Sucre, Bolivia´s Constitutional Capital

Well here I am in Sucre, Bolivia. Its a great city actually, full of interesting little surprises. My expectations of Bolivia were not great, particularly given the introduction (eg. Potosi), and all the warnings, but I was to be pleasantly impressed with this city indeed. Its quite a modern bustling cosmopolitan centre, containing all the things you would expect a large city to have. People, for the most part, are very well dressed, and the "in your face" poverty is far less observable here. Though it does still exists, in fact five minutes ago while sitting at the computer in this internet place, a small child came in with a box of sweets asking me to buy some. Its always hard to say no, but if you don´t where do you stop? Most of the women in the city favour modern clothing and the traditional garb does not seem to be that common, probably one in ten at a guess. There is quite a large military presence, and police in green uniforms packing pretty deadly weapons are quite common - a constant reminder of the inherent risks I suppose.

I´m using Sucre to just chill out. The last couple of weeks have been extremely hectic, given the desert crossing, altitude and the stress of Potosi. Most of us feel exhausted to be honest. We were given the opportunity of another two bus rides (and a night in bumblefook, nowhere) as we make our way to La Paz, or take a flight and spend another two nights here. Errr, its a no brainer considering the cost is only USD$100 including flights, accommodation and taxi fares. And this is a great place to just chill, however the internet is slow, and I´m having uploading the pics for my entries. In fact to upload 10 photos has taken nearly 2 hours, and its still not finished!  Hmm, maybe I better try somewhere else tomorrow.

Sucre, Bolivia - a great place to chill out

Our accommodation is nothing short of outstanding (see the pics), and the food has been awesome! Though our guide constantly reminds us of the dangers of not eating at "recommended" restaurants. One of the girls in our tour has been sick for a week with dystentry, which she´s now treating with antibiotics. Thankfully I´ve been left alone in that department. In fact its the opposite! How does that work in freaking Bolivia I´ll never know. Perhaps I should just go out and buy some dried llama skin, pickled guinea pig brains or something unidentifyable at a street stall..haha!

Anyway I have run out of patience with this uploading today ... so will call it quits guys. Hope this finds everyone well, and I´ll log in sometime soon for another attempt and a better rundown of this city.... So stay tuned .....

Cheers,

Wendy

PS... Well here I am updating this blog for the first time in like 2 weeks!!  Sucre, Well what an interesting little package that place is! It was a great place to chill and just wander around the town, which is kind of rural/urban, and many of the women there (at least 60% wear the traditional dress). We happened to be there over the Easter weekend, which in a predominantly Catholic country meant it was pretty much impossible to even buy a bloody beer! Nevertheless, we ended up at some of the gringo bars, which kicked us out at 11:00 after only OJ´s and cokes. Funny eh? But I guess the same rules do apply in most western countries, so we shouldn´t have been too disappointed. I find the gringo bars a bit, I dunno, annoying sometimes I guess. Its just that all you see there are travellers and few locals. Personally I´d rather chat to the locals and get to know them and their likes and dislikes rather than exchanging travelogues with people like me. Just a thought :)

Anyway next day a few of us decided to miss out on the night bus (ugh!) and opted on a flight option to La Paz (a no-brainer really!) Sure beats sitting up all night for 16 hours or something, rather than another night chilling in Sucre and a 1 hour flight the next day (all up $USD100 extra) so not a bad decision I reckon:)

Anyway the next day had about 6 of us up and taxing to the airport where we arrived in La Paz in the middle of the day, about 8 hours earlier than those who stayed on the night bus.

Next blog ... La Paz...

PPS.. guys, you`ll have to forgive the lack of photos here... the internet speeds over here are well .... hmmm ... so waiting til Lima where I can hopefully get some photos up and running ... some of them are pretty amazing ... even if I say so myself!! haha!!  So watch this space!!

Take care all....

Love w

xx