Challapata

Challapata is a small town in the department of Oruro in the highlands of South American Andes State of Bolivia.

Location in near space

Challapata is the central place of the district ( bolivian: Municipio) Challapata and capital of the province Eduardo Avaroa. The city lies at an altitude of 3732 m at the edge of the 250-acre flood plain of the River Tacagua on the eastern shore of Lake Poopó. Directly southeast of the city rises the Cerro Azanaques, with 5,102 m the highest peak of the Cordillera Azanaques.

Geography

Challapata located on the eastern edge of the Bolivian Altiplano in front of the Cordillera de Azanaques, which is a part of the mountain range of the Cordillera Central. The climate of the region is a typical diurnal climate in which the mean temperature fluctuations during the day be more pronounced than during all seasons.

The average annual temperature of the region lies at 8-9 ° C (see climate chart Challapata ) and varies between 4 ° C in June and July and 11 ° C in December. The annual rainfall is around 350 mm, with a pronounced dry season from April to October month precipitation less than 15 mm, and significant rainfall only from December to March with 60 to 80 mm month precipitation.

Traffic network

Challapata is halfway the road and railway connection from Oruro to Potosi, about 130 kilometers from the two cities.

By Challapata leads the paved highway Ruta 1, which runs from Desaguadero on the Peruvian border in the north of the city of El Alto, Oruro, Potosí and Tarija Bermejo to the Argentine border in the far south.

In Challapata also branches off from the Ruta 1, the Ruta 30 to Uyuni salt lake Salar de Uyuni from which there Ruta 5 crosses, with in west-east direction from the Chilean border via Potosi and Sucre towards the Bolivian lowlands of Metropole Santa Cruz leads.

Population

The population of Challapata has risen in the past two decades to nearly double:

Because of the historical population growth, the region has a high proportion of the Quechua population in the municipality of Challapata 59.2 percent of the population speak the Quechua language.