Blogs from Chuquisaca Department, Bolivia, South America - page 21

We left Brazil and crossed over the border into Bolivia... and our first experience of Bolivia was on a night train to Santa Cruz. The train has been nicknamed the infamous Death Train, as in the past people used to ride on the roof as they put all the contraband inside the train, and the train used to derail all the time so the people use to fall off the roof and die! Luckily we had seats inside the carriage and even though it was probably one of the roughest and bumpiest trains we'd ever been on, it stayed on track!! It was fun to watch the staff try and serve food from the trolley and then for us to somehow try to eat it and drink. We arrived in Santa Cruz and spent most of ... read more

The most beautiful city in Bolivia? Sucre is probably the most beautiful and important city in bolivia. It was here the independece was proclaimed, and the declaration was signed on the 6th og august 1825. Sucre is actually still the judicial capital, but the seats of government and treasury are in La Paz. The city is situated in a valley surrounded by low mountains in a altitude of 2790m. The climate, especially after been in Potosi (4070m) was mild and comfortable. Its many colonial white buildings with nice patios, plaza's perfect for studying the city life, and plenty of bars, restaurant, museums and other activities around. Sucre was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1991. Many choose to stay here longer than they planned, because of its climate, nice surroundins, posibilities to study and so ... read more

Although La Paz is the biggest city in Bolivia (and the seat of government), Sucre is actually the capital of the country. A very odd arrangement. But we had heard that it was a nice, romantic city so we thought that we´d check it out. Also known as "the white city", we didn´t find it as pretty as Arequipa, but we did still find it quite charming. It was a fantastic place to sit about, relax and talk (we spent almost 3 hours just sitting on the Plaza de Armas talking such was the atmosphere), althought there wasn´t a massive amount in the form of museums etc. The only really excursion was to "take the dino-truck" (as the poster said) and see the largest collection of preserved dinosaur footprints in the world. Expecting a vehicle out ... read more

After a long and tiresome visit to the salt flats, we arrived early in La Paz the highest capital city in the world. The salt flats were amazing however on the two days following we visited the desert on the chile boarder, it was driving taking pictures and dealing with the below freezing temperatures. However La Paz exceeded my expectations having spent close to a week there I now wonder what I am doing in Quito. The last day with the group ended and I had contact numbers to get into the Prison, something I was told to do. Each city in South America has a Plaza, one of the four sides of the Plaza in La Paz is fronted by a fortress like building know as San Pedro Prison, the guards marching the surroundings ward ... read more

Sucre - the town that cried wolf... You may recall back in November '07 this was the site of the infamous civil unrest that captured the attention of international media and all backpackers with intentions of passing through the Bolivian heartland. And looking around the main square, it still bears the scars of those clashes with police which left 3 dead, one policeman soundly lynched and all the maximum security prisoners on perpetual day-leave. Sucreneans killing Sucreneans, and then in all likelihood, running away yelping from even more Sucreneans! Smashing age-old, heritage-saturated buildings and defacing monuments! Yep, reeeeeal smart. Beat up your sister, that'll sure show 'em back in La Paz. Idiots. Come with me on this one and tell me if it's me that's missed the point: You love your city, people, culture, coca etc. ... read more