La Guardia: History and Nature in the Municipality
Accommodation in La Guardia
If you’re looking for a hotel for a trip to La Guardia, it helps to distinguish clearly between the different geographical levels: La Guardia itself is the town, with its own founding history; natural and cultural features relate in some cases to the municipality it belongs to and in others to the wider destination of Santa Cruz. This way, you can first decide whether your trip is focused on the town, a highlight in the municipality, or a broader regional area.
La Guardia: History of the Town and Municipal Connections
La Guardia was founded on November 26, 1826, by José Vicente Soliz. This date provides a clear historical reference point for the town. There is also a religious connection at the municipal level: the Parroquia Purísima Concepción de La Guardia is the main church of the municipality of La Guardia. For planning your trip, these are two distinct topics: the founding of the town and the municipality’s main church.
Lomas de Arena: Scenery and Birdwatching
The designated jurisdiction of Lomas de Arena Regional Park includes the municipalities of La Guardia, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, and Cabezas. The park is also designated as a Parque Natural y Unidad Natural de Manejo Integrado Departamental. Its jurisdiction across several municipalities makes it a regional point of reference, not just a feature of the town center.
Lomas de Arena features white sand dunes and small, clear lagoons. These are two distinct landscape features: open sand formations and bodies of water. For birdwatching, the regional park has, among other facilities, covered observation platforms, trails, roads, and open areas surrounded by vegetation. This distinguishes fixed observation points from trails, roads, and more open areas. If you plan to include birdwatching in your itinerary, take these specific facilities into account and check the current condition of the observation platforms and trails before your visit.
Santa Cruz as the Wider Travel Destination
The wider travel destination of Santa Cruz offers another landscape profile in the Valles Cruceños. They cover approximately 13,000 km² and lie at elevations between 1,200 and 2,000 meters. They include the provinces of Florida, Vallegrande, and Caballero in the Department of Santa Cruz. The Valles Cruceños are home to inter-Andean dry forest, Bolivian-Tucuman forest, serrano Chaco, subtropical humid forest, and Puna vegetation. Another natural area within the Santa Cruz travel destination is Noel Kempff Mercado National Park. Its habitats include evergreen rainforests, palm forests, Cerrado, swamps, savannas, gallery forests, and semi-evergreen dry forests. Chiquitano culture is also part of the wider regional context: it developed mainly in the Chiquitanía in the Department of Santa Cruz and combines Indigenous Chiquitano traditions with Jesuit influence introduced in the 17th and 18th centuries. The Área Protegida de los Valles Cruceños is home to 374 bird species, including the endemic red-fronted macaw and the Andean condor.
Discover more destinations: Buena Vista, Barraca Víbora.
For the wider travel overview: Santa Cruz.
