Sucre Weekend

Hey folks!

I'm sorry it's been several days since I've posted something but this week has been crazy busy. Here is the long awaited update about my trip to Sucre last weekend!

(Last) Friday:

Not being able to find a semi-cama (cama=bed) or full-cama bus for our ten hour overnight bus to Sucre, we boarded a normal bus at 7:25 pm and were on our way by 7:30 pm. The ride to Sucre was really bumpy. It was less than comfortable and I didn't sleep the entire time. The view of the sky at night was well worth it- I could see the Milky Way and what I was told was Venus. We stopped exactly half way for a bathroom/rest stop. We got off and walked into a little restaurant sort of place and the first thing we saw behind the counter was a lamb curled up on what I thought was a blue dog pillow. It was 1:00 am and this seemed like the most absurd and hilarious thing we had seen in awhile. We got up the nerve to take a picture of it and it immediately started baaa-ing loudly and incessantly.

When we got back on the bus we started talking about the lamb and I was informed by my friends that it wasn't sitting on a blue dog pillow but instead on a white sack of grain. I think my head formulated a dog pillow because it was what I expected..? Except maybe with a dog instead of a lamb? I'm not sure really but I swear it looked like a dog pillow to me. At some point on our drive our driver pulled over and picked up a couple of Cholitas who stayed up in the front of the bus behind the door to the seating and partied with the bus driver until we arrived in Sucre. They were even playing loud music! We had chosen the company that has an accident-free record so we were surprised by this behavior.

Saturday:

We pulled into Sucre around 5:00 am wearily grabbed a cab to take us to our hostel. We had to wake up the lady who worked there and explain to her for about 30 minutes what our reservation had been. Eventually she understood, or just gave up, and we all relaxed for an hour or so before getting up to search out breakfast.

Walking around the "white city" we took a few pictures. I think you'll understand how it earned it's name from these pictures:

At this time it was almost 8:00 am but no restaurants were open. The only place we found open before 9 was a place called Joyride whose slogan was "no solo para los gringos (not just for gringos)." The place was full of gringos and gringos alone. It was delicious though and after eating I was feeling much more awake and ready to explore. After breakfast at Joyride we walked up to the mirador (I can't remember this word in english but I think it's called a 'look out point'). To get there we climbed up through this market full of tiny, doll-sized things. They had everything from tiny houses and tiny washing machines to tiny cereal boxes and tiny fruit. At the top, at the mirador, there was a little plaza with little kid merry-go-rounds and trampolines.

After the mirador we grabbed a long and relaxing lunch on the patio of a hotel. After lunch we made our way to two museums. The first was half modern art half history of Bolivia. They had some pretty cool old and sometimes bloody war materials and other old portraits of famous military leaders. I learned that Bolivia used to be lower Peru and ten years after Argentina gained independence, Bolivia fought for their independence as well and had help from Argentina. Most of the portraits and paintings we saw in the museums were really old and nothing was being done to preserve them. Some canvases were warping out of their frames and there wasn't any glass covering the canvases in their frames. Our next museum had a ton of old artifacts from the B.C era. We saw lots of pots and jars and bowls, not to mention a few preserved human bodies of adults and babies from this time. On one of the children we could still see toenails! There aren't any pictures from the museums because it cost extra to take pictures.

Around 5:30 pm a couple of us went back to take showers while two others went to buy our bus tickets home. I tried to take a nap but was only sitting down for a minute or so before they got back. As they opened the door the dog from the hostel came in and made itself comfortable on the end of my bed.

After sitting down at our hostel for a short while we left and stopped at Para Ti Chocolates (famous Bolivian chocolate store) to taste some chocolate and chat. We ended up talking about the dangers of Venezuela and shared horror stories of unfortunate travelers. After we'd scared ourselves enough we ventured back out into the main plaza and found a promising looking pizza place. There was literally no one in the restaurant when we arrived so we stood by the door deliberating whether or not to go in. Immediately about 20 people shuffled in past us and by the time the hordes parted enough for us to enter, there was one table left. We went in right away and grabbed the last table. The pizza was delicious and after we ate we found ourselves returning to Joyride for a drink. This time, mixed among the gringos, there were several Bolivians. We felt a little less touristy.

