Villazon - Sucre

Well... How to start... We had booked our trip to Sucre and it said it would take about 12 hours. We got on the bus at 17:00 and just as we left it started to rain. The road first was unsealed and muddy. There was a new road planned to be made and we could see the start of it because we were winding along it. As soon it got dark we put our seats in the resting position to relax. After about 3 hours we stopped at a river crossing. There were more vehicles queued up in front of us. Apparently the level of the water made all the vehicles cross with much care. So one after one they made their way through the water. Finally we made it and continued our way to Tupiza, our first stop. But before we arrived there was another river crossing ahead of us. But this time there where more vehicles waiting to cross. The trucks didn't seem to have much problems but the busses all waited patiently. At some point a PCB came to the rescue. It started putting rocks in the riverbed to make it easier for the buses to cross. This all took about 1 hour. At the moment when we crossed the river we could see how wide the river had become from all the rain water that had come down. When we finally made it to the other shore all the passengers started whistling and cheering. Guess the driver was a good one... When we arrived in Tupiza we were told that the local authorities decided that all traffic going to Sucre were not allowed to leave because of security reasons. All traffic would be allowed to leave at 6:00 in the morning. This meant that we had to stay in Tupiza and sleep in the bus (which we would have done anyway). But worse, we would arrive at Sucre about 9 hours later! The next day it turned out to be a 23 hours bus trip from Tupiza to Sucre. 

Sucre is a very beautiful city with lots of old buildings. The hostel was located close to the city center and there where lots of good restaurants and bars nearby. The next day we had a look in town center, at the Plaza des Armas. We also visited the Casa del Cultura where the official statement of the independence of Bolivia was signed. And as we decided to have a look at a market we noticed that something strange was going on at a government building. A lot of soldiers and security where placed around the building. We decided to wait and have a loko. When we asked a police officer what all the security was for he told us the president was coming to town. So we decided to meet Evo. After about 2 hours waiting he finally arrived. And the way he did reminded me of the reports on television: a lot of security agents helping him out of his car and leading him to the entrance. Since we had positioned ourselves close to the entrance of the building we got very close to him. And with close I mean about 1 meter away from him. I held my camera up to have some nice pictures of him but with all the people pushing it was hard to get a good shot. I managed to get 4 shots of Evo Morales entering the building, not bad for an amateur photographer.

In Sucre we got more adjusted to the hectic loife on the streets. Also crossing the streets is an art on itself. We just watched the locals doing it and started following them as they made their ways through the traffic. In Sucre we found some good place to have dinner. But when we wanted to visit some churches and museums we found out that on Saturday a lot of these buildings were shut. Sucre has a good atmosphere and the Plaza is always a good place to watch people.

Next stop on our trip is La Paz. We booked a cama bus (which means that the seats can go in an almost horizontal position) this time since our last experience wasn´t great. I am wondering what the altitude will do to us...