Sucre

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Finally I left the cold Uyuni and travelled to Sucre, hoping for sunshine- it didn't disappoint! The bus journey,however, was horrid. The coldest bus i have ever been on and they didn't supply blankets 😞 No wonder the ticket was so cheap! I had to cuddle my bag to try and retain some heat, i was literally shivering! Had hardly any sleep and arrived in sucre in the middle of the night! As there was no electricity in Uyuni when we left, we couldn't book a hostel in Sucre. Myself and Camille met two people in the bus station also looking for a hostel so we all got on a taxi in search of a bed. People were still out partying! The first hostel we made it to opened at 9am..great! We then asked the taxi driver to take us somewhere else and, thankfully, the hostel let us in for a little extra charge so we could go straight to bed!

i hadn't had any internet access for about 4/5 days so was such a relief to be able to tell Stuart I was safe! I didn't realise how important the internet was. I then went to bed and could not warm up. We had booked ourselves in to the coldest hostel in the world...or so I thought! We complained to the woman at the desk and made sure we had an extra blanket for the next night (it actually turned out that the extra blanket made us way too hot! I think, because we were so freezing getting in to bed from the journey, we couldn't actually warm up in bed! Next trip- bring a water bottle!)

While i was in bed, I could hear a band playing...was I going mad? It sounded like they were right outside the door! The sound from the band would fade away then would appear again right outside our building. I was wondering what on earth was going on! When we asked the lady at the desk for directions to the market for food, she warned us to keep our bags safe as there were hundreds of people in the street celebrating their independence day. We walked outside and saw lines of people in matching colours in a parade procession down the street. People were selling food here, there and everywhere (mainly sweets and cakes 😊 )

We made it eventually, through the crowds, to the market. Someone I had met on Death Road had told me to get the chorizo sandwich from the second floor so I went straight there! It didn't disappoint. The market was packed out, a very popular place! We then went downstairs into the courtyard for a fruit salad with the yummiest cream i have tasted in my life!!

Tearing ourselves away from food in the market, we had a walk to the main square where an old man was selling freshly-squeezed OJ and grapefruit juice! Yum, yum, yum! We then had a walk to the view point where we spotted a cafe..think was day was made for eating a drinking and just enjoying the scenery! Sucre is a beautiful city, filled with white buildings, topped with ceramic roofs. I felt like I was in Europe! The sun was blaring and it was just a lovely day to relax in lovely company after the mayhem of the last few weeks!

The next day, Camille, Caroline and I decided to go to the dinosaur park. There is a place about 5km outside of Sucre where dinosaur footprints had been discovered. When we got there, we were offered a free tour around. The footprints that we were shown were going up the face of a hill that had been carved away. Apparently, the footprints used to be on flat ground but due to tectonic shifts crashing together, the earth had been shifted upwards, creating a mountain type formation. They were interesting to look at. He could even tell when the dinosaur was running and suddenly walking... maybe it was after some prey!!

We went back to town and went for...food! Why not! The two girls I was with, Camille and Caroline were off that night, whereas I wanted to stay an extra night.

The next day I didn't do an awful lot. It was Mother's day in Bolivia and a lot places seem to be shut! I found a restaurant that was empty and was told I couldn't come in as everywhere was reserved for Mother's Day! Finally, I found a small table somewhere else and had the worst tomato soup of my life! If only they sold quinoa soup I would have been happy. I spent the rest of the day looking around Sucre then went to catch my bus at the station.

When I arrived at the bus station, I was told that my bus had been cancelled! Whhat! There had been a barricade down south in Potosi, which meant the bus I wanted to catch couldn't get through. I was immediately refunded for my ticket. This was only the start of my bad week! I was told i could get a bus to Cochabamba that would be leaving shortly and then get a bus from there to La paz. I joined the que of foreigners, all fighting for a seat to Cochabamba! I managed to bag a seat and got on my bus. The guy next to me spoke to me in Spanish and I tried to make out words that I knew (my usual habit!) I think he thought I knew more than I did because he would start off slow then go in to a full blown dialogue which ended up with me laughing and explaining I hardly understood a thing. He laughed back but still carried on his conversation. Aww. Another guy from across called over to me and explained he could translate if I needed him to which was really kind. He told me he was from Ecuador and had lived in America for a while. Kind of him to offer but I was looking forward my sleep!

Nine hours down the road, we arrived at Cochabamba and piled out of the bus in to another que full with people to get a bus to La Paz. I got my ticket and got on a lovely bus, with a huge seat! An hour outside La Paz, interrupting my really deep sleep, the bus came to an abrupt stop and we were told to get off as they could not go any further. Whhaaat? I asked someone else what was going on and they said - 'look outside'! Another barricade. The bus could not get through so we were told to get off the bus and collect our bags! It was a very surreal moment, I just thought, what on earth were we supposed to do! A Bolivian lady, that spoke brilliant English, came up to us and said we could get a taxi across the barricade that would take us! Brilliant! We approached the taxi and the Ecuadorian guy, that I had met on the previous bus, said he would come with us. He asked the taxi driver how much it was and then found out that the driver would only take us part way then get a bus! Noooo. I just wanted to get to La Paz now at this point. The Ecuadorian guy told the taxi driver he had to take us all the way but he refused!

We decided to walk across the barricade and just look out for a taxi on the other end. I didn't know what the protest was about but I didn't feel scared walking across it. Thank goodness I hadn't met people who had been stuck the previous night! I met someone else later on that day that told me they had arrived in the middle of the night at the barricade, got off the bus, tried to walk across and then people started throwing stones at them! They had to hide in the bus for the night. What on Earth is this place!! I hope they exaggerated their story!

Part way through the barricade, we found a taxi who agreed to take us all the way. Four people with backpacks squashed into a taxi!!

Finally I made it to La Paz...my last destination in Bolivia 😊

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