Dinoasaur footprints, shopping, colourful peole!

Sucre, the constitutional capital of Bolivia- is a beautiful city, surrounded by mountains, european styled houses and cobbled stoned side streets.

travelling in our group of six
mario (australia), alex (england), helen(england), rachael (Florida,US), Lacy(US) and Pierce(england)- we hire taxis from Potosi to Sucre and arrive at 9:30pm. our taxi arrived a half hour earlier- it seems he thought that it was a rally race, or that the coccaine police were behind him!! our reservations had been cancelled for some reason, and we were left wondering the streets tryin to find a hostel- finally found one next to the awakening stench of garbage and vomit- Hostel Charcas. first thing in the morning, we made a move to Sucre backpacker hostel. a white washed spanish style hostel, with curved arches and colourful plants. too bad about the staff running it!

As i was about to board a tourist bus, i bumped into my friend from uni- Amrita and her boyfriend Ben- unfortunately they were heading off that evening! we climbed the tourist bus heading to THE WORLD´S LARGEST EXHIBIT OF DINOSAUR FOOTPRINTS!!! long ago, volcanic reuption wiped out these creatures. and with nature´s force, they reerupted from beneath the surface- tectonic plates caused a large chunk to rise perpendicular allowing the footprints to become vissible for our generation. and it was found accidentally whilst mining the local area! footprints of various dinosaurs- not sure what they are called ow...have to ask my nieces and nephews. i think pentasaraus, odinosaurus, carnesaurous- you can see there footsteps as they were going to water sources, or the areas where they had bee fighting among each other- it was amazing!! we were able to put our hands in the footprints...soon this will no longer exist as you will only be able to view them from a high platform with binoculars!

went to my favourite museum so far in south america- Arte Indigenie- depicting the locals culture- mainly Macha, Tarabuco and Jacl'a tribes. their weaving techniques, beautiful dance, music, costumes and culture. Perfect for the leadup to the famous sunday markets 65km away in the town of Tarabuco.

Tarabuco- definitely a tourist trap! stalls filled with weavings, beanies, gloves made from alpaca or lama wool. After someone told me that it would cost US$22 to send 10kg back home, i decided to start going crazy wth shopping...very colourful markets! people in traditional costume. it seems the women are the burden beareers and do all the carrying!
even eating in the restaurant was an experience, as people would interrupt you while you are eating and try and sell u things...very poor people indeed. it would actually affect to see men, my dad´s age coming up to me and begging for food or money or to buy something. one man that came in, we gave him portions of each of our food- the man scoughed it down in a matter of minutes. i didnt like it however when he aked me for money when i asked him if i could take a photo- charity doesn´t really reward in these countries! but you can´t help but feel sorry for these people who live in one of the poorest countries in south America!

saturday (the night before), we partied in a club called Mitos- again i have to say- Bolivian are not attractive people!!! the cheesiest music, we strated making requests for songs in Spanish. Reguetton i shuge heere also (this is a music that is a mix between salsa and rap...hmm.....not sure how to really describe it!! but its great...you may have heard of Dadee Yankee). i love the songs ¨Lo que paso paso¨ and ¨Bailando¨!

finally good food- stuffed our faces with mexican, chocolate, swiss food (my first fondue!!!)...and even more deserts!!!

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