Tarapaya Canton

Tarapaya is a village in the department of Potosí in the South American Andes State of Bolivia.

Location in near space

Tarapaya is a central place in the canton Tarapaya district ( bolivian: municipality ) in the province of Potosí Tomás Frías. The village lies at an altitude of 3336 m on the banks of the headwaters of the Río Tinguipaya which flows through the city Tinguipaya. Tarapaya is the seat of the diocesan Katechistenzentrums the Catholic Church in Potosi.

Geography

Tarapaya is located on the eastern edge of the Bolivian Altiplano in front of the Andean mountain range, the Cordillera Central. The climate is typical diurnal climate of the cold tropics, where the mean temperature differences between day and night be more pronounced than between seasons.

The average annual temperature of the region is about 11 ° C (see climate chart Potosí ), the monthly values ​​vary only slightly between 8 ° C in June / July and 13 ° C from November to March. The annual precipitation is about 350 mm, the monthly rainfall range from less than 10 mm in the months of May to September, almost 80 mm in January and February.

Traffic network

Tarapaya is located at a distance of 25 kilometers of road northwest of Potosí, the capital of the department of the same name.

From Potosí from the highway Ruta 1 runs north through Tarapaya further Poopo, Oruro and El Alto, the neighboring city of La Paz, and after Desaguadero on Lake Titicaca. In Tarapaya branches off a dirt six kilometers long country road to the northeast, which leads through the mine of Tarapaya to the Hacienda Mondragón.

Population

The population of the town has increased in the past decade to a multiple of:

Due to the historically evolved population distribution, it presents a significant proportion of Quechua population in the municipality Potosí 71.2 percent of the population speak the Quechua language.

El Ojo del Inca

Tarapaya is known for its hot springs, which - in addition to numerous swimming facilities - dining is a volcanic lagoon, the " El Ojo del Inca " ( Inca the eye) is called. Pre -Hispanic sources, the Incas are said to have taken the arduous journey in the deep south of the kingdom to be from the remote Cusco to benefit from the healing properties of the hot water in Tarapaya.

Bathing in the lagoon is dangerous, where is unclear whether fatal accidents have happened there through carelessness of the swimmer or by sudden swirl of which report locals.