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Published: July 23rd 2006
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The city of Scure is nice: very much on the gringo trail - you spot lots of tourists trying their best not to look like tourists then you go to certain pubs and you could be in a pub in either England or the States. Some pubs actually advertise in the lobby of our hostel as the preferred
gringo hangout! Granted we went there on Sunday during the race car rally and sure enough it was filled with non-locals watching the World Cup but the food was good.
Orginally, we planned to take the train southward but we missed the weekly 315PM train because the laundry we turned in on Monday morning wasn't going to be ready on time! Ugh, the nice owner said it would be ready at 4PM which meant staying an extra night in Santa Cruz and NO GO on taking the Wednesday train south! Total bummer but as travel doesn't always go as planned or hoped we enjoyed the extra day bought our tickets on the next morning bus out of town heading to Sucre.
We would have preferred the train over the 12 hour bus journey any day but
what do ya'do? Arriving quite
tired out from the journey we hopped into a taxi and headed for Hostel Sucre gave ourselves a treat by staying in one of the nicer places in the centre walking distance from pretty much everything offered to tourist. Our favorite by far was the tower it was nothing like we imagined based on the map your given by the hotel. There it looks like the Effiel tower - towering over the trees you think oh, we'll get a great view of the city from there then you get there and realize it's some sort of joke, nothing like the Effiel, the trees of the park tower above it and the only view to be had is of the people sitting below on comfy park benches and the walkways.
Other attractions include the Mirador with very nice views, the building where the Bolivian Declaration was signed - the House of Liberty - plus the cemetery (you can opt for a guide we decided we wern't really interested in the history of the dead) and walked around the beautiful park-like cemetery on our own.
While we were in the White City we wanted to see one of the main
attractions the fossilized dinosaur tracks at the cement quary/factory. We had an excellent guide the place is open daily at 10am 12,30 and 15pm we took a taxi and waited for the gates to open while most people seems to take the
Dino Truck...
Our guide explained a bit about the history and preservation efforts taking place in the near future. He also told us that we were probably one of the last tour groups to be allowed upclose the the fossils as a new viewing platform with life size replicas of its former inhabitants was to be opening in a couple of weeks time by 'Evo' the president of Bolivia.
After the tour we walked down the hill in what was apparently not a good neighboorhood according the a taxi we hailed down to take us to the center. As soon as we got in he said you (meaning tourist in general) shouldn't walk around here this whole area is known (by locals) as a place where you can be robbed of your camera etc. Thankfully, Sean with his crazy man beard and me sort of blend in until we speak then it's obvious we are
cemetary is a local attraction
more like a park people strolling not from around these parts... it was the middle of the day and it was probably too hot for people to do anything too exhausting like thieving?
When we returned to the hotel we asked about information to leave town - because there was a rally car race due to take place in town the next day, basically using the town streets as a high-speed race course - and the most unhelpful receptionist was like
I'll call and let you know when you get back...
but you know instantly it's the kind of put off response and that they aren't going to make the call for you - they just can't be bothered and sure enough when we returned in the evening and I asked what she found out. She was like
oh, there was no answer let me try again then proceeded to ring the station knowing she wouldn't get an answer!
At this point we knew we'd be spending on other night in Sucre so we had our laundry to pick up and did so watched the race from the dinning balcony at breakfast it was fun then down on street level it was kinda scary as the cars drive down the middle
of the street full speed ahead and there aren't really any barriers to protect people should the driver over adjust while racing but the police have their whistlles to blow to warn everyone to get off the road and back on the walkways!
the next day we finally left for Potosi ...
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