Sucre

After a long bus ride south we reached Sucre and checked into Casa Verde, run by Renee the Belgian. He had kindly upgraded us to a rather nice suite, and had laid out some breakfast for us. We freshened up and hit the streets.

We’d heard many people say how lovely a place it was and they weren’t wrong. Our first taste came after a short but steep walk up to the Recoleta Mirador, where we took a seat to admire the fantastic view across the city and valley, as well as a very tasty bruschetta, ice tea and sangria!

We headed back down Sucre’s narrow cobbled streets towards the main plaza, where whitewash buildings with terracotta roofs, give the impression you are in rural Spain.

Sucre is an UNESCO world heritage site and as such there are strict rules on new development, which has allowed the city to retain its colonial past. The plaza is grand and is filled with greenery and fountains. We sat back and took in the people and the sights. We then took the stairs up the Prefectura de Chuquisaca (State Government Building) and got a birds eye view of the plaza and another superb view of the city.
It was hot and the ice cream parlour across the way had our name on it. Cone in hand, we strolled to the Mercado Centro, which is often said to be one of the finest in Bolivia. It was beautifully colourful and the array of fruit and veg, particularly the watermelons, were impressive. We left with some bananas and headed back to our hotel for some sunbed and pool time.

There are many good places to eat in Sucre, but on our first night I tucked into a very welcome BBQ burger and Claire had a Caesar salad at Abis Patio.

The next morning we took our first of two Latin-American Spanish lessons with local teacher Daniella. It was fairly cheap and Daniella’s friendly style of teaching, meant the 2 hours flew by and we contemplated staying for a week so we could take more lessons.

After more sunbathing by our hotel pool, we took a walk across the city to the cemetery, which had lovely well-maintained gardens and more of the stacked graves, the same as we saw in La Paz. I had read the cemetery is very popular with locals and is used more as a park for relaxing in.

That evening, all of the cities museums were admission free and many locals and tourists hit the streets. There were a few marching bands around the city too but we were headed for the Dancing Fountains in the Simon Bolivar Park. On the weekend the city puts on a fountain light & music show and it was surprisingly good. Before heading home, I grabbed a chorizo sandwich from a street stand then we checked out a few of Sucre’s recommended bars.

Our last full day in Sucre consisted of another Spanish lesson, buying bus tickets, more chilling out, topped off with a trip to the cinema to watch a new Keira Knightley movie called ‘Begin Again’ which was great and to our delight….in English!! A real treat.

After a lovely stay in Sucre, we got up early had brekkie and got a taxi to the bus station. It was time for Uyuni and the highly anticipated tour of the Salar de Uyuni, aka the worlds largest salt flat.