Blogs from Tarabuco, Chuquisaca Department, Bolivia, South America

We were up early on our last day in Sucre to catch the bus to the famous Tarabuco markets which are held every Sunday in Tarabuco village about 64 klms from the city. The countryside that we passed through was stunning, the hills were multi coloured layers of rock strata and we also passed several canyons. It was very dry - however I’m not sure that the region would get much rain so probably looks like that all the time. The little town was buzzing when we got off the bus. The main tourist stalls were spread out around the main square - they were ablaze with colourful shawls, textiles and an endless amount of alpaca hats, socks and jumpers. There were, as expected, many tourists shopping and taking photographs. We first visited a shop run ... read more

A environ 1h30 de Sucre, se trouve un petit village, Tarabuco, où prend forme, à tous les dimanches, un important marché. Les paysans des villages voisins, s'y déplacent soit afin d'y présenter leur marchandise, soit afin d'acheter le nécessaire pour la semaine, ou bien les deux. Avec les années, le marché est devenu un attrait touristique, au point tel où, pendant un certain mois d'une certaine année, les locaux avaient décidé d'annuler le marcher, fatigués paraît-il, de voir débarquer des bus chargés de touristes, la Nikon pendant au cou. Alors, touristes voyeurs que nous sommes, assoiffés de moments particuliers du quoditien des peuples visités, nous y sommes allés. Nous avons tentés de nous faire tout petits, espérant ne pas nuire aux activités du lieu, et avec un peu de chance, avoir l'occasion d'interagir un petit peu ... read more

Even though the Sunday market in the village of Tarabuco is quite a touristic experience, it is still used by the locals of the pueblos to come together, buy and barter and stock up their food supply for the next week(s). Some people leave their villages before dawn in order to walk or ride their mules and donkeys to the market. On Tarabuco market you can buy everything from locally produced food, souvenirs and artscraft to electronic goods, clothes, music and offerings to Patchamama (Mother Earth). For most of the locals the market is quite a big issue: This is why many of them dress up to show their colourful local costumes. We were lucky to arrive at the market really early at around 9am. At this time we were the only tourists there and we ... read more

I have now reached saturday 12th in my summary of the past few days. On the morning of Saturday, I meet lisa, galen, tristan to take a taxi to puka puka. They have been in Sucre to buy 1000 (later to be 3000) trees to plant in the village, and also to buy materials to build male and female urinals (I have been quickly initiated into the gritty details of toliet building, the problems, the different styles and methods. Again, as i am sure you are pleased to hear, i will come back to this later!) So, loaded up with pipes, urinals, tubes etc, we set off in the taxi. For the next hour and a half we happily chew coca, eat biscuits and observe the barren scenery. The most noticable thing about the countryside ... read more