page_title: Samaipata, Bolivia
section_title: El Fuerte de Samaipata
hierarchical_section_title: Samaipata, Bolivia / El Fuerte de Samaipata
caption_attribution_description: English: Scenery at the UNESCO, El Fuerte de Samaipata site, including La Muela, the tabletop mountain in the center of the horizon.
context_page_description: Samaipata or Samaypata is a small location in the Florida Province of the Santa Cruz Department in Bolivia. It has a subtropical climate and an altitude of 1600–1800 m. It lies about 120 kilometers to the southwest of the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra in the foothills of the Andes on the way to Sucre. It is a popular resort for inhabitants of Santa Cruz due to its much cooler climate. As such, there is regular bus and taxi service to Santa Cruz. The town is small with numerous colonial buildings and narrow cobbled streets. There is a good range of hotels and restaurants. There are numerous tour agencies and guided tours operators. It is strategically located near several tourist attractions such as El Fuerte de Samaipata, the Amboro National Park, El Codo de los Andes, Cuevas waterfalls, vineyards, rapids and lagoons, as well as well-preserved colonial towns such as Vallegrande, Pampagrande, Postervalle, Santiago del Valle, Pucará, and others. It is also the first stop in the several tourist trails to Sucre, Potosi, and the Che Guevara route.
context_section_description: Nearby is the pre-Inca ruin of El Fuerte de Samaipata. It is not actually a fort, but a temple.  This is Bolivia's largest pre-Inca site. 
  Declared a world heritage sites by UNESCO in 1998, this archaeological complex presents pre-Inca (Chane), Inca, and colonial Spanish ruins. The temple was originally built by Arawak people most likely belonging to the Chane culture that inhabited the surrounding valleys and the pampas to the East. The temple was carved on an enormous rock.  The Incas also built a city adjacent to the temple and established trade and alliances with the Chanes to protect the territories from the constant invasions of warrior Guarani tribes that raided the region from time to time.
  It is believed that both Chanes and Incas were eventually defeated by the Guarani warriors, and by the time the Spaniards colonized the region, it was already dominated by Guarani tribes, and El Fuerte was already destroyed. The Spanish colonizers also built a town next to the temple, but it was later abandoned when the inhabitants moved to base of the valley.
  There are several interesting features including a sloping ramp, pronounced by flying saucer enthusiast Erich von Däniken in his book "Chariots of the Gods" to be a launch platform for spaceships.  Some of the site is now cordoned off due to damage caused by visitors walking on the rock carvings.
caption: Scenery at the UNESCO, El Fuerte de Samaipata site, including La Muela, the tabletop mountain in the center of the horizon.
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