Back in 2009, a German friend of mine, young, easygoing and well travelled, returned from his comprehensive South America tour with a shocking revelation. He had plowed his way through the continent, leaving no stone unturned from Cartagena to Buenos Aires. "Did you pull any 8's? If so, where?", I demanded to know. "Yes, I did, my friend. But I found them all in a place few men would think to look", he replied. "I went to Bolivia. To a place called Santa Cruz", he revealed. From that day Santa Cruz (SCZ) was firmly established on my list of bang mission destinations.
6 years later I had the chance to undertake my own mission to SCZ. Prior to my trip, I parsed the forum in the hope of finding some data. Nothing of significance was written, save for a couple of read-worthy contributions from comrade Jargonaut, who has since gone offline. He described SCZ as "one of the hidden gems of South America", an assessment in line with my German friend's experience. So I took some time to see if SCZ was indeed a place worthy of dozens of pages of discussion on RVF, like Medellin, Lima, or Rio de Janeiro. The question mark in this thread's title implies my verdict: maybe.
SCZ is not like Lima or Manila: you won't kill it by merely arriving and being white & exotic. Concretely, SCZ requires advanced social circle game (plus the requisite Spanish-speaking ability) and a very high tolerance for bullshit (Welcome to Bolivia!). If you speak zero Spanish, rely exclusively on online and/or daytime, or are short on time, try other destinations. In any event, reflect back on your experience as you read this and ask yourself: would I thrive in a place like this? If yes, get on the next plane to SCZ: the amount of model-quality PPC (poosy per capita) there is truly mind-blowing. If not, then avoid it, lest you'd like to surround yourself with ass that you will never tap.
Let me first lay down the main difficulties in executing a SCZ bang mission:
1) Getting there and getting in: Santa Cruz is one of the more isolated South American cities, helping to explain why it is a so-called hidden gem. If arriving to Bolivia from Peru, you would take a bus or flight in from La Paz, Cochabamba, or Sucre. If you're touring Brazil's Pantanal region, your option would be to enter Bolivia through Puerto Quijarro, and take an overnight bus into SCZ. I've seen direct flights to SCZ from Miami, Lima, Sao Paulo, and Asuncion, but these were all outrageously expensive considering their respective distance to cost ratios.
Apart from SCZ's geographic isolation, Bolivia's wonderful government requires tourist visas of citizens of most countries. And in some cases these are not cheap at all: 160 USD for US citizens for a mere 30 days!. Even after taking your official payment, border officers can be money-hungry first-class assholes. If you require a visa, make sure all required documents in order. Holders of EU member-state and most LatAm passports are good to go, however.
I imagine these initial burdens will be enough to eliminate SCZ as a destination for the vast majority of readers contemplating a bang mission in Lat Am. For example, Americans can fly Spirit to poosy paradises in Colombia and Peru for under 200 USD one-way from FLL. And they don't need visas for these countries.
2) City logistics/structure: Provided you're good to go on transport and entrance into Bolivia, it's time to figure out housing and logistics. Similar to certain European cities, SCZ has a ring (anillo) structure with gradually larger rings circling the city's center: September 24 Plaza. For short-term visits, look to settle as closely as possible to the plaza, thereby ensuring yourself proximity to much of the nightlife and sufficient food options.
While SCZ suffers from a severe lack of decent hotel/housing options, you do not have to impress local girls with your pimped out pad (there simply aren't many to be had). If you absolutely cannot accept substandard accommodations, I would check out Senses Hotel (80 USD), which is right on the Plaza. It professes to be 5-star, but is more like a 3.5 by international standards. All other hotels I visited in the center were complete dumps and not cheap at all. I did find one in the center that was sufficiently clean, decently priced, and gave no problems with overnight visitors (PM if interested). Short-term rentals are practically non-existent and AirBnb options are rip-offs. If staying longer term, I would get a place within walking distance of Ventura Mall (4th ring, to be discussed). Taxis are cheap in SCZ: for 1-4 USD you can get anywhere you need to go. I strongly recommend the EasyTaxi App to minimize your risk of getting ripped off or robbed.
