Sucre

ihana.com - big trip - diary - bolivia - may 2003

Thursday 1 - Saturday 3 May

Comfortably lower in altitude than Potosi at 2800m, Sucre is known as the white city as most of the buildings in the centre are painted that colour. Its a clean, relaxed town with some fine girls walking about. Its a university town and the official capital of Bolivia which is strange as La Paz boasts that it's the highest capital in the world.

We rattled along the streets until we found a worryingly German hostal full of American kids. They had a car park nearby so that swung it. The car park was run by a totally senile old woman which didn't make for easy negociations but B managed to get on her wavelength, achieved by the traditional Brits abroad method of shouting very loud.

The large student population injects a bit of life into this very culturally aware town. The bars and discos have something going on and theres plenty of friendly folks. Taking a taxi and getting in the front seat is a bit unnerving as most of the ubiquitous Toyota Corollas were once right hand drive and have had their steering wheels put on the other side. This costs $150 and has to be done by law. The stupidity of such a rule is evident as none of the guages ever work. The cars originally come from Japan to Chile, are used there until they're knackered then get sold on to Bolivians.

We spent a few days relaxing and checking out the local sights and sites of interest. Our brief forays into the nocturnal scene, limited a bit by B's 24 hour fever (John Travolta eat your heart out), showed some potential for a good time but many of the nightspots were not too busy - including one disco which was populated soley by a group of about 25 enthusiastic 16 year old schoolgirls and us. The plaza is a good place to chill out and meet the locals, especially the hoards of shoeshine kids, drinks sellers and, if you're lucky, some college girls.

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