In a country far, far away ...: Sucre

Posted by Dave and Zephie

From Potosi we took a bus to Sucre, one of the largest cities in Bolivia. We failed to book into a hostel and when we turned up at night, the one we planned to stay at was full... Consequently we were forced to go to the one with cable television and a private shower which was over the road. Unfortunately, while it was a lovely room, it also had bed bugs and a cold shower... Ah well..

Despite this, we were in a great location, just a couple of blocks from the main plaza and a short walk from most places of interest. The main plaza featured a a beautiful church as well as some of the most important judiciary buildings in the country. One night after walking back to the hostel, we saw many soldiers outside the building lined up. After asking two kids what was going on we discovered that Evo Morales, el presidente himself was due to arrive and meet the Argentinian president Cristina Kirchner. We waited a while but thought it was probably only a rehearsal - the soldiers were in fatigues and a few were chatting and playing with their mobile phones.

The next day it was much more official though!!! We arrived in the plaza which was crawling with soldiers in full ceremonial garb! We waited for a while an nothing seemed to happen but there was a definite buzz. Soon it all became more relaxed and the soldiers seemed to have a break so we left.. However, when we came back, it was all go and within half and hour or so, we saw both presidents and the vice president of Bolivia arrive!!!

One of the other highlights of Sucre was definitely the Indigenous Art Museum which had an extensive display and exhaustive info on the importance and significance of textiles in the region. Each local area had a distinctive style, one using abstract shapes, the other images from everyday life and the other images representing the spiritual world.

Our most disastrous day was DinoTruck day... Near Sucre is a place with hundreds of dinosaur footprints and the guidebook said the DinoTruck was a fun if cheesy way to do it.... Not is the people you are doing it with are drunk, loud and about as obnoxious as its possible to be... And smelly.... On top of this, the site itself will not let you get anywhere near the footprints - you view them through telescopes that you pay extra for.... We were irate by the end. !!

After an eventful stop in Sucre, it was off to La Paz - the highest capital in the world... Everything in Bolivia seems to be the highest!!

View from the streets of Sucre