Further, as a couple of RVF members commented, the city is not in good shape. Like certain parts of SEA, Bolivians use sidewalks as their waste bins. Thirdhand minibuses from the 1970s fill the streets with perpetual smoke. There are no beaches, no museums, and not many coffee shops/restaurants with service that will not make you want to gouge your eyes out. After hanging around nice areas in Medellin, Lima, and Rio, SCZ's sheer ugliness and lack of things to do by itself stands in the way of my re-visiting the place.
3) Barriers to game: in one sentence, Santa Cruz society is highly insular with an emphasis on traditional dating. SCZ society is run by a small number of landowner families, each of which are constantly vying for relative gains in power, wealth, and influence. Naturally, gossip is rampant and SCZ inhabitants (cruceños) are always up in one another's business. SCZ is a bizarre collection of immigrants from places as disparate as Yugoslavia, Lebanon, and Japan. In practice, this has created some stunning female creatures, but has also contributed to a kind of horizontal segregation whereby ethnic groups continue to live in colonies (e.g. Japanese) or socialize primarily amongst themselves (e.g. Crotian Club) even after gaining political and/or material standing.
The Cruceños' somewhat obnoxious obsession with tradition most burdens us in the area of casual dating. Actually, no such concept exists in cruceño society. In most cases of the Spanish language, you become the boyfriend (novio) of the girl whom you are consistently dating, provided mutual commitment or the appearance thereof. But novio in Cruceño Spanish actually means fiance. The term for boyfriend there is cortejo, meaning "one who courts", because it is presumed that if two young people are publicly dating (e.g. seen together at a restaurant), then they are well on their way to a lifetime of commitment. Thus, high society girls will often require you to go on various group dates, whereat her friends will vet you for worthiness as her suitor.
In view of the above, Tinder and other online dating tools are largely out of the picture. No cruceña of value will risk her precious reputation for some mysterious foreigner she has never seen in person. Yes, you can get a lot of matches, but girls will talk in circles and do everything possible to avoid an actual meeting. The one time I convinced a girl to meet me off Tinder, she came directly to my apt for the bang.
There is an increasing awareness of the backpacking lifestyle and CouchSurfing, and this has led to a rise of white cock-hungry 6's in SCZ. There are also quite a bit of Brazilian exchange student 6's, whom are all very eager to sleep with anyone not Bolivian or Brazilian. But would I travel all the way to SCZ, take out a Bolivian visa, and settle for substandard housing to bang 6's? Most definitely not, so let's re-focus our attention on those model-types.
So you've got the access and you've got the smooth playboy demeanor and Spanish-language ability. So where can you find Santa Cruz's first-tier ass?
Nightlife: places here fall out of favor at an alarming rate. Reading through the 2011 data, I could not recognize a single venue. And I visited 2 decent places that closed within a month of my departure. But as of today's writing, the two hottest places are OGA (next to September 24 plaza) and Pallet (Republiquetas #81). You'll see plenty of 8's and up standing around at tables and sipping whiskey at these 2 places. Bring your A game. Other places in the center worth hitting are Kukaramakara (Warnes/Potosi) and Duda (Florida 228, beware high numbers of gays). In any event, get informed as fast as possible of current hotspots.
Daytime: by far the highest concentration of 8s and up can be found at Ventura Mall (4th ring). Often, girls just go to the mall to do nothing but simply be seen in their latest outfit. If you're presentable, approach one and invite her on an instadate to the Starbucks or Juan Valdez on the first level. She will be taken aback, as it very well could be the first time in her life she has been approached during the day.
I mentioned that restaurant service in Santa Cruz is generally horrendous. The food is also bland in most places. However, the restaurants Jardin de Asia (Tajibos hotel), GOSS (open 24 hours), and Republica all have excellent service and food.
Carnival: If I ever return to Santa Cruz, it will be for Carnival week (Feb or March), which I didn't do this time around. It is basically the one week of the year the entire city gets shitfaced. You sign up for a comparsa (team) and pay the fee (200 - 400 USD), which gives you the right to drinking unlimited beer with a bunch of Bolivians. Relationships are torn apart, reputations are ruined, and paint splatters everywhere. Quite often, otherwise "stable" cortejos will go on break for the duration of carnival. So pretty much anybody participating is fair game.
Conclusion: despite SCZ's great potential for love tourism, there are far too many drawbacks, whether cultural, geographic, or otherwise, for a large-scale RVF invasion. If you're looking for a Lat Am destination that is a bit off the beaten track and doesn't suffer from SCZ's drawbacks, I'd check out Arequipa, Peru.
