I decided to visit Cochabamba because I wanted to visit the nearby Village of La Higuera. La Higuera is the place where Che Guevara was captured and later killed by the Bolivian military, with assistance from the CIA. My Bolivian map seemed to distort distances. According to the map the Village of La Higuera was only 100 miles east of Cochabamba. I asked several locals for directions on the best way to travel to La Higuera. They indicated that I should take the road to Santa Cruz and then turn off to La Higuera. To get on the road to Santa Cruz I was to follow the signs from the center of Cochabamba. I did as I was told by the locals. I followed the signs to San Cruz from the center of town and everything seemed fine. I was on my way! I traveled approximately 100 miles (three hours) following the signs to San Cruz. However, something told me that I was not traveling in the right direction. According to the signs along the road, San Cruz was still 200 miles away. Since there was a fuel shortage throughout Bolivia I decided to turn back and not go any further.
I later discovered that there are two roads to Santa Cruz – the old road and a new road. I had traveled on the new road which did not go to, or near, La Higuera. La Higuera is about 200 miles from Cochabamba on the old road. I decided to forget about getting to La Higuera - I can always say that I tried to get there.
The heavy rains started as I was arriving in Cochabamba.