Sucre and Potosi (29 April - 6 May 2008)
I was excited to get to Sucre, the judicial capital of Bolivia, for a couple of reasons:
1. I just do not cope in cold conditions and Sucre is known for its warm and sunny weather
2. Sucre sounded like a beautiful colonial town with lots of old churches and museums to see (yes, I am a bit of a nerd)
3. I wanted to buy some of the local llama-wool articles as souvenirs
4. I was tired of all the dust!
And luckily Sucre lived up to my expectations. The narrow streets lined with white washed colonial buildings and the scattered green parks stole my heart. I read about the Grand Hotel under the ‘Midrange’ accommodations in our Bolivia Lonely Planet. It sounded pleasant and it still fitted nicely into our budget. Normally, we would only look under the ‘Budget’ list of accommodations
As soon as I saw the spacious room looking out onto a garden terrace, I was hooked. The room also had cable TV and a huge bathroom with electric shower. This was exactly what we needed for a few days of relaxing. It also turned out to be a good choice for Eon, as he caught a nasty stomach bug and was out of action for a couple of days. I don’t think he minded the bug too much, as he seemed to enjoy The Simpson’s Marathon (hours of back to back Simpson’s episodes) very much!
On the 1st of May, the streets were filled with marching bands and a big parade took place around the Plaza 25 de Mayo in celebration of Labour Day. I managed to sneak in a couple of pictures (Bolivians do not like to have their picture taken). We spent most of our time in Sucre either eating gringo meals at Joyride Café, playing cards or watching TV. I managed to work in a bit of shopping, but it is no fun shopping when I know Eon is in bed, miserably ill. So I decided to postpone the major shopping until we get to La Paz.
We have been in Bolivia for about 10 days now and I have noticed a couple of interesting things. Firstly the traditional dress of the Bolivian women - a very wide, pleated mid-calve skirt with a weird type of apron. They all have long black hair, plaited into two long braids at the back of the head, topped with a dark-coloured bowler hat. The men do not seem to wear traditional clothes, I wonder if this is by choice or by tradition?
Another thing is that the traditional folk music always includes a pan flute. Roberto would be extremely popular here! I kind of like the music, it is always a happy tune and the beat seems to be slightly too slow for the tune - somehow it just works. The Bolivians also seem to love any pop music from the eighties. I have not heard as much Roxette in the last 15 years as I have in the last two weeks.
Bolivians do not appear to be a very friendly nation and it is very difficult to get a spontaneous smile from them. Even in the hotels or restaurants, I always feel like I have done something wrong when I get that strange stare from them. But watching them from a distance when they interact with their friends, you see a total different side to them.
Bolivia is a very poor country and all the guidebooks and forums warn tourists against crime. A Dutch couple who checked into our hotel had their bags stolen from the reception area and we heard of some incidents of pick-pocketing in Sucre as well. As we were walking towards our hotel, I noticed a Bolivian man standing on the other side of the street next to the ATM. He was juggling with a huge Crocodile Dundee knife, clearly showing it off to someone or everyone. Was he telling me to use the ATM because he was keeping it safe or was he warning me not to use the ATM or else…? I so wish I had my camera with me!
I love the food here and any potato lover would! There always seems to be a potato in every meal. The set menus (almuerzo) are generally delicious and cheap. It starts off with a small portion of salad, veggies or minced meat squashed into a patty. This is followed by a hearty vegetable soup with lots of potatoes. Then the main meal, normally chicken is served with rice, potatoes and veggies. And if you’re lucky there is a small dessert as well. All this for around R20 to R25. Besides the set menus, the saltena is also popular and then there is the charqui - dried and spiced shreds of meat (normally llama) which is stuffed into a cornbread, yummie!!!
After four days of doing next to nothing, it was time to move on. At first we wanted to go to Santa Cruz, but luckily we found out the there is a referendum for Santa Cruz’z Autonomy and things could turn violent. So we changed the plan to rather go to the mining town of Potosi (and it did turn violent). I was dreading the cold weather and high altitude. Potosi is situated at 4070 meters above sea level and is mostly known for the ‘Job from hell’ or the unbearable working conditions of the local miners. Eon really wanted to visit Potosi so that he could go crawling into one of the mines and maybe even get the chance to buy dynamite, ignite it and watch it explode….strange as it may seem, this is an actual feature of a visit to the mines.
We checked into a budget hostel named Compania de Jesus - our days of luxury were over! The room was small and freezing (like all rooms in Potosi), but it was clean and boasted the feature of five blankets on the bed Then we set of to Koala Tours to book the mine tour. I decided to give it a miss because I still have a cold and the brochure clearly stated that the mine tour is not for “wimps and woosies” due to the altitude and harsh conditions underground. I do not really consider myself a wimp or a woosy, but I did not want to test the altitude with physical activities and a cold. And the idea of crawling into a mine just did not appeal to me; it must be a guy thing!
Eon returned from the mine excursion with a smile as wide as the Grand Canyon. All covered in dust and smelling of some kind of metal, he told me about the tour. They arrived at Cerro Rico and popped into the Miners’ Market where he bought two dynamite sticks and some coca leaves as a gift to the miners. Then they all received their gear - miners’ hat, head lamp, overall and gumboots. They set of into the Candelaria mine where they crawled around inside the terrifying but awe-inspiring labyrinth in which just over 200 miners are working. Eon said that it was nothing like Gold Reef City. It was tough crawling about at very high temperatures, at over 4200 meters in altitude and in the dust, inhaling all kinds of harmful chemicals like arsenic gas, silica dust, acetylene vapours and asbestos deposits. It is unthinkable that any human being could work under such conditions, there was even a 13 year old boy working in the mine. Miners here normally die of silicosis pneumonia within 10 to 15 years of entering the mines.
Some bad news - we just realised that someone had stolen my Apple i-pod. This has been a month of great loss for me… two pairs of hiking socks, my inflatable pillow, and no my beloved iPod 
Luckily, the mine tour guide volunteered to go with us to the police station for a declaration for the insurance. Imagine Eon and I trying to explain to a grumpy Bolivian police officer in Spanish (very, very poor Spanish) how my iPod went missing? The officer did a hand written report and then walked two meters to his colleague, handed over the report and asked the colleague to TYPE it up! No computers? Seriously, in a country where there are so much crime? I wonder how many reports the poor guy needs to type everyday? Well, some time later we walked out of there with a beautiful typed report…in Spanish of course, so we are not even sure if it is correct…
We did a sightseeing marathon on the last day in Potosi. We started of at the Mint with a very thorough guided tour. The first 30 minutes was fun, but then it just went on and on and on…. We walked through the winding streets of Calle Quijarro, the winding narrow streets were specifically designed this way to keep the icy winds at bay. We saw a couple of churches and had the most delicious saltenas for lunch.
It is so difficult to have a night bus, because we need to check out of our hotel in the morning, store our luggage and then entertain ourselves for the rest of the day. And keep in mind that you walk around the entire day with a heavy, full daypack. So after an exhausting day, we took the 10 hour night bus to La Paz.
Click on the image below to view the gallery for Sucre and Potosi: