Bits and bobs

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Having been here in Sucre for 3 weeks now, we have decided to move on elsewhere. We realised that the 10 days we gave ourselves to see the Amazon, Lake Titicaca and Machu Picchu wasn´t enough so we cut the stay short by a week so we could fit it all in. The next stop will be Potosi before taking a bus up to La Paz.

My last post had details (sort of) of all the various things we´ve been doing here in Sucre so this is just going to be a poorly organised rambling of observations that we´ve gathered up over the past 3 weeks. So here goes:

First things first: there are tumbleweeds in the telephone wires. I don´t know how or why they´re there but they are. Maybe telephone wires are always making bad jokes, I don´t know. There is an extraordinary lack of bins, by which I mean a complete absence of bins, save for a few in the main Plaza and Parque Bolivar. It makes no sense to me. There is litter everywhere on the roads because people just drop it wherever they please. The other day I saw a woman just drop a banana skin on the pavement. I mean come on, that´s pretty bulky litter. Maybe she was just an incredibly retro practical joker. If that was the case, I salute you whole-heartedly Madam, but knowing people's attitudes to littering here I doubt she was unfortunately. Continuing on a vaguely similar vein, urinating on the street is also not hugely uncommon. I´m taking a piss right now in fact. I can sort of understand it when its out in the suburbs on some rubble heap but when your walking through the very centre of the city, past some reasonably classy restaurant and you see the chef weeing behind a jeep on the main road I think it´s taking it a bit far. I mean he´s a chef! Surely his restaurant has a toilet?

SAS. I´m not talking about the Special Air Service here, nor the Stinking Ape Society. No, this is the name of Sucre´s main supermarket, that seems to have everything: a bookshop, a hairdresser, about 20 banks, a cinema, a homeware store, a launderette, a supermarket (obviously) and also a club, that nestles between the tinned goods aisle and the meat counter. Ok the club is actually on the roof. Its quite impressive. It has an outdoor patio area that has the most incredible view over the city at night, and the indoor bar/club area is pretty swanky as well. It feels pretty VIP, if you ignore the walk through the supermarket and cinema to get to the entrance. Its also free which is always a bonus.

The micros are these cool little minibuses that are the main form of public transportation around the city. You hail it wherever you want and just ask to get off whenever you want as well. I could literally get on at one place and then ask to get off 2 metres down the road. It would certainly make the exhausting 20m walk from here to our house a lot quicker. The only bad thing about them for me is that the ceilings are pretty low so if I have to stand up I do feel a tad ridiculous (not that I don't always feel ridiculous being 6 ft 7 in a country of...well... people who aren't 6 ft 7). Other than that I think they´re actually pretty fun to use. They also only cost 15p regardless of your destination. As such, we had a very pleasant day trip to hawaii the other week. Good old micros.

We often (by often I mean twice (a frankly pathetic number of visits to warrant calling it often, I apologise)) go to this great little pizzeria just round the corner from our house. It has a proper wood-fire oven and they´re fairly cheap as well, as I suppose most things are here. There´s also a very nice cheap Chinese restaurant we´ve been to a couple of times. The top floor has the lowest beams I think in the world, ever. They´re low even for a regular sized person like me. I don´t know how tall people cope there.

Ok I can´t really think of anymore observations right now and if I´m honest I´d quite like to go and buy some cheap biscuits, drink 5 cups of tea off the same bag and watch TV. If I do think of more though I´ll add them on. Maybe. (Probably not though). Just go to Will´s blog, his is longer and more detailed than mine. Sorry for this sudden laziness.

Adios.

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