Sucre

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

Sunday 4 - Monday 5 May

Sucre has a good market which was a favourite spot to breakfast on huge mixed fruit salads prepared at one of the many stalls. The market sells everything for your gastric needs from fresh meats and strange herbs to party cakes - it also has a cheap and lively comedor upstairs.

Here in Sucre lives Gert, a dutchy who owns Joy Ride bar just off the plaza. He runs offroad motorbike and mountainbike tours in the surrounding countryside for tourists. Business seems to be going very well and we were invited to tag along on one of the motorbike tours in the landy. After meeting up at Gerts beautiful pad, colonial courtyard and all, the slightly nervous English guy riding the bike got kitted out in full body armour to protect him in the event of his inevitable crashes. We took a quick spin around town before convoying two trail bikes and the landy up into the hills.

Just out of town the bikers stopped for a bit of last minute instruction on offroad riding techniques. We went ahead but the lighter and more powerful bikes quickly caught up before stopping a second time. We forged onwards in low box up the steep climb, assuming we would be caught soon but never saw the bikers again. We waited a while but no sign of our guide, so we headed off into the wilds for a special ihana tour, crossing a rocky river valley and going deep into the mountains accompanied by spectacular views on all sides.

Questioning a campesino, he assured us we could we could reach the next village - and it happened to be in the direction he needed to go. We gave him a lift but half an hour later talking to some more locals we discovered further ahead was a dead end! The sneaky hitchhiker hopped off the roof and we turned back. We made our own way down the rocky river, almost getting grounded on rocks during one of the frequent crossings, bringing back memories of Copper Canyon in Mexico but B got away with it. Arriving at Joy Ride again we ordered lunch and a while later the intrepid bikers returned, claiming a puncture had delayed them, although we think its more likely they couldn't keep up with Solihulls finest!

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