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Published: June 20th 2007
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SUCRE
Locals chatting in the town plaza After a quick stop in La Paz to find myself a new camera I jumped onto another bus and headed east this time to a town called Sucre. Sucre was where the declarion of independance occured and was once the policitical capital of Bolivia before La Paz took over the title as capital city. The Supreme Court is still found in Sucre and the town still holds importance within Bolivia. I had been told that the town was beautiful and on arriving I was stunned to see the buildings in this place. I felt like I had left Bolivia and arrived in another country. Sucre is full of old and very white fancy buildings dating back to when the town was more prominent in the country. There is a lot of money here as the nearby mines brought and still bring a lot of wealth to the town. It was very obvious that people who lived here had a lot more money that many people in other parts of Bolivia, and that they were also more educated. The town is also a university town so many students filled the plaza everyday and gave the town a great vibe. Also the
SUCRE
One of the rubbish collectors in town...no trucks here! other bonus was that the weather was a lot warmer here and the nights were no where near as cold as they had been in other parts of the country. I really didn´t do a lot here other than wander around the streets and take in the amazing architecture and enjoy the more cosmopolitian style of life that a lot of people lived. Saying that though there was definately still a Bolivian feel to the place. Along with all the people with money and the students there was still a lot of the indigenous people around working as they usually do. There was still the local comador (where the locals eat lunch and dinner), the juice ladies, local fresh produce markets and market stalls selling all sorts of things but no where near as many as in La Paz. I had a great time hanging out in these places buying lovely fresh fruit, drinking my daily fresh juice and eating my dinner in the comador. From the top of the hill at the Iglesia de Recoleta, which is church and also a lookout, you could see the town from a great view point. Also this gave great views of the
SUCRE
One of the lovely streets and buildings in Sucre surrounding mountians...I spent quite a while up here just relaxing and taking it all in. Many churches have been built in the town and hold great signifigance for the locals. They are maintained beautifully and as with all the other buildings are very white. I did spend a lot of time people watching in the plaza which was filled with a great mix of people form all different ages and backgrounds. Many young boys hang in the area and work as shoe shine boys, they are great at making you hand over money even when you don´t want a shoe shine. I was wearing my thongs and one came and asked if he could clean them, I couldn´t help but laugh, he then asked for some money which I didn´t give him, following that he asked if I could take a photo of something and show him which I did and then he asked me to take a photo of him - which I did knowing damned well that the next thing he was going to say was that it was going to cost me. Ahh you gotta give it to them for persistance. There were also many people trying
SUCRE
The lady that sold me fruit everyday...they sit like this all day in their stalls. to sell you items in the plaza and again they are very persistant - I am not sure why they think that if they stand there and ask you numerous times if you want something that you might just change your mind. I guess this is a hard way to make money and sometimes I felt as if they were nearly begging me to buy something. As usual you don´t have to go far to get what you want and a lot of the time it always finds it´s way to you. People selling freshly squeezed orange and grapefruit juice are constantly walking around the streets with their cart and will squeeze a lovely fresh juice on request.
Sucre to me was something completely different to other parts of this country. I really enjoyed my couple of days there and again this country amazed me with diversity. The buildings were amazing and the whole feel of the city was a great vibe and I found that the people were a lot more friendlier here than in La Paz. Night time was a hive of activity with all the locals out eating and then wandering around the streets. Actually once
SUCRE
The juice stands where you can get amazing fresh juices for all of about 50c....I have one everyday! you get out of La Paz and the big smoke people have been a lot more approachable and a lot more likely to smile and be friendly straight away. I would have liked to spend more time in Sucre, I think that you could spend weeks here, but I had to keep moving. Next stop is going to be the highest town in the world, Potosi.
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