Sucre - The White City

Trip Start Oct 30, 2008

Trip End Apr 26, 2009

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Where I stayed

Hotel Independencia Sucre

(Sucre hotels)

Flag of Bolivia Sucre, Bolivia
Friday, November 21, 2008

We have finally made it to Sucre.� The flight was amazing, from the flats around Santa Cruz you soon come across the mountain region that leads to the city and then it is right there.� It is strange to see a city sat directly on the top of low mountains and not in the valley, it spreads out across the peaks, a host of white coloured buildings and terracotta roofs.� It is the constitutional capital of Bolivia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site�and is named after a revolutionary called Antonio Jose de Sucre, as opposed to having anything to do with Sugar.� It was established by the Spanish�due to the area being rich in Silver and it�really is a pretty little city, again based around a main plaza, this one called Plaza 25 de Mayo, which like Santa Cruz has lots of places to sit under to enjoy the warm climate.� The streets are busy with all sorts of vehicles, including some huge old Ford pickups, more Hong Kong buses�and numerous�boy racers.�There are far more beggars around, many are very old,�and there is much more of a miltary presence, although they seem very relaxed.� There are some great buildings and churches around, and some interesting markets that sell a lot of multi-coloured bags,�hats, gloves�and warm jumpers.� There is a lot of young people in the centre due to the University being stationed just off the main square and there is a real vibrancy to both the day and night scene.�

Last night Julie and I eat on our own.� The restaurant was full of locals and one table had 35 people on it all hugging and enjoying themselves, drinking bottles of Johnny Walker Black Label and Coke.� At one stage a guy in the group pulled a guitar from behind the bar, switched off the stereo system that was playing and broke into a few songs that everyone in the group joined in with, it included a Bolivian version of Jailhouse Rock, it was an improvement.� It is amazing to see how friendly and regular people are the world over.� When they left a few of the group came over to hug us and shake hands.� It was a great night.

During the day yesterday I went on an extreme mountain biking day with an Australian guy, Justin,�in our group, while Julie explored the town.� There are lots of different bike�tracks and options around and�we wanted to prepare for tackling the �Death Road� in La Paz in a couple of weeks.�So we decided on a challenging one that visits a town about 23km away over the near-by mountains, off road.� We were given a local guide by the tour agent we booked it through.��Turns out the guide, Bico, is in the Bolivian national cycling team and a few weeks ago finished 21st in the South American championships, which takes place over 6 days.� He was 5th and then 4th after day 1 and 2, before a stomach bug scuppered his chances of�the top 5 finish he wanted.� Justin is also a�reglular cyclist and�very handy having cycled across China and has done trails at over 3,500 metres before .� I was thinking that is was a really bad idea that I had joined them�within the first�30 minutes which was a steep uphill, or more accurately up a wall.� My lungs were exploding and I was feeling dizzy.� The day went on much like this, well I say the day but it was actually just under 5 hours, it was scheduled to take 8.� We must have gone quite quickly.� It was 85% uphill and some of the climbs were so steep that if you fell into a small crevice (not too bad if you were going at my pace as you could just skip off the bike), it was almost impossible to get going again.� Your wheels would spin and try to do a wheelie, so you had to go sideways to start again.�Justin and Bico headed off into the distance while I chugged my way up and even on the rare occassions we went downhill it was highly technical and narrow, and you needed great resistance on the rocky surface.� Out of nowhere would come a huge rock in the middle of the path that you would have to scoot round, which added some further adrenaline.� Every 20 to 30 mins they would be waiting for me under a shaded tree and I would arrive and they would take off again.�Thanks guys I didn�t want a break anyway!�We had lunch at a�locals house in the village of Yotula, where a very�nice and very friendly old woman, who�was around 4� foot,�kept feeding us bread and cheese, and a local drink that tasted like cider.�She wouldn�t let us go without a big hug and a kiss.� The worst part about the�day was the sore arse I got, it was so painful that towards the end I was trying to sit side ways on the saddle.� It might have been tough, but it was rewarding to have completed the whole thing. Next stop Potosi.