Sorata trip planner

Sorata is a small town in the La Paz Department in the Bolivian Andes, northwest of the city of La Paz and east of Lake Titicaca. It is the seat of the Larecaja Province and the Sorata Municipality. At the time of census 2001 it had a population of 2,217.It is a somewhat popular weekend getaway and a relaxing base camp for a growing number of hikers. It includes several small hotels, including a converted Italian mansion. In colonial days, Sorata provided a link to the Alto Beni goldfields and rubber plantations, and a gateway to the Amazon Basin. In August 1781 it was the site of an unorthodox siege by the nephew of Tupac Amaru, Andres, and his 16,000 soldiers. They constructed dikes above the town, and when these had been filled with runoff from the slopes of the nearby peak Illampu, they opened the floodgates and the town was washed away. The citizens of Sorata have, in recent history, violently opposed what they see as the rule of a too centralised government. For example, in the summer of 2005, the town was blockaded and inaccessible for several days in response to the government's plans to privatise Bolivia'a oil reserves.