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Published: February 16th 2007
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We finally made it onto the bus to get out of Uyuni on Sunday night at 7pm. The bus was meant to take approximately 9 hours but it stopped in Potosi for 3 hours which gave us a chance to get some sleep. We hadn't been able to sleep for most of the way because with all the bouncing around on the unmade roads, the window next to us kept sliding open and letting in a frosty breeze. With no 'real' toilet stops (squating was a option taken by many - especially the south american ladies in their knee length skirts - but Georgie could not bring herself to do it) and 15 hours later we arrived tired but relieved in Sucre.
Sucre itself is actually a gorgeous underrated town which had an amazing atmosphere. We stayed at a lovely little hotel and used the three days we had there to relax and unwind. The most touristy thing we did was go and visit the dinosaur tracks at a cement quarry that were uncovered about 10 years ago. The tracks have been made by about 4 different types of dinosaurs about 200 million years ago. The tracks themselves are difficult
to see without binoculars as tourists are not allowed within more than 100m of them. We also indulged in the food at the markets with Bryce enjoying full meals of chicken and rice for as little as a $1. The bargain of the century however, was that bananas only cost 5c each! If they imported them to Australia for 50c each, it might just be enough to lift Bolivia out of poverty and its third world country status!
After becoming throughly relaxed Sucre, we packed up and headed to the bus station to catch our 4pm bus on Wednesday to Santa Cruz. We left ourselves half an hour to get to the bus station and demonstrated our profound local knowledge by hopping onto a local micro bus that was heading toward the station. Half an hour later, stuck in a market street, we gently inquired when the microbus would be arriving at the bus terminal. Unfortunately we were told it would be another 20 minutes so we quickly hopped off the bus and into a taxi which got us to the station in 3 minutes flat. Rushing to get our bus, we quickly paid the departure tax and found
the company we bought the ticket from to find out which gate the bus would be leaving from. After a heated discussion, we finally got the message that no buses would be leaving for Santa Cruz on Wednesday and it would be unlike that they would be leaving the next day either because the rain on the unmade roads had made it impossible for any buses to get through. This raised our stress levels somewhat as we had a plane to catch on Saturday from Santa Cruz to Rio to begin the festivities of carnival in Rio. We hot footed back to town and tried to buy a plane ticket only to be told that they were fully booked until next week. We tried another company and finally had success! Although it meant flying to Cochabamba - the town with the riots 2 weeks ago where 3 people were killed - and spending 10 hours in transit. This seemed like a better option than 15 - 20 hours in a bus on unmade rainy roads.
Our flight the next day to Cochabamba was delayed. It was meant to leave at 11.30am and get in at 12pm but it didnĀ“t
leave until 1.30pm. This was fine, it just meant less hours to wait in Cochabamba. We hopped off the flight and headed into the centre of Cochabamba. The aftermath of the riots is still evident in the main square of the town where there is still Bolivian flags strung up in front of protesters trying to recruit interest from the locals. We were entirely safe though and only mildly intimidated by the water bomb wielding pre-teens (yet they are still haunting us).
We headed back to the airport at 7.30pm because we had nothing better to do after devouring lunch followed by hot chocolate and a banana spilt. Our flight was due to leave at 11.30pm but it is true what they say - rain in Bolivia really does shut down the entire country (Quote: Shane Anderson).
We are now still in the airport at 11.48pm and have just been informed that our flight shall be boarding at 4.15am. A mere 5 hours after it was scheduled to depart and approximately 14 hours after we arrived in the airport. Bless the invention of the ipod, card games and the mountains of books that we bought - I spy
with my little eye is a last resort!
Let's just pray that our flight on Saturday to Rio (via Sao Paulo) at 4am actually leaves on time!
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tim and ana
non-member comment
chicken
brycie, watch those markets in bolivia, chicken can't be trusted!!!!!! glad to see you're venturing into the local food. keep smiling (for the camera!)