Sucre, Bolivia

Saturday to Tuesday, 23 - 26 February 2008

Our next stop is Sucre in central Bolivia. This city is meant to be a nice spot to spend a few days in, particularly for soft gringos like ourselves who are yearning for creature comforts. Bruised and battered after the Salar de Uyuni trip, we are looking forward to the respite. We are so keen to get there that, as soon as the Salar tour is over, we get on an overnight bus there. We have to change at the mining city of Potosi in the wee hours. At 2 am we shuffle out of the bus into the darkness and are met by a Diego Maradona lookalike who says "Sucre" to us and motions to a bus from a different company. A lady who who has been cradling a couple of labrador pups on our bus from Uyuni, also seems to be going to Sucre, boards this bus and so we trust her judgment. It's not a pleasant journey. Food poisoning strikes Dara with a vengeance. He spends alot of the journey leaning over his neighbouring passenger with his head out the window. We finally arrive in Sucre at 5 am and, after 10 minutes of vigorous door-knocking, manage to wake the guy at the reception of the Grand Hotel. Compared to the spartan lodgings Pamela Tours had us in for the last few nights, it's pure luxury and worth the US$20 a night. Dara is laid low for the next few days, on a strict regime of flat lemonade. It's not pretty and the makers of Immodium may well have bumper profits this year. To our shame, we don't end up doing alot in Sucre, although you can't help but notice the spectacular architecture in the city centre. It's difficult to understand how a visibly wealthy city like this, can exist in an otherwise extremely poor country. We fuel up on comfort food in the Joy Ride Cafe and Kulturcafe Berlin and book a flight with Aerosur to avoid having the 16 hour gruelling bus journey to La Paz.

For more photos click here.