Sucre

We departed Uyuni for Sucre, Bolivia. Sucre means sugar and the city is delicious! The city used to be the capital of Bolivia and all the buildings are white on the exterior. They all have pretty terracotta tiled roofs, too. We stayed at Residencia Bolivia, which had a large courtyard filled with plants and a fountain that was off. They were very engaged in repainting and repairs, so I imagine it will be even nicer in a few months. Did I mention Bolivia is very cheap?? For 90 boliviaos (around 12 usd) we got our own room and breakfast. Breakfast is just bread through most of South America, so its generally not too exciting. Mike and I travel with peanut butter and I aquired some nutella, although thats about to run out.

Mike and I began touring around Sucre and managed to somehow fit it all in. We climbed up the hill to gaze out over the city at Calle Grau. There was also a pretty church called the Recoleta. It was a great lookout. Then we visited the Museo Textil Etnografico ASUR a museum for textiles created by the local peoples. The organization ASUR helps the locals earn a fair price for their dedicated work, supports programs to teach it to the children, and runs the musuem. It was an incredible museum with old tapastries and items as well as displaying the newest work and having an excellent shop.

We grabbed a quick lunch in the square and headed on to see an amazing castle way outside of the center of the city. The public bus cost about 14 US cents to ride one way. Ha! Castillo la Glorieta (not listed in the lonely planet AKA the backpackers bible) was incredible. It was built in the late 1800s by a very wealthy couple, who became the only native South Americans to recieve the title of Prince and Princess. They were bestowed this title first by the Pope, then by the King and Queen of Spain. They had no children and maintained a orphanage on their vast property. Sometime after they died, the Bolvian military aquired the property and turned it into a military base. The house has recently been painted to restore its original colors but has original flooring, tiles, etc. It was really cool and only cost 10 bolivianos to get in ($1.41 US). We lucked out and started our tour with a gal that spoke English so we were able to learn about the amazing building we were drifting through. She had to cut it short and her replacement only spoke spanish. Oh well.

After we got back to the center, we took the Sauro Tour truck to see dinosaur tracks at Cal Orkco. This collection of dinosaur tracks is the largest that has ever been uncovered. Too bad its not that exciting to see them. We had to pay 45 bolivianos (over $6) to get into the park. We got a tour, but you are very far away from the tracks. Its very overratted and not very exciting. They did have a few cool scale models of the dinosaurs found in South America (they differ from the North American ones).

We returned to town with enough time to see San Phillpe monestary & church. It was very old and beautiful. The coolest bit was that we got to go all the way up on the roof and look around the city. While it used to be run by monks, it now hosts a covenant and an all girls school for ages 5-18. Our guide was excellent and spoke English.

They have a large market near our hostel, so we drifted in there and got a delicious dinner of chiken and fries. This is one of the most common dishes in Bolivia. It was tasty and cheap - only 10 bolivianos.

We left Sucre to go to Potosi. We managed to get from our hostel to the bus terminal and on a bus that was just departing in less than 20 minutes for only 20 bolivianos. Sweet!