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Published: December 27th 2007
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The second half of our stay in Sucre was much better. The rain stopped and the sun came out. We were even able to wear shorts and sandals occasionally!
Our day out to Jurassic Park was interesting. The hostal owner told us to take "Micro A" to the end of the line which was the entry gates to the park. That would have been the case but our driver went home for lunch, or at least that's how it seemed, and we were left with a 20 minute walk past the smell cement works. Then we had to climb a muddy slope to the gates as the road up isn't quite built yet, in fact they are still excavating it!!
Once inside we were treated to half an hour of the BBC's Dinosaur documentary (royalties presumably paid in full!) before joining a guided tour of the life-sized models of dinos and the interesting interpretation centre. The wall of dinosaur footprints, apparently the largest such collection in the world, can now only be seen from a distance. That's a shame but necessary for their protection. Still, we got a good view through the binoculars and a better idea of their
size from the plaster casts in the centre.
All in all we paid 40 Bolivianos (£2.80) for our entry, bus ride, camera permit and binoulars. That's about half what it costs for an organised tour with an agency, and the tour inside the park would be the same one anyway.
We filled our remaining days in Sucre exploring lesser known areas. One day we took "Micro 4" to its final stop at the military school on the Potosi road. From there we were able to walk around the grounds of
Castillo de la Glorieta, a folly-like castle which used to house an orphanage in its gardens. It is currently undergoing lengthy restorations so you can't go inside, but you can walk around and peer through the windows. In the 1930s a rich couple from Sucre found they couldn't have children and adopted 100 orphans, 50 boys and 50 girls. They housed them in a specially built orphanage in the castle grounds and even built them a miniature railway to get to and from the main gates. None of this exists any more but it was a lovely story.
We also took advantage of the good weather to
Footprints
Trish demostrates just how big they are do a wonderful walk outside the town. The aim was to visit the "7 Cascadas", a series of waterfalls, but when seen from above it seems that you need to be much deeper into the rainy season for it to be worth visiting. The walk was fantastic though. At the end of "Micro Q" there is a 5 or 6 km walk to the bottom of the valley, then you have to follow the river to the waterfalls. With blackening skies and increasingly frequent rumbles of thunder, we didn't continue to the falls, but they looked like they would be disappointing anyway. Instead we stopped for lunch and watched as goats, sheep, bulls, pigs, dogs and children wandered past our peaceful riverside spot. Fortunately none of them were interested in us! The climb back uphill wasn't easy and we were relieved halfway back to flag down a taxi to take us to Micro Q.
That evening we saw an open-air puppet show in the plaza. It was interesting but quite clearly on a political theme. We heard plenty of shouts of "Viva Sucre" and it seemed rather pro-government rather than pro-autonomy.
On our final full day we visited
Footprint Spotting
The wall Trish is looking at is full of dinosaur footprints the
Mercado Campesino. It was half the price of the central market and we enjoyed tasting the wares and bartering for better prices.
So, it is possible to fill a week in Sucre. We've had a great time and met some lovely people, especially those in the Hostal Pachamama. Then it was on to Santa Cruz, flying with AeroSur, after a couple of hours delay due to a "technical fault", or maybe it was the children riding their bikes across the runway!
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