Arriving in Sucre was like a breath of fresh air – it's by far the most beautiful city in Bolivia, all whitewashed buildings and terracotta rooftops. Unesco seems to agree, as it's been designated a World Heritage Site, in recognition of its rich colonial history. Sucre was where Bolivia was born – the Declaration of Independence was signed at the Casa de la Liberdad in 1825, and its presidents resided here for nearly a century. These days the political capital has been moved to La Paz, but Sucre remains the judicial capital, and Santa Cruz is the economic capital – you would have thought this would cause all manner of rivalries and problems, but the people of Sucre at least seem happy with their lot.
We headed first for the Cafe Gourmet Mirador, which has the best views over the city. Relaxing in deck chairs and sipping gin and bitter lemon as we watched the sun go down, this was starting to feel like a proper holiday. Lovely. Again it was nice to end in a place with a slightly more laid-back feel after the pace we'd made Swills keep since his arrival – 4 towns in 7 days! Sadly his departure was even faster than expected, as the following morning we discovered his flight was actually later that day and not the next day as we'd all thought. Fortunately he realised this in time!
As a result we designated Sunday morning 'Sucre Sightseeing Half-Day,' beginning with the Casa de la Liberdad. Nadia, our guide, painted a fantastic picture of the history of the place, which was originally a Jesuit college and then an exam hall before it became the important site it is today. We saw a copy of the Declaration – the real one is only brought out once a year for the people to see. It was also fascinating to learn a little more about Bolivia's turbulent history – it has had some 80 presidents in less than 200 years, a significant proportion of whom were assassinated or deposed by military coup. Alpaca-jumper-wearing Evo is highly regarded amongst the people here, not least for being the 'first' indigenous leader. This is not actually true – he's the 3rd, but he looks far more indigenous than either of the others so it's a lasting fallacy.
From there we headed to the Parque Simón Bolivar, named for the first 'honorary' president of Bolivia – honorary because he was holding out for the title of 'President of Casa d'America', a proposed USA-style union of South American states that never came to pass. The park is a lovely outdoor space, clearly popular with the locals, especially as we arrived: the local police force were holding a 'Fun Day' offering kids the chance to take a ride around the park on their motorbikes or in a police car. The park is home to a mini Eiffel Tower which we decided to climb. There are a lot fewer steps here than in Paris, but the structure is also a lot more rickety – after a couple of minutes swaying gently in the breeze at the top, we quickly climbed down again!
We squeezed in a 'Quality Lunch' before Swills' departure in honour of his birthday the following weekend. Sunday lunches in Bolivia consist of a salad course, a soup course, as much meat as you can stomach accompanied by at least 4 different varieties of carbs, and a dessert, all for the equivalent of £5.50. To this we added a couple of bottles of Bolivia's own Concepcíon Sauvignon Blanc (learning: the white is much better than the red) which meant that by the time Swills departed for the airport, we were all happily merry. James and I spent the rest of the day in our lovely hotel room (must stop this flashpacking!), sleeping and watching awful movies on TV.
We had one more day in Sucre whilst we awaited our next bus connection to Tupiza, a mere 11 hours away. As a result, we opted for a fairly lazy last few hours, going back to the park and enjoying the sunshine. We did also manage a trip to the Parque Cretácico, the local Jurassic Park themed tourist attraction, with the largest collection of dinosaur footprints anywhere in the world. We were expecting to be able to wander amongst them, comparing our little feet with those of a T-Rex or a Brontosaurus, but sadly we were disappointed – the footprints are about 1km away in a quarry, discovered by the local cement company in 1995. The company, Fonseca cement (“Building for your future”) had been excavating the site for some 40 years before the footprints were found, so goodness knows how many were destroyed before anyone even realised they were there. However, those that remain are pretty impressive (so distinct they look fake, even though their authenticity has been verified by world-renowned palaeontologists). I also enjoyed posing for photos with plastic models of my favourite species – it really started to feel like we were in Jurassic Park, though fortunately without the live action models!
