Parque Arenal in Santa Cruz

January 2010. This park has been completely renovated!

Parque Arenal, a city park in Santa Cruz, Bolivia has a small lake and colorful paddleboats. It also houses the Ethno-folkloric Museum of Santa Cruz and is a popular stop on city tours.

When I was small (and Santa Cruz was also small), Parque Arenal was THE family gathering place on Sundays. With its lazy lake and pretty peninsula, dozens of colorful paddleboats, and swollen toborochi trees for shade, it was sort of a family custom to walk across town (this being about 10 blocks) to spend the afternoon at the park.

It was one of those long Sunday walks where you cross the central plaza, slow to match the movements of a sloth making its way across the mosaic tile sidewalk, linger to talk with someone you've run into on a doorstep a few blocks further on...

Our walk inevitably included a stop at a corner to buy a glass of fresh orange juice peeled and squeezed on the spot (I loved to watch as the lady turned a lever and the peel began to curl off the oranges all in one piece). And then just as the kids were about to complain that it was taking too long or their feet hurt and by the way were we there yet?... we'd round a corner and there was the Parque Arenal lake.

Of course, just 25 years ago Santa Cruz had a population of less than 300,000. Now it's nearing 2 million and the city has become the loud, crowded financial capital of Bolivia. But don't let that keep you from visiting the park. There might be more people hurrying through to work, but the tall toborochis and rustling palm trees I used to play under are still there, like guardians of the lake shading park benches for those who have a moment or two to sit and peoplewatch.

The paddleboats are open every day, usually even during the lunch hour and are very inexpensive. A half hour paddle around the lake is enough to calm your city-stressed (or tour-tired) nerves and get you energized for the remainder of the day. If peoplewatching is more your style, you won't be disappointed. From colorful popcorn and souvenir vendors, (my favorite is the cotton-candy/pirate-DVD vendor), to noisy ice cream vendors who squeeze their obnoxious little horns every 15 seconds, to couples and kids on multi-colored little boats awkwardly making their way around the lake, there are plenty of people to wonder about.

On the Southeast corner of the park you'll see a non-descript one-story building with no sign at all that it's even occupied except for the guard standing at the door. This is the Museo Etno-Folklórico de Santa Cruz - the Santa Cruz Folklore Museum.

This small but very nice museum houses musical instruments, ceremonial implements, tools and weapons, and over a dozen costumes used typically by the indigenous groups that inhabit the area that is now the Department of Santa Cruz (Guaraní, Chané, Ayoreos and others). It's worth a 10-minute stop inside.

Just behind this building is the entrance (down some steps) to the paddle boats and if you pass this entrance and keep walking down the sidewalk (heading North), you can take a path that will lead you all the way around the lake to the other side (now facing the museum) where you can walk out onto the small "peninsula" and admire the enormous mural made by Lorgio Vaca, one of Santa Cruz' most famous artists. There is a plaza on the peninsula with shady trees and benches as well - it's peaceful here and quieter.

Parque Arenal is a frequent stop on city tours, mostly because of the museum (and they include an explanation of the mural), but if you want to get a taste of real life in Santa Cruz, walk the park, watch its people, choose a shady bench and "laze" for awhile. And before you leave, say hello to the big fat toborochi tree.

A short unfortunate note: Watch for pick pockets at this park. Keep your belongings close to you.

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