Trinidad

Trinidad sits on the Moxos plain at around 150 metres, the capital of the Beni and the centre of Bolivian cattle ranching, a flat hot city where almost everyone travels by motorcycle and the traffic circling the plaza is a constant buzz. Its wider interest lies underneath: the surrounding plain carries thousands of raised earthworks, causeways, canals and mounds built by pre-Columbian societies to farm a landscape that floods for months each year, an engineered agricultural system on an enormous scale that was only properly recognised in recent decades and has substantially changed how the pre-Columbian Amazon is understood. Some mounds, the lomas, are accessible near the city. The Mamoré river nearby carries boats and river dolphins.

History

Father Cipriano Barace founded the town in 1686 on the Mamoré River, and in 1769 floods and disease forced it to move 9 miles to its present site (Wikipedia, Trinidad, Beni).

What's there

• The motorcycle plaza - the city's traffic circling the central square.
• Raised earthworks - the pre-Columbian lomas and causeways on the plain.
• Cattle country - the ranching economy of the Beni around the city.
• The Mamoré river - boats and river dolphins a short distance away.

When to go

May to October, the dry season, when roads are passable and the heat is a little less oppressive. The wet months flood the plain, which is when the ancient earthworks make most sense but travel is hardest.

Good to know

The city is hot, humid and has few conventional sights. The archaeological earthworks are low and unspectacular on the ground; understanding them takes reading or a guide. Roads out of the city are poor. Mosquito precautions matter.

Nearby

San Ignacio de Moxos lies west; the Mamoré river runs north.

Key facts