Our tour continues in the morning with the visit of Samaipata, important pre-Columbian ruins and in the afternoon we visit the Amboro National Park to see the local giant ferns in the locality of Yunga. Our day starts with the visit of the small archaeological museum which has some interesting exhibits from the area, and also has the model of the Samaipata rock. Then we drive to the Samaipata site itself which is at 1917 m and 9 km from the town of Samaipata. Along the way there are beautiful views of the surrounding hills and mountains. This area is on the border of dry western valley region and humid eastern valley region; both regions can be viewed as we drive to Samaipata.
Samaipata, believed to be ceremonial centre, is the greatest work of pre-Columbian architecture in South America. It has been declared World heritage Site by UNESCO in 1998. It is found in the strategic position, between the eastern side of the Andes, the Amazon lowlands and Chaco. It long predates the Incan culture, and is believed to be first occupied by the Mojocoya culture and later on by the Incas. Besides being probably a ceremonial centre it also used to be a control point between the Andean and the oriental route, constantly threatened by the Chiriguanos Indians. The immense sculptured rock has dimensions of 250x 50m with the height of 10 m. The latest excavations have also uncovered remnants of at least 53 buildings corresponding to four different phases; pre-Incan, two Incan separated by Chiriguano invasion, and colonial.
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