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Sucre
We left potosi at 5 in the morning as there was trouble on the road. Bolivia is renowned for using any excuse under the sun to form a strike. The most preferred form of strike is the road block.
This particular road block was initiated by the haulage company working for a cement factory. They were going to lose out on business if the company moved north to Santa Cruz. So a 3 km stretch of road between Potosi and Sucre was blocked with all their haulage supply trucks delivering goods in and out of Sucre. Our taxi driver dropped us off at the Potosi side and drove away before we had chance to ask any questions. Without a real clue of what we were doing or where we were we began to walk through the blockade. We passed loads of locals who all seemed to be walking in the opposite direction. A few of them sniggered at us and some shouted "gringos". We carried on regardless and felt at ease again when we passed a French family. They reassured us the end of the blockade was another 1km up the road. Upon reaching the other side we saw the last taxi driving off into the distance and the road ahead had been cornered off. This was stage 2 of our mission to sucre. At 8:00am all the roads were being closed for a car rally taking place that weekend. We managed to hitch a lift with some military police to the next town, Yotala. At the town we pleaded with the local police to give us a lift into Sucre which was still another 20km away. The police informed us the road closed at 8am and we were too late at 8.04am. All of a sudden a white Toyota camri came racing around the corner filled with a Bolivian family. The police ordered them to pull of over, informing them the road was closed and they can't go any further. Just when we thought our luck was up the police officer told us to get into the car with the family and they will take us to Sucre. 8 of us crammed into the car, plus our 3 backpacks and off we went. We sped down the road towards Sucre, laughing at how bizarre the situation was. The Bolivian family were very friendly as we communicated with our hands and body language! 5km from the centre of Sucre we were pulled over again by more police. They insisted we couldn't go any further as the race had already started and the rally cars were on their way. The family pleaded with the police to let them through but we were redirected to take the mountain road that would eventually take us to the other side of the city. We detoured up the steep dirt track but the car was really struggling to carry the heavy load. All of us cringed at the noises when the car dragged along the floor and hit stones along the way. In the end we all got out the car and began trekking up the mountain as the car drove off up the mountain, waiting at the top for us. Eventually after an hour and a half detour through the mountainous countryside we reached Sucre! It was definitely a journey we won't forget.
Straight away we noticed how attractive Sucre was. The city is a unesco heritage site and we were surrounded by white washed buildings with terracotta roofs and a palm tree plaza. It was a gorgeous sunny day and we were so pleased to feel warm again after enduring high altitudes and wind chills for the last week.
The majority of our time in Sucre was spent relaxing, soaking up the sun on the hostel terrace and eating well at the numerous Dutch restaurants and cafés that filled the city. Nick enjoyed watching the group stages of the World Cup during the day whilst I had Spanish lessons for 2 hours every morning.
We soon discovered our favourite place in Sucre was the mirador cafe that overlooked the city. It was a great place to spend the afternoon, lounging on deck chairs and sipping sangria whilst basking in the sunshine :)
Sucre was the perfect place to unwind after a hectic previous week. We spent 9 days there in total and enjoyed the slow paced and chilled lifestyle the locals seemed to lead. Eventually we decided it was time to move on and our next stop was a night bus to La Paz.
- comments
Angela Wow what a journey! As always glad to hear you arrived safely after the exciting events!