Starting from where we left off though! We got out of Uyuni as quickly as we could the next day. Uyuni (much like its famed train cemetery) is a dump. We caught the bus from Uyuni to Potosi and then another to Sucre (all the while heading East along southern Bolivia). This was our first experience with Bolivian buses and it was a real shock to the system after our travels in Brazil, Argentina and Chile. While there were no shock absorbers on the bus, my seat more than made up for this by auditioning for a role as a trampoline in Cirque de Soleil. The road was steep, rutted gravel with more twists and turns than an epileptic snake and was hard on the body. We missed our jeep and Edgar. Luckily we still had a couple of mates (Chris and Simon) from our jeep with us.
We stopped in Potosi expecting to jump on a connecting bus to Sucre (wrong!) that bus doesn't leave for another 2 and a half hours amigo. Potosi is the home of a massive silver mine where you can go witness the terrible working conditions of the workers on a tour if you like. Apparently you can even buy sticks of dynamite if that should ever come in handy. We had already decided to skip this particular activity (some people we met said it was amazing, others not so much) and therefore had nothing to do but sit in the domed Potosi bus station listening to the ticket touts scream non-stop for non-existent customers...sucre, SUcree, SUCREEEEEEE! By the time the bus bounced into Sucre I was in a murderous mood.
Potosi bus station. Won't be making the highlight reel.
Luckily (for everyone around me) Sucre was nice. For starters it was at a lower altitude than the salt plains and Potosi so small things like breathing and walking were easier. We stayed at Hostel Gringo's for the first couple of nights which was run by German Mike who slept under the stairs like Harry Potter. Mike couldn't have been nicer though and I would recommend Gringo's if you're in the neighbourhood. The lower altitude also meant that we thought we could risk a drink or two with dinner...turns out that between four people 4 rounds of cocktails, starters, mains, a bottle of wine and 2 rounds of shots only costs $20 each! Nice one Bolivia. Our table ended up being enveloped by the dance floor, so we thought we had better join in too. Great night, grumbly morning.
We were discovering just how cheap everything in Bolivia was and instead of rejoicing in the savings and the ease at which budgets could be met...we decided that it was about time to start treating ourselves to some of the nicer things in life....Hotels! We went to a hotel intending to stay one night then move on...we had stayed 3 nights before we finally dragged ourselves out of there.
The courtyard in our lovely hotel
Anyway, below are some pics we took of Sucre for your eyeballs' pleasure, it is a really nice old colonial town with lots of whitewashed European style buildings and churches, some great cafes and (aside from the ever-present protesters in the square shooting fireworks that sounded a lot like gunfire!) extremely peaceful.
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| Up on the roof of a school and convent |
Two local lads trying to woo the lovely ladies...the army guy had game, his mate struck out.
The little old ladies getting stuck into the road works! Not sure where the blokes got to.
Sudden downpour caught us out and made the cobblestones too slippery for jandals
Missing yams! Unfortunately our luxurious hotel didn't come with a kitchen
Next post shortly.
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