Sucre, Bolivia

We headed to Sucre in search of warmer climes after the sub-zero temperatures of San Pedro and Uyuni. The weather didn't disappoint and we were able to bask in some sunshine for a few days!

Sucre is a beautiful town, filled with historical buildings, churches, plazas, cafes and amazing markets. We were really taken aback by how different Bolivia is to everywhere we've visited so far - much poorer, less westernised and more indigenous. Many of the older women wear traditional Bolivian clothing - a skirt with lots of petticoats, a pinafore, shawl, bowler hat and two long plaits (often with tassles tied to the ends).

     

One of Bolivia's main 'attractions' is how cheap it is and this was a welcome change from the extortionate Chile. On most street corners we would find food vendors selling popcorn for 10p a bag, a pizza for 60p and freshly squeezed orange juice for 35p. We even manged to have a three course meal and a drink for £1.30!

Unfortunately much of our time in Sucre was taken up with the headache of trying to organise a way to get to La Paz for a flight we'd booked to take us to Rurrenabaque. Union strikes and school holidays threatened to scupper our plans entirely, but after much confusion we were set to take a 12 private taxi in the wrong direction to Cochabamba and then fly to La Paz from there...

Of the little free time that we did have, we managed to visit lots of local restaurants, go to the cinema and take the Dinobus to Cretacious Park to see the largest set of dinosaur prints in the world. Lonely Planet described it as a 'slick theme park', but it was more Fishers Farm than Thorpe Park. Still, it was fun to look at the prints from over 200 metres away across a dusty quarry...

We were all booked and set for our painfully indirect journey to La Paz, when we were told the blockades had ended and the roads were clear! So having wasted a lot of time in travel agents and internet cafes and a £25 flight, we quickly changed plans and booked the first direct bus to La Paz. Our bus was luxurious and just as we reclined our seats and Sam exclaimed "this is the life", another couple arrived with a ticket stating the same seats as ours...

After more confusion it was clear that we had to get off! The bus was seconds from leaving, so we pleaded with the driver to open the hold so we could climb in, scramble around in the dark and retrieve our bags. Panting and sweating - but clutching our backpacks - we were pointed to a different bus; filthy, smelly and falling apart! We found our seats right at the back, next to the toilet... Jo then discovered that her chair was broken and had to sit in a certain position all night to stop the seat collapsing! We hardly got any sleep and when we arrived in La Paz the next morning, a girl on our bus discovered that her bag had been stolen.

Next stop, the Amazon rainforest... and as far away from Bolivian buses as possible!