Salt, butterflies, dinosaurs, and pink dolphins. What in the world do these four things have in common? The country of Bolivia! Take a trip to the middle of the continent of South America. Head west towards the Andes Mountains to find beautiful Bolivia. This country is packed with things to see and do. More importantly, it’s filled with people who love their country and their native culture.
The Plurinational State of Bolivia is the official name of Bolivia. That’s a mouthful to say! Most people stick with the shorter version—Bolivia. The country is landlocked. That means it’s surrounded by land. It has no coastline. Argentina, Chile, Peru, Brazil and Paraguay all border Bolivia. Most countries have one capital city. Not Bolivia! It has two, Sucre and La Paz.
Spanish is the official spoken language in Bolivia. But only around half of Bolivians speak it. There are 36 native languages in use there. If you listen closely, you’ll hear the popular native languages Quechua and Aymara spoken.
Bolivia has one of the world’s largest butterfly sanctuaries. It’s also home to llamas, Andean condors, jaguars, pumas, guinea pigs, and pink dolphins. PINK DOLPHINS? Yes! They live in the Amazon River in Bolivia.
The Altiplano in Bolivia is rocking! It’s the second largest high plateau in the world, and it is known for odd-looking rock formations. High winds carved the stone shapes. Cal Orko is a massive limestone slab in Bolivia. It has 5,055 dinosaur footprints in it. The prints were made from at least eight different species of dinosaurs.
The world’s largest salt flat takes up 4,086 square miles in Bolivia. It is 100 times larger than the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Bolivia’s salt flat looks like a huge desert. Its size makes it easy to spot from space. Because it is so large and flat, scientists use the salt flat to calibrate, or set, the Earth’s observation satellites.
Speaking of salt, Bolivia’s Hotel Luna Salada is made entirely from salt blocks. Even its furniture!
The Bible calls believers in Jesus the salt of the Earth. “You are the salt of the Earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet,” says Matthew 5:13.
The land God created for Bolivia is rich. Bolivians are proud of their beautiful country. They love to share it with visitors!
