Blogs from Sucre, Chuquisaca Department, Bolivia, South America - page 9

So, where were we…ah yes, we had just finished the tour of the salt flats and the train graveyard, and had entered the town of Uyuni, then quickly left it. It has the same atmosphere as Portsmouth on a wet Friday night – can’t say much more than that. To escape, your correspondent took on the role of official bus booker and so, booked a bus to Sucre. Rather than having to stay overnight, I immediately booked an overnight bus and rushed to tell Wendy. Did she congratulate me on my booking skills, nay dear readers she did not. I was berarted for not checking if it was a direct bus, or if it stopped elsewhere – more on that later. Later. No, it was not a direct bus, there was a two hour stopover in ... read more

On a sunny Tuesday morning the adventure began. The 4x4 comprised of Wendy, myself, Nilla (Australian) and Neil (anglo-australian). Joining us were Eduardo, the driver, and Agustina, our cook. Off we zoomed on a 4 day trip which promised volcanoes, flamingos, hot springs and a multitude of llamas. Our trip started promisingly – the car started – and off we went out of Tupiza, following the by now recognisable river bed and dirt track. The scenery as we went into the mountains was spectacular. Red sandstone reaching up nearly 4000 metres. To the joy of everyone, I was pointing out areas that appeared to be where Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid was filmed. You can imagine their happiness being tuck in the car while I quoted every line I know from the film – which ... read more

what have the Romans ever done for Bolivia ? let me tell you dear readers - absolutely nothing ! ! if they could have been bothered to invade and conquer a couple of thousand years ago, we would now have not just straight roads, but ones that are not merely dried up river beds. in fact these ones are almost motorways compared to those that are just tracks across fields. There are times however, that one would wish for even a track rather than just having your bus drive across fields !! to be fair, there is a new road being built which will help dramatically. the only slight drawback that I noticed, is that rather than built one part of the road and then move on to the next stretch, the Bolivians came up ... read more

The constitutional capital of Bolivia. Sucre. Another night bus from La Paz. Not the worst, though it could have been better. It was full of miners, all of whom had picked the aisle seats, meaning everyone else had to make do with sitting by themselves. The bloke next to me went to sleep almost immediately – he'd done this before. The bloke next to Klaire fiddled with his phone for a bit, then crashed. The older travellers had managed to score seats together – mum just played the Nintendo while dad slept. The kid behind Klaire, however, didn't sleep. He just kicked her chair. A lot. Only a short walk to the hostel, where, strangely, it was cheaper to pay up front than the customary next morning. Checked in, we wandered out to see what we ... read more

We have visited quite a few beautiful colonial towns on our trip so far. The Spanish and Portuguese certainly knew how to colonize;) Although following along that cobble stoned path, Sucre is a fairly unique city in Bolivia. Back in the day; say 500 years ago, Bolivia was very different. In fact what we today know as Bolivia used to be a much larger region. It encompassed Paraguay, southeastern Peru, Northern Chile and Argentina, and much of modern Bolivia. Sucre was founded in 1538 and for much of its history it was the preferred the seat of Spanish royalty who lived here in the better climate while they could remain focused on the riches gained from nearby Potosi. To this day the city remains the seat of the Roman Catholic Church in Bolivia, and Sucre is ... read more