Last person out, turn off the lights, there's a dinosaur about!!

South America » Bolivia » Chuquisaca Department » Sucre
June 8th 2005

Published: July 23rd 2006

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Gerry and Denise

Food stall and dog in Parque Bolivar, Sucre

The lady is trying to explain the dog is not hers!

Four boys played tennis in the departure lounge of Sucre airport oblivious to the chaos outside. The members of Congress had just flown in to get away from their usual haunt of La Paz and the madness that was ensuing there. The President had just resigned and they needed somewhere to convene to discuss the appointment of a new President. Problem was, the trouble followed them! Crowds of protesters were awaiting them at the airport and we had to struggle past them to go into the airport to get a flight to our friend's in Cochabamba (still in Bolivia). As we sat forlornly looking out the window at the heavily-armed commandos surrounding the airport there was an announcement in Spanish, then in garbled English, that this would be the last flight from Sucre, after which all the airlines were going on strike. We breathed a sigh of relief as we taxied down the runway, leaving behind one of the most dangerous airports in the world (due to the surrounding mountains and short runway, not just the protesters!).

On 4th June we had eventually made it through all the roadblocks (see last entry for more details) from Potosi to Sucre (162kms

Cretaceous Park, Sucre

north). Sucre was founded in 1538 and is actually the official capital of Bolivia, although La Paz has the honour of holding the seat of the presidency and congress. It's a lovely place with lots of beautiful white-washed old colonial buildings, hence the reason it's sometimes called "La Ciudad Blanca de Las Americas" (the White City of the Americas). The historic city centre was declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1991.

You've heard of Jurassic Park, well we visited Cretaceous Park (Cal Orko mountain) on the outskirts of Sucre! Set in a working limestone quarry, giant dinosaur prints were found by workers in 1994. It turned out to be the world's largest collection of dinosaur footprints, with over 5000 of them from 150 different types of dinosaur! Quite a remarkable find on an almost verticle wall of stone. A tour guide showed us around, carefully negotiating our way inbetween giant quarry trucks and bulldozers.

Flying out of Sucre we wondered whether our friends (actually friends of Gerry's family, as we had never met them), Helen and Mario would be able to meet us at Cochabamba airport as that city had also been blockaded up to then. However,

Cathedral Basilica, Sucre

as we walked into the arrivals hall at Cochabamba's lovely new airport there they were, much to our relief! The blockade had been lifted that day!

Helen has been a missionary in Bolivia for nearly 30 years and has not lost her broad Carluke (Scottish) accent one little bit! It was just like being at my auntie's house in Forth (Scotland), right down to the big fry-up we were treated to and the cakes served with coffee! After a filling dinner we sat down to watch the national news and watched horrified as protesters battled with armoured police in the streets of Sucre, where we had just come from. The very place we had sat eating dinner the night before was sealed off and filled with eye-stinging tear gas with police camped at one end of the road and the protesters starting fires at the other end. Sadly some people were killed.

Helen and Mario had been contacted by the British consulate with a warning that if things got worse to be ready to pack up! We knew that various countries had aeroplanes lined up in neighbouring Peru to fly in and evacuate their citizens if necessary. The

Shoe shine, Plaza 25 de Mayo, Sucre

Israelies had already flown some people out, including a young couple from our hostel in Sucre.

We had already booked a flight from Cochabamba to Cusco in Peru, via La Paz for 2 days later. Fortunately, congress appointed a new President that night and the protesters said they would lift the blockades for 10 days, so we were able to catch our flight out of the country without any trouble. So it was with some regret that we had to leave Helen and her family and Bolivia, about a week earlier than we had planned. I had particularly wanted to visit La Paz and to cycle down the world's most dangerous road to Coroico, but alas it was not to be!

On to Cusco, the ancient capital of the Incas!

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