Dinosaurs and Water-bombing

Well we're in Sucre. We'd been told to prepare for a really cold, uncomfortable bus journey. So we took our sleeping bags on board and were prepared for the worst. Little did we know the worst wasn't the cold - it was the heat! It was so hot on that bus! I could hardly sleep. Thankfully we were by a window and kept that open for the whole bus journey. Luckily, someone had an adorable kitten with them and it roamed the bus for the night. Got a fright when I felt it climbing up my leg for a cuddle!

Sucre is a really nice town.  The centre is really pretty. Lots of big white buildings and lots of lovely Spanish colonial architecture. The weather has been very changable since we've been here. One day sunny, the next, rain and cloud.

The cathedral

 

We've been dining on fruit smoothies since being in Bolivia. They're really tasty and you get two big glassfulls for about 40p. In the market we bought some oil from a lady and she asked us if we wanted a bag. We said sure. She then proceeded to pour the oil from the bottle into the bag.

Carnival is on this weekend, Saturday - Tuesday, so there are lots of waterfights in the streets. We've been perfecting our 'don't you dare' look to give to the little kids that smile gleefully and squirt us anyway. It's crazy and so much fun.

On our second day here we caught a bus and went to the dinosaur museum. Here in Sucre they have the worlds largest set of dinosaur footprints, with over 150 different species of dinosaur footprints. They're on a cliff face, that used to be lower down but there was an earthquake that pushed the ground up. There were lots of dinosaur statues in the museum which we took many silly photos of.

the dinosaur footprints

It felt really good to go out and do something because it felt like we didn't really do much in La Paz. 

The next day we tried to go to a museum in the morning but they all seemed to be closed. After lunch we went out and met up with Claire who we met in San Pedro. We went to a cafe and then to la Casa de la Liberdad (Liberty House), which is where the Bolivian declaration of Independence was signed in 1825. Learned a lot about Bolivian history. Fun Fact: Bolivia has had a female president and currently have their first indigenous president.

The next day it was absolutely pouring it down with rain. We went out and were completely soaked within about two minutes. We went to a folklore museum. Saw lots of creepy masks.

We got ourselves another fruit smoothie at the market. The ladies are so friendly and the fruit choice is great.

Thursday was dia con madres. Basically a day for ladies to get drunk. We went out in the morning to get fruit and when we returned to our hostel (after getting sprayed by a hose) we found a big party underway. Ricardo (the owner) wrapped streamers around our necks, threw confetti in our hair, and then gave us lots of chicha to drink. He kept saying al seco (chug) and topping up our glasses. It was pretty weak stuff. He got really drunk. He said he wanted to dance with me after lunch, but when we returned to the living room after lunch, he was fast asleep on the couch. I think this version of Mothers day is much better than what we have back home. Mum - beware.

Happy dia con madres day

We tried to go to a castle yesterday. We took the bus and seemed to arrive at some sort of military base. The castle was shut and we weren't allowed to walk around anywhere, so we just had to get the bus back to town. We walked to the mirador (viewpoint) and saw the city.

Today is day one of carnival. I have no photos to show you because it was not safe to take my camera out into town. There was so much water everywhere. We went to watch the parade and were prime targets for the water throwers. One group actually said 'ooo gringas' and pelted us as much as they could. Locals actually moved away from us so that they wouldn't get wet. As well as throwing water, they spray foam at you so we ended up looking a bit like drowned snowmen. The parade was really cool though. Lots of dancing and masks. They were all quite dry.

We're heading to Potosi tomorrow and then Uyuni to do the salt flat. Going to get a hot chocolate now to warm up!