Sucre

Tuesday 27th October pm

At first glance the outskirts of Sucre (2750 metres asl) are the same mess as any Bolivian town but once in the centre you have magnificent colonial buildings and lovely parks and squares. There were very few bowler hats around, this not being the dress of the local inhabitants. Went to the local market, marvellous, and purchased some dinner and pan integral. Breathing not right yet but better than La Paz and I cooked dinner at our hostal La Dolce Vita.

Wednesday 27th October

The hostal is good so we decided to stay for a while and chill out. Had breakfast on the upstairs terrace and it was very warm.Talked to some Swedish girls studying Spanish and noted that I was in short pant at 09.35.

We wandered around in the main square, people watched and politely refused 4 shoe shine boys. We managed to get to the textile museum 10 minutes after it had closed for lunch, so back to the market to buy lunch. After lunch we visited the textile museum featuring indiginous weaving from around Sucre. Two ladies were weaving without a 'pattern' which seeemed difficult to me but Ianne, who has weaved or is it woven, in her time, assured me that it is not quite as difficult as it looked.

Bought some chorizo in the market and cooked up a stew with papas, tomatoes, chilies and macaroni. Talked to 2 Welsh girls and an American couple and we were in bed by 21.30.

Thursday 28th October

Slept better and didnt get up until 8.45. and the breathing was getting better.Very warm up on the terrace and everybody else seems to have had breakfast. We went to the history of dance museum featuring masks of many kinds. Purchased 2 CDs of authentic local music. We walked up to the Mirador overlooking the town with a lovely view and took lunch. The food was very fresh and very good and the total bill was Euro 6.
Very sunny and warm. I cooked dinner at the hostal for Doug and Lauren, two young people from the US and we shared some wine and beer. The Bolivian wine from Concepcion is very nice and inexpensive if you buy it in the shops. Went to bed at 22.30, latest for a long time.

Friday 29th October

Hot, hot, hot. Needed the parasol on the terrace at 08.50. We will try to stay here two more days if we can because we have heard that the students are parading with music and dance tomorrow and Sunday we could visit the famous (it is in Bolivia anyway) market at Tarabuco. We cannot stay here for the two nights in question so the hostal owners have booked us in to the French Consuls House 1 km away. He is their friend and runs a hostal as well as his Consul duties.

Went to the Casa de la Constitucion, a free museum documenting Bolivian history and the struggle for Independence which was gained in 1825. There was a plaque for Nestor Kirchner (died two days ago) on the wall commemorating a fairly recent visit. They had a very old map on the wall showing the countries at that time. Chile owned most of Argentina.

Ianne and I went to a dinner and show called Origines. We really splashed out because a ticket was 125BOBS or GBP12, a fortune in these parts. Show started at 20.15 (we got there at 19.00) and was excellent. We even managed an ice bucket for our Sauvignon Blanc. Maybe 20 dancers in total, dancing old stuff with loads of the masks and costumes we had seen previously in the museums. The show was 2 hours with a 10 minute break. Totally recommended. Then 7 local musicians suitably attired with Bolivian tackle took over. We saw the first half of their act and then decided to go back. The theatre insisted on calling a taxi, not because it was dangerous for us to walk back, but it was too far! Taxi cost GBP1 for a ten minute drive. We got back at the very late time of 23.15. Seems the clocks go back in Europe this weekend. Apparently in Bolivia they never change.

Saturday 30th October

The student parade. Apparently it is 7km long and features 35 ensembles which start out 7 minutes after each other. To cut a long story short (the time of things in Bolivia varies in accordance with the number of people consulted and reality never features) we were on the other side of town at 16.30 when we saw the first group. Very good dancing and band playing. It got cold so we went back to the hostal  (at the consulate) for more clothing and caught up with the procession nearer town. It was really excellent and the dancers were putting their all into it. The costumes were fabulous. They were clearly nearly exhausted but kept at it. We went back and a thunderstorm occurred. The last 25 or so groups must have got soaked.

Sunday 31st October

We went by coach to the market at Tarabuco. I was quite disappointed by it. Although being part tourist and part local, there were not as many textiles as we had been led to believe would be there. It was nice, though, to see the locals wearing clothes we had not seen before. Pigs were carved up for sale in wheelbarrows and you got the feeling that the local people had travelled a long way to be there. Ianne had Api con buenos for breakfast . We bought lots of presents and a bag to put them in. What and for whom you will find out much later. Hehehehehe. The journey 62km took 90 minuters through the mountains and the vistas were stunning.

When we got back we discovered that there was a Harley Davidson convention in town and there were lots of Harleys and BMWs and a huge honda parked up.

We really enjoyed Sucre, the first Capital City of Bolivia and, looking back through the blog, I can see no mention of breath for the last few days. We must now be acclimatised, at last.