Rumoured to be the most beautiful city in Bolivia, Sucre definitely did not disappoint. With a population of just over 200,000 people, Sucre is the perfect backpacker paradise. The city is lined with adorable white buildings with red clay tiled rooves, and a colonial charm different to almost every other Latin American city that we’ve been to thus far. Our first night in Sucre was spent gushing over how adorable the city is, and enjoy a delicious meal at a cafe with self-reported “international standards”. Like the city, it also didn’t disappoint.
We spent our first full day in Sucre exploring the main area. We walked up to the main plaza, Plaza de 25 de Mayo, to admire the square with its nice statues, fountain, and palm trees. We looked at the main cathedral, and then continued onwards to Parque Bolivar, which was a nice green space with a fountain, and trees where people could be found reading, making out, and jogging. The weather was quite pleasant in Sucre, and it was a great place to sit peacefully for a little while! Although it was a leisurely morning, it was a nice change of pace after being so busy in San Pedro de Atacama and in the salt flats. After lunch, we made our way back to the hostel to rest up before heading to a spanish lesson. One of of the popular backpacker activities in Sucre is to study spanish, and we hopped on that band wagon. After a great lesson, we made our way to the Convento de San Felipo Neri, where we climbed to the very top to watch the sunset over the adorable city. It was cool to see the city from above, as all of the buildings had their neatly tiled rooves, and nice courtyards within the buildings. As well, the mountains surrounding Sucre towered over the city, with more greenery than we had seen for weeks. Once the sun had sunk behind the clouds, we grabbed dinner and made our way back to Parque Bolivar in hopes of seeing the fountain’s water show. We waited for nearly an hour with no avail, but the night was pleasant so not all was lost.
The following morning we started our day with another great spanish lesson. Once we had finished, we headed to the main plaza for lunch, and then walked up to the Museo de Recoleta, perched on a hill in Sucre with an incredible view of the city. We skipped the museum and headed to the cafe next to the museum with a sandy promenade with beach chairs and a wicked view of the city. I had been feeling off for the majority of the day, and it felt great to kick back and relax and soak in the sun. Unfortunately, the way I felt continued to go downhill as the day continued on, and after a light dinner, I hit the hay early in hopes of kicking whatever my body was fighting. We had booked a hike for the following day, and I didn’t want to miss it.
Within a few hours of going to bed, it became apparent that my body was not going to cooperate with me, and I spent the rest of the night being sick. By the time my alarm went off at 7am, I had had only about 3 hours of sleep, and felt as though someone had run me over with a truck. I have once and for all learned my lesson about eating raw vegetables in 3rd world counties, regardless of how nice the restaurant looks! I told Ryan to go and take photos for me, and I went back to sleep. I actually had a lovely “sick day”, aside from being told that our booking had been messed up and being forced to move all of our stuff in just a few minutes with very little stamina. After napping most of the morning, I read my book in the sun, and chatted with a few of my favourite people from back home. By the time Ryan got back from the hike, I was feeling significantly better and looking forward to hearing all about his adventure. He had taken a tour outside of the city where they hiked for about 3 hours on the pre-Hispanic Chataquila (Inca) trail, and then they headed to the town of Maragua to see the weaving done by the local women. He said it was a nice tour, and as much as I was jealous, I’m glad I stayed home to let my body recooperate.
The following day was our final day in Sucre, and we made the most of it by walking up to the top of the cathedral to get a final look at the city. We also walked to the chalk white San Francisco church, and adventured into the main market. Although Sucre is Bolivia’s most beautiful city, it is still Bolivia, and we could really feel this in the market. There were tons of people selling almost anything you could imagine; clothes, meat, fruit, vegetables, pasta, notebooks, lunch, and assorted kitchen goods, just to name a few things. The women running the stands in the market were dressed in traditional Bolivian wear with bowler hats, large colourful skirts, and had 2 braids running down their backs. It was all very overwhelming, and Ryan and I spent only a few minutes there before making our way to the less busy parts of town.
We spent the rest of the afternoon taking it easy, before heading to the bus station for our first overnight bus in Bolivia. The bus itself was pretty nice, and we actually had the nicest seats we’ve had in a bus thus far. They were full beds, allowing us to fully stretch out. This was needed due to the extremely unpleasant, windy, and bumpy roads. I was a little disheartened by the bus when I went to use the onboard washroom and was told it didn’t work. We only paid $30 for our luxury seats, so I guess I can’t expect much more than that! Fortunately, we stopped shortly after, and were advised that we could do our business anywhere we wanted. Apparently peeing in public is not against the law here. Nevertheless, after taking a Gravol and listening to some calming music, I drifted off, waking up in the heart of Bolivia – La Paz.