But if you've got the will, determination, and Latino social circle game, by all means go for it: the top-shelf poon is definitely up for grabs in Santa Cruz.
6 years later I had the chance to undertake my own mission to SCZ. Prior to my trip, I parsed the forum in the hope of finding some data. Nothing of significance was written, save for a couple of read-worthy contributions from comrade Jargonaut, who has since gone offline. He described SCZ as "one of the hidden gems of South America", an assessment in line with my German friend's experience. So I took some time to see if SCZ was indeed a place worthy of dozens of pages of discussion on RVF, like Medellin, Lima, or Rio de Janeiro. The question mark in this thread's title implies my verdict: maybe.
SCZ is not like Lima or Manila: you won't kill it by merely arriving and being white & exotic. Concretely, SCZ requires advanced social circle game (plus the requisite Spanish-speaking ability) and a very high tolerance for bullshit (Welcome to Bolivia!). If you speak zero Spanish, rely exclusively on online and/or daytime, or are short on time, try other destinations. In any event, reflect back on your experience as you read this and ask yourself: would I thrive in a place like this? If yes, get on the next plane to SCZ: the amount of model-quality PPC (poosy per capita) there is truly mind-blowing. If not, then avoid it, lest you'd like to surround yourself with ass that you will never tap.
Let me first lay down the main difficulties in executing a SCZ bang mission:
1) Getting there and getting in: Santa Cruz is one of the more isolated South American cities, helping to explain why it is a so-called hidden gem. If arriving to Bolivia from Peru, you would take a bus or flight in from La Paz, Cochabamba, or Sucre. If you're touring Brazil's Pantanal region, your option would be to enter Bolivia through Puerto Quijarro, and take an overnight bus into SCZ. I've seen direct flights to SCZ from Miami, Lima, Sao Paulo, and Asuncion, but these were all outrageously expensive considering their respective distance to cost ratios.
Apart from SCZ's geographic isolation, Bolivia's wonderful government requires tourist visas of citizens of most countries. And in some cases these are not cheap at all: 160 USD for US citizens for a mere 30 days!. Even after taking your official payment, border officers can be money-hungry first-class assholes. If you require a visa, make sure all required documents in order. Holders of EU member-state and most LatAm passports are good to go, however.
I imagine these initial burdens will be enough to eliminate SCZ as a destination for the vast majority of readers contemplating a bang mission in Lat Am. For example, Americans can fly Spirit to poosy paradises in Colombia and Peru for under 200 USD one-way from FLL. And they don't need visas for these countries.
2) City logistics/structure: Provided you're good to go on transport and entrance into Bolivia, it's time to figure out housing and logistics. Similar to certain European cities, SCZ has a ring (anillo) structure with gradually larger rings circling the city's center: September 24 Plaza. For short-term visits, look to settle as closely as possible to the plaza, thereby ensuring yourself proximity to much of the nightlife and sufficient food options.
While SCZ suffers from a severe lack of decent hotel/housing options, you do not have to impress local girls with your pimped out pad (there simply aren't many to be had). If you absolutely cannot accept substandard accommodations, I would check out Senses Hotel (80 USD), which is right on the Plaza. It professes to be 5-star, but is more like a 3.5 by international standards. All other hotels I visited in the center were complete dumps and not cheap at all. I did find one in the center that was sufficiently clean, decently priced, and gave no problems with overnight visitors (PM if interested). Short-term rentals are practically non-existent and AirBnb options are rip-offs. If staying longer term, I would get a place within walking distance of Ventura Mall (4th ring, to be discussed). Taxis are cheap in SCZ: for 1-4 USD you can get anywhere you need to go. I strongly recommend the EasyTaxi App to minimize your risk of getting ripped off or robbed.
Further, as a couple of RVF members commented, the city is not in good shape. Like certain parts of SEA, Bolivians use sidewalks as their waste bins. Thirdhand minibuses from the 1970s fill the streets with perpetual smoke. There are no beaches, no museums, and not many coffee shops/restaurants with service that will not make you want to gouge your eyes out. After hanging around nice areas in Medellin, Lima, and Rio, SCZ's sheer ugliness and lack of things to do by itself stands in the way of my re-visiting the place.
