Angostura Lake
An artificial lake just seventeen kilometers southeast of Cochabamba, Angostura is a popular weekend getaway for stressed-out city dwellers.
Built in 1945 with the cooperation of Mexico, Angostura was the biggest irrigation project yet attempted in Bolivia, and still provides over 75 million cubic meters of water to the region, and is a gorgeous place to take a short boat ride. We joined a crowded tour around the lake. Although the trip was spent mostly in silence, taking in the scenery, our fellow passengers bid us a strangely fond farewell when we disembarked at one of the restaurants lining the shore. Waving, shouting out goodbyes, wiping tears from reddened eyes. Boating bonds people.
There’s not a lot to do around Angostura except for boat rides and eating. Fish is, predictably, the best thing to order here, especially the pejerrey — mine was fried and delicious. And near the lake, a popular restaurant called Las Carmelitas serves up incredible cheese empanadas which are baked underground.
We can’t really recommend Angostura Lake as one of the “must-see” attractions of Cochabamba, but it certainly serves a nice place to spend a relaxing, and filling, Sunday afternoon.
