Sucre...short but sweet

South America » Bolivia » Chuquisaca Department » Sucre
May 29th 2010

Published: July 6th 2010

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The busy streets and market outside our bedroom window

We arrived in Sucre at 7am and Lisa got chatting to a couple of English girls in the bus terminal to see if they could recommend any hostels, but they’d only just arrived too, so we got into a taxi with a friendly driver who recommended a few places which we went to check out. The first one we looked at was, to say the least, a little stinky as the bathroom was in the room, which is fine in itself, but seeing as there’s no ventilation, en-suite is never going to work. The next stop was Torino, which seemed nice, even though it was right next to an apparently never closing market, right outside our window. The bathrooms were great and pretty new, the best yet actually, and we had a private room. As we were feeling a little sleepy, we had a quick nap before heading out to discover Sucre.

Sucre's a UNESCO World Heritage site, with beautiful architecture and a nice climate all year round. In fact, (and rather wonderfully I think), neon signs are banned from being put up in the city meaning it has kept its traditional charm, and all the buildings have to be

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Sucre streets

whitewashed once a year to keep them looking fresh. Another great idea, although brainless fools still graffiti all over the walls with their crappy, uninspired tags. If you're going to create some street art, make it good!

Feeling refreshed, we went in search of somewhere to do our much needed laundry and then had a tasty lunch at Abi’s Cafe on Plaza 25 de Mayo, where they serve great sandwiches, although the enjoyment was slightly spoiled by a few street kids gawping at us through the window, asking for money/food/drugs. Then off for some culture to the Museo Universitario Charcas, which unfortunately was no great highlight as we had no guide, there were far too many pots, artefacts and old bits and pieces with not enough information to tell you what you’re really looking at. There was a nice courtyard though and the building the museum is housed in is beautiful. By this point, it was too late to do all the other cultural jaunts we had planned, so we shopped for supplies, before taking a micro to the bus terminal to get yet more bus tickets. The micros are small minibus-type vehicles that pick people up and drop

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them off at various points around the city. The seats are tiny and Ian could barely get his legs in but it meant we saw some more of the city. After that, the usual of checking the Internet, drinking some rum and playing some cards before dinner at Napolitana, where Ian had pizza and Lisa had a yummy veggie lasagne, followed by a few more drinks and a DVD back at the hostel before beddy-byes.

We woke up late and went to grab a bite to eat as we wanted to get to Cal Orko, a mountain nearby the city that is home to the world's largest dinosaur footprionts in the world - cool! - before catching our bus. But, what with our luck, we chose the slowest serving restaurant ever, Joy Ride Cafe, where the food was great but it meant we had no real time to do much before our bus left. So we wandered around a bit, saw some random protests in the square, people watched, checked the Internet and then said goodbye to Sucre, after a short but sweet trip. Back to the bus terminal again and onto another crappy bus!!!! We’ll be glad to