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Published: June 25th 2013
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Sucre
View from above the recoleta plaza. We arrived in Sucre (Bolivia's judicial capital) after a two hour flight from La Paz, it was half an hour to Cochabamba then another half hour to Sucre, the rest of the time was sat in the plane whilst they cleaned it around us which was a bit weird. The scenery from the plane was amazing, the wing tips were below the level of the mountains.
We had pre-arranged a week of Spanish school, (beginners for Mark, intermediate for me), so we had two days to orientate ourselves before classes commenced on our 8th wedding anniversary (nice present)! We had 20 hours, four a day, which believe me is enough. Classes were very intense as I think they try to teach you everything in one week. This is good in one way as you end up with a lot of information, but my class mates and I would have preferred half the information and more time verbally practicing, the majority of the time was spent copying verbs, past, present, regular, irregular, and many grammatical rules. The structure was quite ridged and the teacher didn't seem to be able to deviate at all. The homework was also quite hard and I
was really relieved to get to the end of the week. I felt overwhelmed and like I hadn't benefited, but now that a bit of time has passed and I have been able to practice and absorb the lessons I do feel more confident/competent. Mark also found his class challenging, but learnt a lot. I have high hopes for him being able to pitch in with the communication from now on. He even wants to do another class in a months time!
With class over we decided to go on a three day trek from Sucre around the surrounding countryside. We chose a company called Condor Trekkers, a non profit organisation that only employs Bolivian guides and supports several projects for orphans and underprivilidged children in the area.
We met at the Condor office at 5am, then had a 1 1/2 hour bus ride to the Chataquila Chapel (3600m) and the starting point for the trek. After having breakfast in front of the Chapel (hot chocolate and banana cake), we were ready to get going. The first part of the hike was on an old Incan trade road where salt from Uyuni would have been swapped for maize,
Edwin "The Trek Father"
He always had a hot dinner on the table at 7pm sharp, ahh home from home! potatoes and other goods. We passed lots of local people in traditional dress heading to Chataquila for a fiesta. I didn't take any photos as many locals believe having their photo taken affects their souls, plus I think its pretty rude, I wouldn't want tourists taking photos of me!
After the Incan road we trekked on through amazing countryside with lots of wonderful colours in the rocks because of the minerals found in this area, then stopped at a small waterfall for lunch and paddling. Lunch was delicious consisting of bread, avocado, lettuce, baby spinich, cheese, roasted vegetables, and fruit.
We carried on after lunch to the crater of Maragua where we spent the night in a community owned cabin, all 80 residents share in the profits. We were quite tired when we arrived, it was 17km but quite steep and with the altitude we were definately ready to stop. The village has a school and a collage that is attended by about 300 children from all over the surrounding countryside, some walking 2 1/2 hours to get there. Many children in this area don't attend and stay at home helping with livestock and other chores.
The
next day we got up at a much more reasonable hour, having breakfast at 7.30 and setting off at 8.30. We walked up out of the crater looking for fossils (the whole crater used to be an under water volcano) and admiring the scenery on the way. From the rim of the crater we had a good view of an old Incan burial site which is used today by the indiginous people at certain times of the year. On 21st June they will celebrate the winter solstice by building an alter, sacrificing a black sheep and offering a llama fetus and gifts from the harvest.
We passed many more spectacular rock colours on the way to Ninu Mayu where we saw dinosaur footprints. Unfortunately I don't know what species they are, one was a herbivore and the other carnivore. After another lovely lunch stop we continued on our way to our second nights accomodation at Potolo in another community owned cabin. Potolo was much bigger than Maragua with a population of 200 and 5000 people living in the surrounding countryside. We were tired on arrival having walked 19km to get there, but the walk was easier than the day
Jurasic Park
I loved this moment! before. The next day we caught a local bus, 3 hours on a dirt road admiring the scenery on the way back to Sucre.
Our guide was very informative telling us (in Spanish) all about the local people and customs that still exist today, like how young men and women become engaged in this area. They are too shy to date so they wait for a fiesta and when everyone is very drunk (men and women) the man will kidnap the girl that he likes. The next day they are obligated to marry, if the man changes his mind the girl can never marry as she is considered "used", the girl obviously has no choice in any of this. A very sad custom. Once a couple do marry infidelity is not accepted, and a public birching with a thorny bush takes place if anyone is found out. This isn't the custom in all of Bolivia, only this region. The indiginous people from La Paz have a custom where if a man is interested in marrying a girl he collects a certain type of fragranced wood and presents it to the girl he wants to marry. If she feels the
Small Farm
The crop in tree is there to stop the cows eating it. same way she will make a fire with the wood and cook a meal to share with her potential fiance confirming her acceptance. In the Santa Cruz area the custom is for the man to put a pair of his trousers on the girls fence and if she likes him she will iron the trousers and leave them out for him to collect the next day.
Our guide also filled us in on some of the governments crazier policies of the moment, like how they want to bring in a law which fines women who choose not to have children as they want to expand the population, even though there is extreme poverty, not enough jobs, and there is already a problem with too many orphans and abandoned children living on the streets and no government help for them. The government also give grants to certain indiginous groups and this is sadly leading to alcoholism, loss of traditional skills and is contributing to a growing divide between the indiginous and hispanic population. And that is just two things! I could go on, needless to say this is quite a troubled country.
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Tanya and Don
non-member comment
Hey, you two. Great to hear from you. With all the walking I\'m amazed we can still see you! Fantastic experiences and great photos. Thanks and good luck both of you. Take care. Lots of love, Tanya and Don