Do not miss Sucre, Bolivia
We almost did and that would have been a big mistake. The only reason we ended up in Sucre for two nights was because the direct bus departing Uyuni to La Paz was fully booked, so off to Sucre we went as we did not want to stick around Uyuni for another two days.
We caught the bus with the four girls from our Salar de Uyuni tour however they were staying over in Potosi the silver mining town. We were instead transferred to another bus station and hopped on board a local bus to Sucre. We arrived in the early evening and made it to our fabulous hostel, CasArte Takubamba, a great choice and totally on theme with the city of Sucre with its white wash walls and colorful murals. We definitely recommend this hostel as the staff were nice, breakfast good and pretty okay Wi-Fi, we were in an 8 bed dorm that was pretty large but most of the rooms here are private, single, double and family rooms.
The view from outside CasArte Takubamba, past these walls in an osasis after the dusty Uyuni and hard going of the Salar de Uyuni tour (no complaints for either however)
We seemed to have visited Sucre during arts week or something as the first night there was a huge fashion show in the plaza and on the 2nd day there were ballet and jazz dancers performing. It is a lovely city to explore on foot, we took up a big hill to check out the view and were greeted with a lovely little café, Cafe Gourmet Mirador where we stopped for coffees. I was pretty chuffed that I managed to ask (in Spanish) for no chocolate but cinnamon atop my cappuccino and then also asked if they had any stevia on hand.
Ballet dancers in the wonderfully kept main square
The view point from Calle Polanco, La Recoleta
Not the best coffees but they did the trick, the view was the real delight – Cafe Gourmet Mirador
The central market in Sucre was also a great spot for lunch and other odds and ends. We ate there for lunch both days for next to nothing and also purchased one of the most delicious mangoes we have ever eaten, along with a bunch of other fruit, bread and a bag of chia seeds for AU$1.40. The market is broken up into sections depending on what is being sold, there is even a juice bar section that has smoothies, juices and giant fruit salads on offer.
Mani soup (Nut soup) at the markets (AU$0.80)
Rob’s spicy meat dish from the markets, (AU$2.20)
The juice bars at the market
I had such a huge surprise on our 2nd morning in Sucre, I went for a run but saw a police man kind of blocking off the road, so I turned around and ran down a different road, then I saw a motorbike zoom past and heaps of people all watching something so I made my way closer to see what was going on. Suddenly a pack of five runners and a motorbike with a camera man on the back zoomed past me, I was caught in some sort of running race, it was so cool watching the runners and I waited until the woman leader went past too so I could give her a clap before I set off again. I always get emotional watching runners competing as I was brought up supporting my Dad every weekend at various races in Cape Town, lovely memories.
Typical streets of Sucre, lots of hills and white washed walls
A small and very unenthusiastic mention has to go to the Dinosaur Park (Parque Cretacico) we visited, I really wanted to enjoy this but it was absolutely awful and I felt like I was getting stupider my the minute as we were lead around by the “tour guides”.
This was quite cool, a life size replica of one of the dinosaurs at the Dinosaur Park
The footprints are very impressive and so was the life size replica of one of the dinosaurs, but that is where it ends. We were given an intro and shown pictures from a really old magazine – the guide repeated himself for about 1/2 an hour, then we were handed over to another guide and taken down to the footprints and then lead around for another 1/2 an hour with the same thing being repeated, no genuine information.
Off to check out the footprints a little closer, safety first
To be honest I don’t think the people working here know anything about dinosaurs (fair enough neither do I) but I felt as if they thought we were stupid and that we didn’t notice that all the tour guides did was ask “any questions?, but not actually able to answer anything. I could not wait to get away from this place.
The footprints where far better from a far, meaning getting closer was a bit pointless and irrartating with the guide constantly saying “any questions?” through his loud hailer
