Bolivia's food capital — silpancho, salteñas, and eternal spring at 2,500m
Cochabamba is called 'la Llajta' — the land of eternal spring — for its mild 22°C year-round climate, and 'the food capital of Bolivia' for the concentration of traditional restaurants and street stalls that make it the culinary heartland of a country with one of South America's most underrated food cultures. The La Cancha market is the largest outdoor market in South America; silpancho (breaded beef on rice with fried egg), salteñas (juicy empanadas), and chicha (fermented corn beer) are the essentials.
The Cochabamba valley was an Inca storehouse — its fertile soil and mild climate made it the breadbasket that fed the Tawantinsuyu empire's armies and silver mines. Spanish colonists founded the city of Villa de Oropeza in 1571 and it grew into a market city. The 2000 Water War — when the government privatized the municipal water supply and riots forced a reversal — put Cochabamba on the map as a symbol of anti-privatization resistance and Bolivian civic identity.