This may appear to be just a boring photo of a cement quarry but what you're looking at is the site of the largest collection of dinosaur footprints found anywhere in the world. Over 5,000 of them are set into the Cal Orck'o cliff, just 5kms from the centre of Sucre. Workers at the cement factory discovered them in 1994 on a giant 3,900 ft. long by 260 ft. high wall inclined at an angle of 70 degrees.

The footprints date from the Late Cretaceous Period, about 68 million years ago, when the place was the shore of a huge lake. A menagerie of prehistoric animals came here to drink and left their tracks behind. These impressions solidified in the clay shorelines during dry periods, only to be covered up by more sediment that would then gather more prints. Hence, layer upon layer of dinosaur footprints are now visible in the crumbling cliffside at this paleontological site.

The most spectacular trackways are those of quadrupedal titanosaurs, huge herbivore animals between 15 and 25 metres long . Footprints of bipedal carnivorous dinosaurs are also common. One trackway of a theropod dinosaur can be followed for more than 550 m and presents the longest ever recorded. Trackways of ornithopod dinosaurs are less common but nevertheless demonstrate the presence of small to intermediate size animals that reached a height of about 4m. The scientifically most important tracks are those of ankylosaurs; quadrupedal ornithopods with a heavy dermal armour.

Of course the site has now been turned into a theme park complete with plastic dinosaurs (at least they are life size and based on the latest scientific research into what dinosaurs actually looked like). The titanosaurus is absolutely immense! You certainly wouldn't want to meet one in real life. It's no longer possible to view the tracks from closer than several hundred metres but there are life-size plaster casts on display. Whilst a bit cheesy the park is better than the descriptions in the guide books and even from a distance the footprints are impressive.

We also visited another attraction in Sucre - El Castillo de La Glorieta. Built by a local mining magnate for his wonderfully named wife Clotilde, this is a bizarre amalgam of just about every building style imaginable. It includes a minaret, an onion dome, a Gothic tower and a Chinese style octagonal tower. The bizarre fusion of styles continues elsewhere with Dutch Renaissance, Byzantine and Italian influences all evident. To cap it all the whole edifice is painted pink. It would look bizarre anywhere but in the middle of the Andean foothills surrounding Sucre and opposite a military barracks it is doubly so.

You can go inside and although the rooms are all bare it displays clear signs of its one-time elegance with lovely parquet floors, elaborate ceilings and marble fireplaces with gilded mirrors over them. To cap it all today is 'International day of Tourism' in Bolivia so it was free to get in.

This is our last day in Sucre. It's been a very enjoyable and relaxing few days here. Tomorrow we move on to the Bolivian Altiplano and the highest city in the world - Potosi at 4,081 metres. Potosi has a fascinating but rather dreadful history. More details in the next blog.