Apr 22-23 Sucre

On Friday a.m., dia Viernes Santo (Good Friday), I caught a 7:15 flight to La Paz and then took another flight to Sucre to save time.  My palabra del dia fue ¨demorado¨because my second flight was delayed by hours.  I arrived in good weather to Sucre found a hostal and head out to get touristic information and to see the city.  Since it was Viernes Santo, everything was closed.  Viernes Santo is more important than Easter here.  I got info and walked around a little before the sun set.  I had dinner in a nice French style restaurant with good wifi.  I was concerned that I would be relegated to eating fish, or even worse, pasta, but the La Taverne had Chateau Briand for $7 USD.

View of Huayna Potosi from the La Paz airport; It is very satifying to look back up at a peak you have climbed

On Saturday, I woke up early to work on my laundry project.  My clothes were beyond scummy from climbing on Sunday and Monday then spending 3.5 days in the jungle.  Ick.  I wore jeans and cut up my free t-shirt from summitting Huayna Potosi so that it fit better.  After I delivered my laundry, I set about finding a new hostal.  The service in my hostal sucked and I needed to count on the receptionist to get me a 6:00 am taxi for Sunday to Potosi.  I ended up in a fancy hostal on the plaza for an exorbitant $20 USD per night.  I spent the day walking around the city.  It was so pleasant.  I first walked to the mirador.  There is a lovely little gourmet cafe below the mirador that makes for a good spot to sip tea or juice.  I conversed with the gringos who were sitting there digging for info on Salar de Uyuni tour companies.  Afterwards I ate lunch in Kulping, a restaurant with a tremendous view of the city.  For $7 USd including tip, I had an amazing lunch complete with salad bar, delicious soup (always there is soup with lunch in Bolivia), and grilled chicken.  I could get used to this! 

Church near mirador

View from mirador

Afterwards, I walked down to the little park on the other side of the plaza where all the government buildings are.  There is a mini replica of the Eiffel Tower there too.  It was so pleasant that I was saddened that I would have to leave so soon.  There are lots of nice things to do and see outside of Sucre, namely the indigenous Sunday market with all of the weavings that I would have to miss.  Alas.

 I went to the central market to admire the produce and meat.  There were so many different types of bananas, avocados, and potatoes!  Everything looked so fresh and so appealling.

I spent time updating my blog on a painfully slow computer, picked up my laundry, hit the supermarket, replaced all my ratty old ziploc bags, repacked, and went back to the same French restaurant.