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Published: June 27th 2007
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Today feeling much healthier and livelier we decided to do a short self-guided tour around Sucre, the highest city of its' kind. A lovely day with fantastic views in store, we headed up the cathedral La Merced for rooftop views of the city. The city looked so European, with whitewashed terracotta smart houses with courtyards, all lined up the hilly landscape. Also visible were palm-lined squares with interesting sculptures, lots of ornate cathedrals such as San Francisco cathedral, university and government colonial-styled buildings, great views.
The church itself was very decorative inside with gold detail, but a fairly plain ceiling. It looked like it needed a bit of maintenance, and health and safety standards were limited, with a plank of wood lined across the winding high staircase to access the rooftop. We soon realised that some sort of demonstration was taking place in the streets, so we avoided these areas as they noisily marched through the streets with their fireworks and banners. Luckily this did not last long and there was an increased police presence. The city is also famous for its' dinosaur archaeological prints situated nearby. The city has played on this theme a little, by having enormous dinosaur
models and dinosaur plastic phones situated throughout the city!
Then we wandered up to the Joy Rider Cafe, often filled with gringos, to enjoy some soup, tea and orange, on the way to our recovery! Then we walked around the tree-lined square, past more colonial buildings to the park 'Parque Libertador Simon Bolivar', where there was a Eiffel-Tower play structure for children. The park was very impressive, with a French flavour, lots of well-maintained shrub beds and a nice water fountain. After we wandered further to try and find a post-office, before heading up the opposite end of the city towards the ornate graveyard 'Cementerio General'. Along the way the housing was in disrepair, some however had a lot of character and style, there seemed to be quite a mix of standards and classes.
We met one very persistent lady beggar, and a lot of the women wear different head-dresses. Some with huge bowler-style hats and brightly-woven fabrics, which they fold and wrap around their necks, so they hang off their backs containing their wares or even their offspring! We saw a beautiful small white-washed church, before we finally reached the graveyard. The graveyard was very elegant, tree-lined
cathedral La Merced
Lots of gold detail with fir trees, with a focal statue at the end, and enormous tombstones for entire families. At the end they also had an area where there were small glass-treasury boxes, their most sentimental belongings were displayed here. It was a very peaceful environment, extremely well maintained with elaborate shrub borders and evergreen trees.
Then we had to head back, as yes we had another 10 hour night bus, to take us to La Paz, 3660 metres high, the highest city. This was one of our worse journeys, as the bus was fairly uncomfortable and crowded. None of the windows seemed to shut properly so everyone situated next to the window froze. There was no toilet on the bus so we had to use a few holes in the ground facilities along the way.
One of the places we stopped at was a cafe in disrepair, selling multiple camembert cheeses melting gradually over time - like a bad dream! Then at 9pm, just as we were thinking of attempting to sleep a very old film was put on starring Michael Caine, but of course in Spanish. On the way we travelled through some bustling towns. The locals were selling
a random array of items from the bottom-floor of their houses, some using the old-fashioned measuring techniques.
At midnight, additional passengers boarded the bus, and as there were no seats available they had to lye down in the aisles. Invading our personal space somewhat, kicking us and using our armrests. Little sleep was obtained from there-on, especially as the temperature was getting colder! We had to keep a close eye on our valuables - which was somewhat difficult in the pitch-black. A journey most of us will never forget! We forgot to mention the numerous shoe-shining boys, often distracted by children's' T.V., children selling sweets, the guitarist and the singing boys who all hopped on our bus at various points to try and sell us something/or offer a service, or who just wished for a donation. At 5am we arrived on the outskirts of the city centre, where we then disembarked our additional passengers. The remaining seated passengers finally arrived at the bus terminal in the early hours at 5.20am.
We then hopped in our taxi, which was steamed up so we had to stop frequently to wipe the windows for visibility before reaching the hostal Andina. We
managed to book into our rooms early to catch up on some much needed sleep (in fact a room for three allowing us extra room), where we would reside for the next few days. The hostal is decorated in strange sea-side murals and pleasant communal areas. The were great views of the city and snow-peaked Mt Illamani, and the buildings clinging to the sides of the canyon. The original reserved accommodation had been given to another larger party that required the rooms for a longer period - a practice often carried out over here!
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