Similarly to arriving to Toro Toro, we took a night bus once again from Cochabamba to Santa Cruz which was again really good and we got some decent sleep. Definite recommendation for the bus company Bolivar! Again, we decided not to stay in the big city but move straight on to Samaipata. Luckily this time though, the ride was on asphalt roads and we had good seats in the shared taxi car. When we arrived in Samaipata it took us quite a while to find affordable accommodation – overpriced tourist town… It certainly has its charm though with the little cobblestone streets. Unfortunately we were quite tired from the journey and decided to postpone the hiking to the next 2 days. Mistake!

For next day, we had booked the hike „Codo de los Andes“ but woke up to fog in the streets and rain pouring down. We’re really not the luckiest with weather on this trip! The hike was still going through, so we basically had to suck it up and do it mostly in the rain… The landscape was still really beautiful, even though this doesn’t come out on the photos that well.

Green mountains, steep cliffs and pretty valleys… if only the sun was out this certainly would have been one of the nicest hikes we’ve done! Like this, we tried to enjoy still, but it was exhausting with slippery trails and rain starting again and again. Too bad, especially since it would have been so amazing otherwise…

Next day, we had planned to hike to El Fuerte, but guess what!? Yes, it was still raining. So we basically killed time, checked out as late as possible, sat around a lot and waited. Around 4pm, just before we were headed to dinner and our next night bus, the sun came out. As if to make fun of us. Sigh! We managed a brief walk up a viewpoint over the wineries and Samaipata and that was it…

Samaipata for sure has some great potential if the weather is good, and I’m sad we missed out on that. On the plus side, we found some really good food here at La Cocina and Noah so our poor damaged stomachs got some treats.