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Published: July 19th 2012
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We continued to move north to another of Bolivia’s cities named Sucre. Sucre is known as the Ciudad Blanca (The White City) as the main centre is amassed with whitewashed buildings. This makes for a very attractive place indeed. The main square was definitely one of my favourite squares so far because the surrounding structures were kept immaculately. Sucre turned into a place for a bit of relaxation too. By the time we arrived here, we were both recovering from sickness due to the extremes on the Salt Flats coupled with the dusty mines in Potosi, if I was being honest we were pretty shattered. A welcome distraction was the Euro 2012 so after doing exploring of the city in the mornings (or after a sleep in) our afternoons were spent sipping on beers watching the games. It was great!
The Gringo scene here seemed more prominent than the other places in Bolivia so far. There were lots of bars geared towards foreigners and these were packed most of the time. It is meant to be one of the best places in SA to learn Spanish so that is also a draw here for many.
On our first night,
I ended up going to a salsa night in one of these foreign pubs. The teacher wasn’t really a teacher but more showed some random steps to all the backpackers and left them to it. To be honest that’s probably the best approach because most people were just up for a laugh. I was just delighted to hear constant salsa music and to help out a few people who wanted to know a bit more. Sipping on mojitos with a gang of multinational backpackers, having the odd dance was nice. As the night progressed though some good Bolivian dancers showed up and I was in my element! It was so good to be dancing again because it had been way too long. One guy in particular was very good so I spent a lot of time dancing with him and his friends. Some of the others dance Cuban style but in the SA way (up close and personal) so it was a bit more difficult to dance with them. The Gringos were done with their salsa early than I would have liked so I decided to stay on and danced away until the end at 2pm. It was cool because
there were literally no other foreigners dancing and I felt like I had just slotted into the normal Friday night here in Bolivia J
Another nice part of the stay in Sucre was our fantastic hostel. It was run by a swiss French couple but was a big step up from recent places. Our room was massive and there were lots of little courtyards, a nice tv/dvd room and it just helped us to relax more. The only downside was that each morning from about 4.30am two roosters would start having a competition to see who could crow the longest. This is in the middle of the city. Can you imagine in Dublin or Galway having neighbours that decided to have roosters in the garden next door, it wouldn’t happen!!!
I don’t think I have mentioned how good they make chicken in Bolivia. If you think that southern fried chicken or KFC is the business then you haven’t met the king of all chicken. Here all along the streets in the different cities there are BROASTER POLLO outlets. Again they all sell the same thing but the sell it well and serve it well. It truly is delicious.
Its deep fried chicken and you can get any size portion you want with big roast potatoes that cook in the rotisserie chicken fat and lots of salad. For both of us it would cost about 5 US dollars for half a chicken each, potatoes, salad and a big litre bottle of coke. Now that’s amazing!
On our last evening we decided to trek up to a mirador (viewpoint) that overlooks the city for sunset. Sucre is surrounded by hills that also house lots of the city’s residents so it makes for a good steep walk to see some of the city. We walked up the steep cobblestoned streets to find an arched mirador next to a lovely square and church where the locals all played football and the day ended. Of course we took some beers to watch the sun disappear behind the mountains in the distance. It was really chilled but also good to see the locals in their natural environment. The way of life here seems really easy going, family seems important and although many have little there is happiness, calm and just enjoyment among friends and family. It is really lovely to see!
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