DAY 143
Our guide is weird. When we get to the 4*4, he doesn't seem to understand our objections about it. Why would we complaining about having to ride in the back of a pickup truck on steel benches while him and his colleagues get a real seat inside the cabin; it's not like we're paying for this right? Not to mention it's not exactly what was described to us yesterday... Eventually, he does us a "favor" and we're upgraded to cabin seats. We get going and not long after he asks the driver to stop. According to him, he's driving too slow and we won't have time to do our trek if the driver doesn't speed up. I'm sitting next to the driver and that truck can't go any faster. He also threaten the driver to report him to the company for not following his instructions. When he's back in the back, we tell the driver he's doing just fine (which is true) and that we'll actually be complaining to the company about the guide for being a huge asshole. Some time later, the guide asks the diver to stop again. Not to give him shit this time but he dropped his phone on the road so he has to run back and fetch it... Wtf is wrong with this guy!!
We eventually get to the trail head without further disruption from him. He gives shit to the driver once again then tells us we have to walk fast because we're late... Unbelievable. You don't meet people with absolutely no people skill like that so often, the only thing to do really is take it like it's a show and ignore him.
The first part of our trek is an Inca trail. We start at 3200m and go zigzagging down on a cliff trail, Inca style. We walk for a good hour and a half and loose 300m, nothing too crazy. The views of the valley are very nice though. We stop for a bite by the river and get back in the jeep for a short transfer. The next hike is a round trip to check out dinosaur footprints. Geology and erosion both preserved and revealed them. The tracks are super clear and belong to different animals. They disappear into the earth at the edge of the plaque. Overtime they'll be washed away but more of them will be revealed by erosion. Nothing is planned to preserve them so far, sadly. We take the same route to go back. The valley is beautiful with its colored rocks mixed with vegetation and soil.
We stop at a nearby village before heading back to Sucre to visit a weaver and see her production. They're still using very old school techniques but the creations are very nice. The main traditional colors here are red and black with lots of Devils, animals and plants on the design. Since it takes so long to make it's on the expensive side and we have no space in our luggage to begin with anyway. We make it back to Sucre without strangling our guide and go for the mandatory drink afterward where he gives us customer survey! What a fool! He won't be disappointed by what we have to say about him :D We hit the alliance francaise restaurant with the Spanish couple to finish the day.
DAY 144
Lazy day today. It took us sometime to get started which felt good :D First church of the day, Santa Maria de la Merced. It's in poor condition sadly. It has a lot of mestizo baroque with a very impressive altar and pulpit. It's all painted white but it's a shame because it covers previous paintings. The church is in dire need of restoration and should get it in a near future. The view from the top is great though with the white city in full display. Next door is convent San Felipe Neri. It's now a school and I'm not sure the students know how lucky they are. Our first contact is with the patio. All white with arcs and balconies... Gorgeous. The roof is where the monks use to meditate, looking at the city. It's also a playground for photographers with all these shapes :D The church of the convent is a pure neoclassical. All clean, white and gold, beautifully maintained but it's missing a soul somehow. Maybe the baroque mestizo is the culprit here. It's flamboyance is making other styles dull in comparison.
DAY 145
Casa de la libertad used to be the seat of government until recently before turning into a Museum. Sucre is still honorary capital of Bolivia but all the power is now in La Paz. The building has seen all the important figures of the independence and had had many roles during its life. It's especially famous because the declaration of Independence was signed here.
The cathedral is open so we enter. It's very lovely with the white and gold but contrary to the church of the convent it has a soul. Maybe the mix of Renaissance with touch of Gothic does the trick where the neoclassical was only giving an empty feeling. To finish the day, we climb all the way up to la recoleta to enjoy a night's view of the city. To add to the dramatic effect, we even have lightnings in the background. They come with a bit of rain unsurprisingly but we don't get too wet. We saw an Italian restaurant with the weirdest opening hours on the way up. It's only open 3-4 times a week between 7pm and 10pm but it looks appealing. The restaurant is in a house in fact and we're lucky to get a table. Oh and the pizza is awesome!!
DAY 146
Today we went to Jurassic Park. Ok it's not the official name and they don't have live dinosaur but who does? They however have real size models of the usual suspects (T Rex, titanosaurus, a flying one, etc...). To be next to these monsters is quite impressive, It makes you happy they're not hanging around anymore ;) it comes with a small museum but the real attraction is the wall of footprints. The whole site was a quarry before but as they were peeling the layers, they stumbled upon that. A huge wall full of footprints very well conserved. The wall is visible from the park but you can go down and get a closer look with a guide. Our (over caffeinated) guide is a wealth of information. He's actually a scientist so you can grill him for details and he'll oblige ;) Once again, the footprints belong to lots of different animals. One of them is an impressive 300m long. The difficulty for this site will once again be preservation. They don't have enough funding but are trying their best with what they have. Some parts of the walls are still hidden but they don't plan to touch them since the other layers are protecting what's underneath.
Today is el dia de los muertos. It's tradition to go to the cemetery and tend the tombs of your loved ones. It's big in Bolivia and the cemetery should be bursting with people. We catch a minibus then another to get there. Public transportation in Bolivia is not unlike what they had in Africa. A shitload of minibuses that run specific routes but as a tourist there really is no way to know which one you're suppose to take or where it's suppose to stop; a fun experience when you have the time ;) The cemetery is as advertised, crowded and super busy. It's not that big so to accommodate so many tombs, they actually have buildings (by corporation among other things) with rows and columns of tombs. First time I see anything like it. It's not a sad day though, the mood is not sad but busy.
DAY 147
First order of business, buy our bus ticket to La Paz. We'll take a night bus and want to be able to sleep so we take a good company. On paper it looks comfy, we'll see if we can sleep. After a stop at the market for a fresh juice, we go check out the local Eiffel Tower in Bolivar Park. This guy has been really busy it seems, building towers, stairs, railway stations all over the planet!
The town is empty today, the only ones out are groups of teenager in tracksuits from all over the country. There's clearly some kind of competition going on somewhere... Elementary, dear Watson!
DAY 148
Program of the day: Chilling out in Sucre. Our bus leaves at 7:30pm and we have little to do which is actually very enjoyable every now and then ;) Yesterday the weird thing in town was the teenagers from all over the country, today we have people disguised as Zebra helping people cross. Is it to change the drivers mentality about pedestrian? If so they need more of these zebras out everyday because crossing a street here is risking one's life. Drivers are mean and super aggressive.
Our bus smells... It'll get better with the AC but that's not a great first impression. It has space though, in Tanzania we had 3/2 and sometime 2/2, here it's a 1/2 with each row being a small compartment and almost fully reclining seats, luxury!!! We try to watch a movie but the road is so bad we end up sea sick in no time. It was a good plan to take a night bus because reading or watching a movie is out of the question. So we sleep. Strangely, the bus goes through Potosi on its way to La Paz; not the most direct route. It adds 150km of zigzag to our trip :/