. There is Gaudi inspired architecture in the quaint aquarium and surroundings. There is an artificial lake where paddle boats can be driven around fountains. There are also sports fields, dirt bike hills, picnic areas and giant slides.

El Prado is one of Cochabamba's night life main attractions. You'll find restaurants and cafes, condominium highrises and many of the city's bars and nightclubs surrounding the tree lined street.

On the Northern side of Rio Rocha is La Recoleta and Avenida Pando. This is the modern and chic area, center of the night life, where you'll find Cochabamba's 10 pin bowling alley, 10 screen movie theatre, Mercedes-Benz dealership and many restaurants, cafes and nightclubs.

The Cochabamba Country Club is located between Laguna Alalay and San Pedro Hill. There is an 18 hole golf course, fifteen clay tennis courts, pool, skeet shooting, and horseback riding.

The Cochabamba Bolivia Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was dedicated on April 30, 2000 and is located in the neighborhood of Queru Queru Alto.

Cochabamba is home to many famous Catholic Churches including the Convento De San Francisco build in 1607 which is made internally of rainforest wood. The convent also has a gold leaf altar. There is also a very famous Church on the Plaza Principal the Cathedral which includes a fascade that has a fusion of Andean and Catholic images.

There are two large shopping malls in Cochabamba. One is located next to the IC Norte Supermarket in the Sarco neighborhood on Avenida Melchor Perez de Olguin. It includes an arcade, several levels of shopping, a food court and a modern movie theatre. From time to time fashion shows are held on the first level. The other mall is smaller and located in the Torres Sofer office highrise near downtown Cochabamba. Here you'll find boutiques, travel agencies, plastic surgeon's offices and expensive imported merchandise.

The CineCenter is a recently built movie theater located in the zone of La Recoleta. It has 16 projection rooms, an arcade (Sky games), a bank, 11 restaurants (which are: Dumbo, Wrap & Roll, China Mex, Eli's Pizza, Flavor Burst, Roquefort, Tropical Chicken, Tuesday Burger, Habana Café and a Churrasqueria), an Entel Multicenter and a beauty salon.

Education

The city is the home of the Universidad Mayor de San Simón, one of the largest and most prominent public universities in Bolivia; the Universidad Catolica Boliviana "San Pablo"; and several smaller private universities such as the Universidad Privada Boliviana, Universidad del Valle and others.

Airport

Cochabamba is served by the modern Jorge Wilstermann International Airport (IATA code CBB), which handles domestic and international flights. It also houses the headquarters of Lloyd Aereo Boliviano, Bolivia's national airline. TAM Mercosur and Aerosur are two airlines that also service this airport.

Neighborhoods

View towards condominium highrises on Avenida America in the Queru Queru neighborhood.

Queru Queru - North
La Recoleta - North
Cala Cala - North
Lomas de Aranjuez - North
El Mirador - North
Las Brisas - North
Sarco - Northwest
Mayorazgo - Northwest
Barrio Profesional - Northwest
America Oeste - Northwest
Colquiri - Northwest
Muyurina - Northeast
Tupuraya - Northeast

Hippodromo - West
Villa Busch - West
Temporal - North
La Chimba - Southwest
Aeropuerto - Southwest
Ticti Norte - Fringe North
Jaihuayco - South
Zona sud - South
Ticti - South
Valle Hermoso - South

Satellite cities

Trivia

One scene in the 1983 remake of Scarface takes place in Cochabamba although it was filmed in Montecito, California.

Bolivia's only female President, Lydia Gueiler Tejada was born in Cochabamba. She is a distant relative of Raquel Welch (born Jo Raquel Tejada) who visited with President Gueiler and her Bolivian family in 2002. Ironically, President Lydia Gueiler Tejada's term was cut short by a bloody coup led by another distant relative of the Tejada family, Luis García Meza Tejada with the backing of notorious Nazi Klaus Barbie.

Famed teacher Jaime Escalante upon whom the American movie Stand and Deliver was based, retired to Cochabamba with his wife in 2001 and teaches occasionally at the local university.

Bolivia's richest man, Simon Patino, was born into a poor mestizo family in Santivanez, one of Cochabamba's outlying valleys. He became a clerk at a tin mine and eventually amassed wealth by selling tin to Europe as Europe's mines were running empty in the late 1800's. He eventually controlled 35% of the world's tin production valued at over 1 billion dollars. In 1924 he returned to Cochabamba to settle down but was blackballed by the local Spanish-descended aristocracy for being a "cholo". He left for Paris and only returned to be buried at his blue marble mausoleum in his beloved Cochabamba.

The famous Lambada tune of the 1980's was originally a song written by the Cochabambino group Los Kjarkas and later plagiarized by the French group Kaoma. Los Kjarkas sued and won a lawsuit after the single sold over 5,000,000 copies worldwide.

The "Butcher of Lyon" Klaus Barbie went by the name Klaus Altmann and lived near the Santa Ana de Cala Cala church before he was sent to France in the early 1980's to face criminal charges from atrocities committed World War II.

On May 27th, 1812 during the Colonial Revolution, Cochabamba's women, children, and elderly residents, led by the 60-year-old nearly-blind Josefa Manuela Gandarillas, waged a heroic defense of Cochabamba against Spanish Royalist troops seeking to quell the revolution. The defenders were massacred, but their patriotism was commemorated on 8 November 1927 when May 27 was formally established as Mother's Day in Bolivia.

Leading Peruvian novelist and essayist Mario Vargas Llosa lived in Cochabamba from 1937 to 1945.

Tadeo Haenke (b.1751) was a Bohemian botanist/naturalist who organized and founded Latin America's first botanical garden in Cochabamba, whilst collaborating under the command of the Italian-descended/Spanish-born explorer Alejandro Malaspina. Haenke resided in Cochabamba for several years up until the time of his death in 1817.

Immigration and Diaspora

Historically, Cochabamba has been a destination for many Bolivians from the western highlands due to relatively improved economic opportunities and a more temperate climate. Bolivia's current President Evo Morales and ex-president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada were both Senators representing Cochabamba, although they were born in Oruro and La Paz respectively and emigrated to Cochabamba at the start of their political careers.

After the road to the then-isolated eastern town of Santa Cruz de la Sierra was completed in the 1950's, thousands of Cochabambinos migrated to the lowlands and permanently settled there causing the population of that city to mushroom from 50,000 in 1950 to over 1,500,000 today. Many Cochabambino migrants and their descendants now identify themselves as Cambas after absorbing the regional Bolivian culture of the eastern lowlands, but maintain familiar ties with relatives that remained in Cochabamba.

Within the the Greater Washington, D.C. area, there are an estimated 100,000 Bolivian and Bolivian-descended residents with the highest concentration in Arlington, Virginia, USA. These combined communities have become the center for recent and established Bolivian immigrants, most of whom are from Cochabamba city and department, hence, locally regarded as Little Cochabamba or Arlibamba. Situated within Little Cochabamba are Bolivian-cuisine restaurants and the Escuela Bolivia; a school-within-a-school program for children and adults.

Subsequent to the 1990s decade, several lower-income Cochabambinos have immigrated to Bergamo, Italy in search of work-related opportunities. Most of the estimated 16,400 Bolivians in Bergamo are from Cochabamba, which includes both legal and undocumented immigrants.

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