Sucre – crown jewel of Bolivia

Amy is in love. Yes, with yours truly, but also with Sucre. It’s all true. All the good things we heard and read about Sucre are true. Yet another head spinner, Sucre has us spellbound by its mild sunny climate, palm-tree-lined squares, whitewashed colonial buildings and cathedrals, clean streets, bistros, pubs, restaurants, friendly smiling locals, and simply by its sheer loveliness. Perhaps it was being on the rather impoverished and unfriendly altiplano for a month+ beforehand, but landing in Sucre was again like being beamed into a different world. Bolivia is indeed a country of extremes.

Sucre: population 215K, elevation 2750 m, UNESCO World Heritage Site, and shared seat of the government (Bolivia has this weird shared federal government thing going between La Paz and Sucre). The descent from Potosi at over 4000 m was steep and dramatic – made more dramatic, and white-knuckle terrifying, by the incessantly ear-piercing squealing brakes emanating from underneath the bus. Don’t squealing brakes mean they need to be replaced? A vision of 50+ people flying off a cliff in a bus was the take-away image from that ride. Ah hey, along with explosive diarrhea, if you aren’t dealing with terrifying bus rides through the mountains in some god-forsaken developing country, you aren’t really traveling. J


The drop in elevation is a huge deal. We haven’t been below 3500 m since we left the coast of northern Peru a couple months ago, and have spent most of that time up around 4000. Diving down to 2700 m is like coming up (down?) for air. Sherpa Amy doesn’t seem to feel the altitude thing, but I do. The off-again-on-again headache I’ve been carrying around has dissipated, my lungs feel full again, and, I get a full night’s sleep. Combined with the sun, beautiful mid-20-degree temps, and palm trees, I feel like I’m 47 again. J Joking aside, it is a different world than what we have been living for the past month or two. Amy “I love Sucre” Robillard is prepared to announce that Sucre is the nicest city we have been to thus far – and we’ve seen a few nice cities on this trip.


As we promised ourselves, we diligently signed up for another week of Spanish lessons upon arrival. At 6 bucks/hr for one-on-one lessons, combined with the Bolivian cost of living (cheap!), Sucre is one of the best places in South America to learn Spanish. Our accom situation is one of the best ever: 20 bucks for a lovely B&B room with private bathroom, spanish courtyard, full kitchen (with stove-top espresso machine!), breakfast, and all the comforts of home. Wine, as mentioned, is getting better and cheaper as we get closer to Argentina. In fact, Argentines seem to have replaced Euros as the most common tourists around here. Can’t understand a word they say! They have a strange accent that everyone but them seems to hate. Then there’s the Brazilians with their Portuguese...I thought they were speaking Slovenian or some such language. Crazy. Back to wine, three bucks gets you something drinkable (blend), 5 bucks gets you something really good (varietal). Amy’s already planning a return trip back here if/when we want to really “study” Spanish. Anyone out there looking to learn Spanish on the cheap, this is the place.


We’re gradually evolving from sounding like 2-year-olds to perhaps 4-year-olds. After this week...who knows, maybe 6-year-olds? ¿Hablamos español? Más o menos. J Joking aside again, we can pretty much ask for anything we want or need, and understand most of what people are saying. It’s that darn “conversation” thing. Not there yet. I would still rather just buy another pack of eggs than try to explain to the chica behind the cash that we bought eggs a few hours ago and they didn’t make it into the grocery bag with the other groceries. The 40 cents just isn’t worth trying to piece that together.


So we’re living the city life with all its comforts. Last night we went “out” for dinner and drinks. Amy managed to squeeze into some free salsa lessons in the midst of our pub crawl. Upon recollection, it’s only the third time we have done that (once before in Otovalo Ecuador, and then again in Cuzco Peru). We don’t count survival eating on the street or cheap dives as “going out”. This is a nice dinner at a nice restaurant with a bottle of wine overlooking the main plaza...all for the outrageous sum of 15 bucks. Happy-hour mojitoes and Cuba libres for a dollar. It was a beautiful Saturday evening. It reminded us so much of Columbia with the nice weather, palm trees, and all the families out walking in the square and enjoying the evening. It reminded us how far we’ve come on this trip.


OK, so onwards and southwards. Upon graduating from our Spanish course in a couple days, our plan is to head towards the Argentine border and into wine country. Fingers crossed that our bikes are collecting dust in the corner of some store room at the train station, and they will be there ready for pick-up. I won’t lie, there’s a bit of stress about that. Not exactly sure what our Plan C would be if it all goes sideways. We’ll deal with that fire then. For now, another café con leche in the sun (we both have homework to do!). More soon. Adios de Sucre.