When we returned (a little after midnight) fireworks were going off somewhere in the distance. Two young guys were ringing the bell to the hostel constantly so the other two girls I was with went down to the gate to tell them that the lady they were looking for was not around. They didn't get the message and we didn't let them in so they rang the bell until after we all fell asleep. One of the girls woke up in the middle of the night really sick (we think maybe she ate something bad back in Cochabamba because she'd been feeling not great for several days) and she ended up laying low all day Sunday.

Sunday:

The rest of us got breakfast at Joyride and then we split up for the afternoon. As we walked through the plaza making our plans we saw a chess tournament! Or, if it wasn't a tournament it was a lot of people playing chess in the plaza. There were old men sitting on benches reading newspapers and little kids running around feeding the pigeons. It was really nice.

That afternoon I went with a friend to the dinosaur park just outside of the city while my other friend (who had missed the mirador Saturday due to being under the weather) went to check out what we'd already seen the day before. We took a cab to get to the dinosaur park and halfway there we were stopped by a cart race that had caused our road to be blocked off. People were lined along the roads to watch the race for as far down as I could see. We took a detour and made it eventually.

This is the large dinosaur replica outside the entrance to the Parque Cretácico:

These are the many goats we saw grazing around the foot of the dinosaur:

After getting tickets we watched a little video about dinosaurs and went on a tour through the park to look at replicas of dinosaurs and their skeletons. The friend I was with is Cátalan and he translated the tour for me. The park exists because not too long ago, as excavation for minerals to make cement was underway, they discovered dinosaur footprints in the rocks. We could see them on the wall in the distance in the picture below:

We could see dinosaur footprints going up the wall all over it. This is the 3rd place in Bolivia I've heard of that has found dinosaur footprints. The other two are Potosí and Toro Toro.

When we'd arrived at the park we had made a deal with our cab driver to come and pick us up at 1:30 pm because this area didn't seem to be getting a lot of traffic. While we waited for him we watched the goats and watched the Cholita on the hill who was controlling which way they went using a rope and a stone.

This is the Cholita controlling the goats:

Spot the pig! Hint: It's in the center of the picture (below).

We also saw sheep and a couple other pigs across the road roaming around through the grass and garbage. Our driver was over ten minutes late so we hopped a bus and headed back to town to meet with our other friend.

We had decided to meet up at the gazebo in the plaza. As we walked up to her I saw that she was talking to a homeless man who was asking for money. As he reached up to take her coins I saw that his hand was green and almost plant like in some parts and badly deformed. Apparently it was leprosy. I've never seen it before but it was pretty shocking.

We strolled around and grabbed a late lunch at a different restaurant near Joyride. The gringos that had been in Joyride next to us for breakfast were now eating lunch at this place. Gringos of a feather, flock together! We talked for awhile and then walked around to see the Supreme Court building before heading back to meet our friend in the hostel and to pack up to catch our 7:30 bus. In the cab ride to the bus terminal something really strange happened. One of my friends mentioned that the people on the motorbike behind us were really young. I turned around from the back of the cab to see a 14 year old girl driving and behind her on the bike was a 6 year old boy who, as I was watching, lifted up a gun, pointed it at us and turned it sideways. I immediately ducked down in my seat without thinking. My friend who had seen him didn't even flinch because she was sure it was a toy. Nothing happened to us but I stayed ducked down for another minute or so because I wasn't so sure it was a toy. It was a really weird sight.

The bus ride on the way back was extremely cold but this time our driver made two bathroom stops and didn't pick up any Cholita party girls (at least not that I know of). Somehow I actually slept a little and by the time we all got off the bus at 5:00 am in Cochabamba, we were exhausted. The four of us split up into two cabs to go to our separate areas of the city and didn't even say goodbye. It was a really fun trip and I had a blast with the friends I was with. Sucre, as you can see by the pictures, was really quaint and the feeling of community was so strong! There were several tourists but it was a quiet town that I'd go back to if I had time.

Today is Bolivian Independence Day!

No one had work today and yesterday there were parades all morning, afternoon, and night. Last night I went out with a few friends to a café and at midnight they turned the music off and everyone sang the national anthem and women started dancing with napkins (improvised scarves) in the 4 foot open area of the café to traditional music. Yesterday the center of town was a madhouse but today the center of town was dead. There were tons of vendors out selling street food but very few Bolivians. Nothing was open and the few restaurants that were open were out of food. Apparently today was family day so everyone has huge lunches at home and barbecues.

I hope everyone is enjoying their August! I'll update again soon!

Love,

Hillary