A slight detour to the land of the T-Rex

---

Sometimes when you travel for an extended period of time, things end up happening which you just didn´t expect. Sometimes it´s great, and sometimes it´s diabolical. Luckily for us, our excursion to Sucre was not the latter.

We had been intending on going straight from La Paz, which we returned to after biking the DANGEROUS ROAD, to Potosi, in the south of Bolivia. However, when we went to the bus station to book our ticket, we realised that the bus to Potosi was basically a hunk of junk, and the one to Sucre, which was just 2 hours northeast of Potosi, was a lovely cama (bed) bus where we would probably get some kip whilst on our journey. A typical Bolivian bus, no matter what the distance travelled, does not have a baños (bathroom) and so when we were told that this one to Sucre did, we were sold. We were therefore unimpressed when boarding the bus to find out that it was out of order, and just like any normal trip, we would have to piss against a wall at a designated stop if the urge arose!

We arrived in Sucre at around 7am with nowhere to stay, and both of us still high as kites on sleeping pills. Needless to say, ordering breakfast became a bit of an ordeal (what did i order again.....oh no, not bread and jam again), but we managed to get through it and find a great little hostel/hotel to stay in. It was called 7e Hostel, and if anyone reading this is going to Sucre, i couldn´t recommend it highly enough. Pretty quiet joint, definitely not a party hostel, but the people who worked there were so lovely, the rooms were great, the showers hot (for once) and the price was right (US$5 each).

On the first morning there, i for some unknown reason, decided to take some intensive Spanish lessons. 8 hours of 1 on 1 lessons over 3 days was going to be tough, and it got even tougher when we decided to go out and get lashed on 2 of the 3 nights that we were there. Anyway, i got through it, and am glad to have done it as my Spanish, whilst not being anywhere near passable, is alot better than it was.

The main attraction of Sucre, if not it´s beautiful buildings and nice parks (a rarity in Bolivia), is the dinosaur park. Basically, there is a slight amusement park out of town, where they have discovered dinosaur prints fossiled into the rocks (both Josh and I are slightly dubious of their authenticity), and built a park next to it complete with massive replicas of dinosaurs. Seriously, we were like little kids in a lolly shop. We just ran around, taking photos in front of all these things, and wasted so much time doing it that i didnt even get a chance to check out the footprints through the telescope as the bus was leaving without us. And when i say leaving without us, i mean literally leaving without us, as we saw it exiting the carpark as we were leaving. A mad chase ensued but we made it back safe and sound.

All up we had a great time in Sucre, and managed to catch up with some friends from our travels along the way which was great.

Next stop, Potosi and a tour of the Silver Mines.

---