Arriving in Sucre was like a breath of fresh air – it's by far the most beautiful city in Bolivia, all whitewashed buildings and terracotta rooftops. Unesco seems to agree, as it's been designated a World Heritage Site, in recognition of its rich colonial history. Sucre was where Bolivia was born – the Declaration of Independence was signed at the Casa de la Liberdad in 1825, and its presidents resided here for nearly a century. These days the political capital has been moved to La Paz, but Sucre remains the judicial capital, and Santa Cruz is the economic capital – you would have thought this would cause all manner of rivalries and problems, but the people of Sucre at least seem happy with their lot.
We headed first for the Cafe Gourmet Mirador, which has the best views over the city. Relaxing in deck chairs and sipping gin and bitter lemon as we watched the sun go down, this was starting to feel like a proper holiday. Lovely. Again it was nice to end in a place with a slightly more laid-back feel after the pace we'd made Swills keep since his arrival – 4 towns in 7 days! Sadly his departure was even faster than expected, as the following morning we discovered his flight was actually later that day and not the next day as we'd all thought. Fortunately he realised this in time!
As a result we designated Sunday morning 'Sucre Sightseeing Half-Day,' beginning with the Casa de la Liberdad. Nadia, our guide, painted a fantastic picture of the history of the place, which was originally a Jesuit college and then an exam hall before it became the important site it is today. We saw a copy of the Declaration – the real one is only brought out once a year for the people to see. It was also fascinating to learn a little more about Bolivia's turbulent history – it has had some 80 presidents in less than 200 years, a significant proportion of whom were assassinated or deposed by military coup. Alpaca-jumper-wearing Evo is highly regarded amongst the people here, not least for being the 'first' indigenous leader. This is not actually true – he's the 3rd, but he looks far more indigenous than either of the others so it's a lasting fallacy.
From there we headed to the Parque Simón Bolivar, named for the first 'honorary' president of Bolivia – honorary because he was holding out for the title of 'President of Casa d'America', a proposed USA-style union of South American states that never came to pass. The park is a lovely outdoor space, clearly popular with the locals, especially as we arrived: the local police force were holding a 'Fun Day' offering kids the chance to take a ride around the park on their motorbikes or in a police car. The park is home to a mini Eiffel Tower which we decided to climb. There are a lot fewer steps here than in Paris, but the structure is also a lot more rickety – after a couple of minutes swaying gently in the breeze at the top, we quickly climbed down again!
We squeezed in a 'Quality Lunch' before Swills' departure in honour of his birthday the following weekend. Sunday lunches in Bolivia consist of a salad course, a soup course, as much meat as you can stomach accompanied by at least 4 different varieties of carbs, and a dessert, all for the equivalent of £5.50. To this we added a couple of bottles of Bolivia's own Concepcíon Sauvignon Blanc (learning: the white is much better than the red) which meant that by the time Swills departed for the airport, we were all happily merry. James and I spent the rest of the day in our lovely hotel room (must stop this flashpacking!), sleeping and watching awful movies on TV.
We had one more day in Sucre whilst we awaited our next bus connection to Tupiza, a mere 11 hours away. As a result, we opted for a fairly lazy last few hours, going back to the park and enjoying the sunshine. We did also manage a trip to the Parque Cretácico, the local Jurassic Park themed tourist attraction, with the largest collection of dinosaur footprints anywhere in the world. We were expecting to be able to wander amongst them, comparing our little feet with those of a T-Rex or a Brontosaurus, but sadly we were disappointed – the footprints are about 1km away in a quarry, discovered by the local cement company in 1995. The company, Fonseca cement (“Building for your future”) had been excavating the site for some 40 years before the footprints were found, so goodness knows how many were destroyed before anyone even realised they were there. However, those that remain are pretty impressive (so distinct they look fake, even though their authenticity has been verified by world-renowned palaeontologists). I also enjoyed posing for photos with plastic models of my favourite species – it really started to feel like we were in Jurassic Park, though fortunately without the live action models!
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