We arrived into Sucre and were met by one of those little men holding a sign saying 'Gap Adventures'!  After collecting our luggage we headed off to the hotel in Sucre in two taxis.  When we arrived, the taxi drivers tried to get us to pay, but we were adamant that it was included in our tour price and once they realised that we weren't going to be fooled, they scarpered pretty sharpish!  The hotel in Sucre was even grander than the one in La Paz.  Our tour leader and the remainder of our tour group hadn't arrived yet and the woman at reception didn't want to allocate us rooms until they arrived, so with an hour to spare we all went off for a wander around Sucre and a spot of lunch.

 Sucre was much less traditional than La Paz, but was still a beautiful colonial and historic town.  The sun was shining and we were all surprised to find that it was pretty hot outside.  We walked around taking in the atmosphere of the cobbled streets and main square, where businessmen and women were busily hurrying about in their suits.  We stopped in a small café for some lunch with amazing milkshakes and took a little time to get to know the members of our group a bit better.  Afterwards we headed back to the hotel, where we finally met Christina, our tour leader, and the other eight members of our group - all couples!!  So with the addition of Lucy and Ben, Chris and Maddy, Kristin and Olaf, and Ian and Eileen , we were now a group of fifteen!  We had a little introductory talk, but we were then free for the next two days to wander round Sucre and take in the sights ourselves.  That afternoon, the two of us headed out on another infamous walking tour, taking in the many white washed buildings and churches.  It turns out that Sucre isn't all that big and we had quickly done a tour of almost all the major sights in around an hour!!  Still, it was nice to soak up the sunshine and the main plaza was well landscaped, full of palm trees and surrounded by a beautiful cathedral and old Jesuit university.    

 Later, we jumped on a bus for a rather bumpy twenty minute ride out to the site of 60 million year old dinosaur tracks!  They had been accidentally discovered by a cement company that was digging for raw materials a few years ago, and scientists had been continuing the work ever since.  We took a brief, but informative tour, around the small outdoor museum that had been created, which mostly consisted of scale models of the dinosaur species that they believe had made the tracks, before heading off to see the tracks themselves.  Unfortunately, you can't get close up to the tracks anymore as they are now protected, but from where we were standing and with the viewing telescopes, we were able to tell that each of the footprints was at least one meter in diameter!  They were on the sides of mountains, but the guide explained that they must have once been flat, and then they had been pushed up to form mountains due to tectonic plate movement in the area.  After our little trip into the dinosaur world, we headed back into the centre of Sucre, where we continued wandering around and found a HUGE fruit and vegetable market and some other rather disturbing meat-like stalls.  We finished our day with a wander through a local park known as 'Little Paris', owing to the mini Eiffel Tower- like construction at its centre, which we naturally climbed!  Unfortunately, the view wasn't that great and as we seemed to be disturbing a romantic moment between a kissing couple, we quickly came back down!    The whole group went to dinner together that evening and it was nice to get to know the others a bit better.  The couples and Christina had come from Brazil and almost everyone was continuing on to Peru with the tour, after we finished in Bolivia.  Even better was the choice of food - FONDUE!!  It was great to finally have slightly different cuisine and we all enjoyed losing our bits of bread and meat into the big vats of cheese and oil!  

The next day we were up early to take a long walk uphill to a disused monastery on the hillside, after yet another amazing buffet breakfast!!  Ann came with us and the three of us had a private guided tour (in Spanish) of the old rooms and courtyard. It was a really beautiful white-washed building with an incredible view over the city below, and the gardens contained millions of fragrant orange, lemon and lime trees and one of the oldest trees in Bolivia too.  After coming back down, we headed off to a textile museum which outlined the differences between the dress and traditions of the Aymaran and Quechuan tribes, and how this was represented in their traditional weavings.  The museum was huge and contained an incredible number of traditional shawls, wall hangings and rugs.  It even had two ladies weaving out in the courtyard and you could see just how complex it was to create the intricate patterns and designs that they had passed down through the generations.  The museum closed for lunch so we went off for a bite to eat and ran into all the other members of our tour, who were all dining in the same gringo spot!  The food was good however, and having just avoided a temporary downpour, we went back to the museum to finish our education!      

In the early evening, almost the whole group went into the market to buy footballs, socks and powdered milk, as a donation to the orphanage that we were planning to visit that evening.  GAP supports a few of the orphanages in Bolivia, and Christina had found out what they were currently lacking and arranged for us all to visit that day.  It was an all boys orphanage, helped only a little by the Bolivia government, and had boys ranging from 1-18 years staying there.  The day that we went was quite fitting as it was National Day of the Child, and when we arrived the kids had been having a party and so were quite animated!!  We all introduced ourselves briefly and gave them the presents which we had brought, and which were gratefully received.  We passed a few hours there just playing with the children and talking to them in the little Spanish we knew.  Some of them were so cute, especially Ernesto, a little one year old boy, who given half a chance Rakhee would definitely have taken home with her!!!  They were such happy children and it was so hard to believe that anyone could abandon them and that they had no-one but each other to depend on.  Some of them had been the victims of abuse, some of their parents had tragically passed away, and others simply came from family's who couldn't afford to keep them.  It was so heartbreaking.  The brotherhood was evident though, as even whilst they were playing football, they were all careful not to knock over little Ernesto, and gently guide him out of the way as he ran after the ball trying join in with the big boys!  The sense of family amongst the boys and staff was amazing to behold and we were all glad of the opportunity to be a part of it for a few hours and help, even though it was only in a small way.  When it was time to leave, nobody wanted to, but as it was Christina's first visit, it was nice to hear her say that she planned to take future groups to visit the boys when she was running tours in Bolivia, and nice to know that they would continue to be supported in some small way. 

 After a long day, we all headed out for dinner once more, this time to a Mexican restaurant, again a welcome change from the beans and rice we had lived off in Brazil!!  We continued getting to know each other better, before heading off to sleep, as we were travelling to Potosi early the next morning?