A few decades ago, Santa Cruz de la Sierra was a poor rural backwater, a hellhole right in the middle of one of the worst areas to live in Bolivia. To the north and east there sat the swampy, disease-ridden Llanos; to the south, the hellscape that is the Chaco. This would have been the case forever, had large reserves of oil not been discovered in the area.

Santa Cruz's importance exploded seemingly overnight. It became the centre of the Chaco dispute, and Bolivia and Paraguay fought a war over it. The result was that the city became independent under Paraguayan supervision. Since then, everything has looked up.

The city has seen a complete change, and an expansion in all possible directions. Windfall profits have funded large projects of urbanization and infrastructure, with industrial expansion following close on their heels. Anti-flooding mechanisms, massive irrigation projects, new railways, bridges, and highways—the city is forever changed. On seeing the changed face of their hometown, those that lived in the old backwater that was once Santa Cruz de la Sierra would swear that they were looking at a different, utopian city.

Needless to say, Santa Cruz de la Sierra now enjoys high standards of living, with an economic and population boom that seems to have no end in sight, and it is one of the fastest-growing urban areas in Latin America.