Sucre and Potosi
When leaving the bustling La Paz, we thought that it would be nice to take the time to kick back and relax in one of our next destinations, like we did in Puerto Lopez, our last stop in Ecuador.
Be assured that we still have this hunger for travel and we enjoy more and more this wandering where each day brings its share of knowledge, discoveries and encounters.
Sometimes though, a break is necessary, in order to give ourselves the time to do some laundry or to update the blog. But more importantly to see where we should be heading next. Even if the major milestones of our trip are already known, we still need to adjust our itinerary following our mood and the feedback we get from our fellow travelers.
So we took a night bus to Sucre, the judicial capital of Bolivia that has also a good reputation among globetrotters. Initially, we were planning to spend 3 nights, finally it became 6. The warm and sunny weather and going down from an elevation of 3800m to 2300m helped made our stay pleasant and our breathing easier. I was even able to put back on my shorts that were hidden at the the bottom of my backpack since Ecuador.
This city, with all its white buildings made me remember Casablanca when I was a kid, where everything was also painted in white, including tree trunks. Anyway, we couldn't feel homesick : just by walking to one of the city park's we could see replicas of the Eiffel tower and the “Arc de Triomphe”.
Sucre, the birth place of independent Bolivia, has many touristic sights but the one we found the most impressive was the cretacic park where you can see hundreds of tracks left there by dinosaurs before the rise of the Andes.
After Sucre, we kept going south toward our next stop : Potosi. But instead of a Bolivian bus bumpy ride, we traveled with Hélène and Daniel in their classy Japanese 4x4. This couple from Drancy (one of Paris suburbs) who is cruising from Alaska to Patagonia, offered us the ride, a proposition we couldn't refuse. Trust me, it was weird to get back on a private car. After two months riding public buses, we had totally forgotten how it was like.
Potosi is the highest city worldwide. Nested at an altitude of 4090m, even Lhasa in Tibet is beaten. This city used to be one of the wealthiest in the world thanks to the exploitation of the nearby silver mines started by the Spanish in the 16th century and still running nowadays with hard labor conditions. Miners use 96° alcohol and coca leaves to support working in such environment. Being a mining engineer and as most of the tourists transiting in the area, Bea could not miss the mine tour.
From its golden age, Potosi keeps only few colonial houses falling apart and the « Casa de la Moneda » where the minting of silver coins, in use in all the Spanish colonial empire, was done.
In Potosi, we also had the chance to watch some basket-ball games from the Bolivian premier league. Playing at such an altitude should be rewarded by a gold medal anyhow and even if it is was not the NBA level, the players provided a good game in a family atmosphere where kids invaded the playground at each time-out trying to score at least a 2 pointer.
Except the basket ball game and the mine tour, Potosi will not leave imperishable memories in our minds. Let's hope that our next destination, « El Salar Uyuni » will live up to our expectations.
Karim
Be assured that we still have this hunger for travel and we enjoy more and more this wandering where each day brings its share of knowledge, discoveries and encounters.
Sometimes though, a break is necessary, in order to give ourselves the time to do some laundry or to update the blog. But more importantly to see where we should be heading next. Even if the major milestones of our trip are already known, we still need to adjust our itinerary following our mood and the feedback we get from our fellow travelers.
So we took a night bus to Sucre, the judicial capital of Bolivia that has also a good reputation among globetrotters. Initially, we were planning to spend 3 nights, finally it became 6. The warm and sunny weather and going down from an elevation of 3800m to 2300m helped made our stay pleasant and our breathing easier. I was even able to put back on my shorts that were hidden at the the bottom of my backpack since Ecuador.
This city, with all its white buildings made me remember Casablanca when I was a kid, where everything was also painted in white, including tree trunks. Anyway, we couldn't feel homesick : just by walking to one of the city park's we could see replicas of the Eiffel tower and the “Arc de Triomphe”.
Sucre, the birth place of independent Bolivia, has many touristic sights but the one we found the most impressive was the cretacic park where you can see hundreds of tracks left there by dinosaurs before the rise of the Andes.
After Sucre, we kept going south toward our next stop : Potosi. But instead of a Bolivian bus bumpy ride, we traveled with Hélène and Daniel in their classy Japanese 4x4. This couple from Drancy (one of Paris suburbs) who is cruising from Alaska to Patagonia, offered us the ride, a proposition we couldn't refuse. Trust me, it was weird to get back on a private car. After two months riding public buses, we had totally forgotten how it was like.
Potosi is the highest city worldwide. Nested at an altitude of 4090m, even Lhasa in Tibet is beaten. This city used to be one of the wealthiest in the world thanks to the exploitation of the nearby silver mines started by the Spanish in the 16th century and still running nowadays with hard labor conditions. Miners use 96° alcohol and coca leaves to support working in such environment. Being a mining engineer and as most of the tourists transiting in the area, Bea could not miss the mine tour.
From its golden age, Potosi keeps only few colonial houses falling apart and the « Casa de la Moneda » where the minting of silver coins, in use in all the Spanish colonial empire, was done.
In Potosi, we also had the chance to watch some basket-ball games from the Bolivian premier league. Playing at such an altitude should be rewarded by a gold medal anyhow and even if it is was not the NBA level, the players provided a good game in a family atmosphere where kids invaded the playground at each time-out trying to score at least a 2 pointer.
Except the basket ball game and the mine tour, Potosi will not leave imperishable memories in our minds. Let's hope that our next destination, « El Salar Uyuni » will live up to our expectations.Karim
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