Did You Know

Interesting Facts about Bolivia

Trivia, oddities, and curious tidbits about Bolivia.

Speed

Did You Know?

21 curious facts about Bolivia.

Bolivia is named after Simón Bolivar, the great South American liberator. Bolivar led the struggle to free Bolivia and the rest of South America from Spanish colonial rule. He was also the author of Bolivia's first constitution.
Palaeontologists come to Bolivia to study its preserved dinosaur footprints. The footprints of titanosauruses, ankylosauruses and theropods have been found near Sucre.
Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world. There are ancient ruins near the lake and on the island called Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun).
There are still Incan roads in Bolivia. These roads were built over some of the roughest terrain in the world. During Incan times, messengers called chasquis ran along these roads delivering messages across the Incan empire.

Aymara women wear their bowler hats tipped to one side if they are unmarried, and on the middle of their heads if they are married.
In the Lake Titicaca area, lightweight boats made out of balsa wood and tortora reeds have been made since the days of the Incas. In the 1940s, a Norwegian, Thor Heyerdahl, created a replica of an Incan boat and sailed it across the Pacific to prove that Incas could have travelled to Polynesia. He named his boat the Kon-Tiki, after the Incan sun god.
The Chippaya people in the Chaco region hunt birds and animals with weapons called bolas, which are Y-shaped cords with weighted tips. They throw the bolas at their prey. The cords twist around the legs of the birds or animals so they cannot get away.
Bolivia has the highest ski resort in the world. Mount Chacaltaya is 5,200 meters high. The resort keeps oxygen tanks for skiers who become faint because of the high altitude.
The Mexican marathon team trains in Bolivia because of the altitude. Training at high altitudes expands the lungs and makes it easier for teams that come from lower-altitude countries to compete in high-altitude countries.
The coca leaf has been used since ancient times to combat stomach pains, hunger, fatigue, altitude sickness and other common maladies. It is chewed and also put in gums, cough syrups, toothpastes and teas.