3) Barriers to game: in one sentence, Santa Cruz society is highly insular with an emphasis on traditional dating. SCZ society is run by a small number of landowner families, each of which are constantly vying for relative gains in power, wealth, and influence. Naturally, gossip is rampant and SCZ inhabitants (cruceños) are always up in one another's business. SCZ is a bizarre collection of immigrants from places as disparate as Yugoslavia, Lebanon, and Japan. In practice, this has created some stunning female creatures, but has also contributed to a kind of horizontal segregation whereby ethnic groups continue to live in colonies (e.g. Japanese) or socialize primarily amongst themselves (e.g. Crotian Club) even after gaining political and/or material standing.
The Cruceños' somewhat obnoxious obsession with tradition most burdens us in the area of casual dating. Actually, no such concept exists in cruceño society. In most cases of the Spanish language, you become the boyfriend (novio) of the girl whom you are consistently dating, provided mutual commitment or the appearance thereof. But novio in Cruceño Spanish actually means fiance. The term for boyfriend there is cortejo, meaning "one who courts", because it is presumed that if two young people are publicly dating (e.g. seen together at a restaurant), then they are well on their way to a lifetime of commitment. Thus, high society girls will often require you to go on various group dates, whereat her friends will vet you for worthiness as her suitor.
In view of the above, Tinder and other online dating tools are largely out of the picture. No cruceña of value will risk her precious reputation for some mysterious foreigner she has never seen in person. Yes, you can get a lot of matches, but girls will talk in circles and do everything possible to avoid an actual meeting. The one time I convinced a girl to meet me off Tinder, she came directly to my apt for the bang.
There is an increasing awareness of the backpacking lifestyle and CouchSurfing, and this has led to a rise of white cock-hungry 6's in SCZ. There are also quite a bit of Brazilian exchange student 6's, whom are all very eager to sleep with anyone not Bolivian or Brazilian. But would I travel all the way to SCZ, take out a Bolivian visa, and settle for substandard housing to bang 6's? Most definitely not, so let's re-focus our attention on those model-types.
So you've got the access and you've got the smooth playboy demeanor and Spanish-language ability. So where can you find Santa Cruz's first-tier ass?
Nightlife: places here fall out of favor at an alarming rate. Reading through the 2011 data, I could not recognize a single venue. And I visited 2 decent places that closed within a month of my departure. But as of today's writing, the two hottest places are OGA (next to September 24 plaza) and Pallet (Republiquetas #81). You'll see plenty of 8's and up standing around at tables and sipping whiskey at these 2 places. Bring your A game. Other places in the center worth hitting are Kukaramakara (Warnes/Potosi) and Duda (Florida 228, beware high numbers of gays). In any event, get informed as fast as possible of current hotspots.
Daytime: by far the highest concentration of 8s and up can be found at Ventura Mall (4th ring). Often, girls just go to the mall to do nothing but simply be seen in their latest outfit. If you're presentable, approach one and invite her on an instadate to the Starbucks or Juan Valdez on the first level. She will be taken aback, as it very well could be the first time in her life she has been approached during the day.
I mentioned that restaurant service in Santa Cruz is generally horrendous. The food is also bland in most places. However, the restaurants Jardin de Asia (Tajibos hotel), GOSS (open 24 hours), and Republica all have excellent service and food.
Carnival: If I ever return to Santa Cruz, it will be for Carnival week (Feb or March), which I didn't do this time around. It is basically the one week of the year the entire city gets shitfaced. You sign up for a comparsa (team) and pay the fee (200 - 400 USD), which gives you the right to drinking unlimited beer with a bunch of Bolivians. Relationships are torn apart, reputations are ruined, and paint splatters everywhere. Quite often, otherwise "stable" cortejos will go on break for the duration of carnival. So pretty much anybody participating is fair game.
Conclusion: despite SCZ's great potential for love tourism, there are far too many drawbacks, whether cultural, geographic, or otherwise, for a large-scale RVF invasion. If you're looking for a Lat Am destination that is a bit off the beaten track and doesn't suffer from SCZ's drawbacks, I'd check out Arequipa, Peru.
But if you've got the will, determination, and Latino social circle game, by all means go for it: the top-shelf poon is definitely up for grabs in Santa Cruz.
Lima | Kiev | Jakarta
Data Sheets: Da Nang (Vietnam), San Salvador (El Salvador), Arequipa (Peru), Santa Cruz (Bolivia)