Today we were leaving Santa Cruz to head to Sucre, which is actually the adminstrative capital of Bolivia even though the government live in La Paz (in case you didnt know!). So we got up, packed again what seems like the 100th time and check out of the cute hotel and hailed a taxi to the airport. Yes that's right we were flying from Santa Cruz to Sucre which was only 750 miles away and takes 35 mins flying rather then 25 hours by bus. The flight in Bolivia are cheap and only really cost us £30 each to fly. The airport was further then we thought but the taxi only £6...I love Bolivia!!! The flight was great, like BA plenty of room and a snack. The flight had a great view over the landscape and there was a lot of manouvering over the high mountans (Neil would like to add that the mountains had beautiful fluvial erosions...god know what this means I am just typing what he says) The man next to me seemed scared as he was grabbing the armrest tightly and speaking to me in Spanish and from what I could gather he was asking if I was feeling the flight as much as him.
We arrived in Sucre as 13.35 and waited for our bags...thankfully arrived with us (those who know us well know what problem we have with this normally) and again we got a cab to our Hostel. Again this only cost us £3.50 again (I love Bolivia) and we arrived at hostel. The place has great character as the whole city is a world cultural heritage site the places are like the time they were built. The place has whitewashed walls, a courtyard, big rooms, high cellings and big windoew with shutters. It also had mod cons such as hot showers, cable tv in the room and wi fi (though it is not great) but at £7.50 each who can complain.
After having arrived, unpacked we headed into the city for a wonder. It is a great city with an amazing calm feeling, the people are friendly and the building and feel is authentic just how I imagined south america to be. The city is set against a mountainous backdrop which you see every time you wander down a street. The height of the city is 2500metres above sea level and so atlitude sickness can occur, We noticed how everything seemed a little more difficult then normal so we took it slow. We headed into the plaza and found a parade or carnival going on. It was the festival of Fiesta de la virgin de Guadalupe and the colours, noise, music and costume were great. Here it seems socks and sandel are in fashion so Neil feels right at home and also the fetival, music and dance remined me of Indian dancing and festival we have such as Navarati (9 day festival of dance) with their moves, the joy in the music, the outfits, the distinction between men and women and the dancing between them almost flirting. Hopfully the pics will explain what I mean in more detail. It these moments that makes you feel like you actually experiencing thngs that you may not see again in our lifetimes. We decided to head to a cafe and watch the carnival go by. We managed to get a balacony seat at a roof cafe and have homemade lemonade (fantastic) and beers as the sun blazed over the square and the noise and magical feeling of the festival continued. After a few hours we headed back to the hostel.....stopped off at the supermarket and then me and Neil almost had a heart attack at the prices of the booze. Vodka at £1.75 for a big bottle, Neil saw a big bottle of Bacardi for £5.00 and whisky for £2.70. We got some Cubre Libre (ready made in cans) 8% and 50pence and headed back to chill out for the night.
 |
| View from our room |
 |
| Fiesta |
6th September
Today we woke up and headed for breakfast..not great coffee, juice (actually orange squash without it being diluted), bread rolls and orange jam. Showered, watch a film called Angus, Thongs and Snogging (Brit film) and then headed out in the hot blistering heat (I love the hot weather). We went around town, looking at the markets, shops, lots of kids from school on lunch break...Neil was annoyed as we didnt want to see school kids...we thought we left that behind (I thought about you guys at TGAS and teacher friends in general today hope you all ok) I bought some sunglasses as I broke me other..again a bargain for £2.00. We then headed for lunch and found a cute place on the square who do a set 4 course meal for £3.00 again bargain and we truly love the place now!!!
After lunch we went over to see the cathedral. It was shut so we sat outside in the square, soaking up the sun for a bit. I was quite wary of the sun at 2500m above sea level (around twice the height of Ben Nevis) so we slapped loads of suncream on but we both felt a bit sun-licked after half an hour. We decided to go back to the hostel for a bit until the sun went so we did – usual watching CSI, Law and Order, various films etc. We headed back out around 8ish, stopping first to try to use the wi-fi out in the reception area again. Internet is very unreliable here – quite slow, cuts out a lot, total inability to get Facebook on wi-fi for some strange reason. While we were trying this, we overheard an Irish couple talking to somebody about altitude sickness – I asked them where they had been and they told us it was the salt flats – this is a shortened version of our conversation – they were Irish and friendly so we ended up chatting to them for a good hour or so. I say 'we', but they did most of the talking – lots of useful tips though. I eventually managed to extricate us from the conversation by subtle use of just standing up and saying, “Right, see you later!” and we went to some bar across the town which we had read had a happy hour on. We got 2 for 1 cocktails (so about 60p each) and, after being told the tandoori chicken was off, ordered 'surubi' which is a sort of catfish and B got chicken fajitas. That and 2 cocktails each set us back 10 quid – we do like this place...We got back not knowing what time it was and slightly worried about the Irish couple saying that Hostels had curfews – when we got here the doors were all locked – they still let us in though and the Irish couple were sat on a bench near the door, still trying to get their wi-fi to work.
A couple more things – our hostel is located on the corner of 'Loa' and 'Colon' – this amuses me every time I see it. The taxis have slogans written on their windscreens such as, 'Rally Driver', 'Iron Maiden' and my favorite, 'Armageddon'. Me and B both are extremely gassy – this also amuses me far more than it should. ..
Links to photos of....
Sucre and Festival
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=229912&id=547011402&l=79fd2b1adf
Santa Cruz
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=229908&id=547011402&l=0c79a60d20
No comments:
Post a Comment