Friday 24 October 2008

The Long Taxi Ride

South America Day 29

Travel to Sucre' by Taxi


After breakfast we packed our gear and were loaded into taxis. These taxis looked like pseudo rally cars & were going to take us the hour or so to Sucre'. Taxis over there are way cheaper than Oz. That length of taxi ride in Australia would force you to get out a personal loan first!
As we were leaving Potosi we had to pass through the provincial border. Strangely this child was on the median strip in a box. I have no idea why. It was just odd.

Immediately after we left Potosi we stared to descend into the valley. I guess it figures because Potosi is the highest city in the world at 4090m. We were about to leave the Altiplano for the last time and heading to Sucre' at 2790m above sea level. Sucre' is on the eastern slope of the Andes and it would be our step off point to the Amazon Basin.

Crazy Drivers

About half way to Sucre' we were driving down a long steep incline when, near the bottom, we saw this scene. Clearly a truck drive has either been traveling too fast or his brakes couldn't deal with the incline & lost control. I was sad, but a brutal reminder of how easily it can go wrong.

Puente Suspension Bridge


The Sucre' province border has the Rio Grande as it's boundary marker. It's one of the major tributaries that feed the Amazon River. Oddly, in the middle of Bolivia was this fancy looking suspension bridge. We stopped for a bit to check out the bridge and the view of the river before continuing on to Sucre'
Sucre' is a nicer city than the others we'd been to in Bolivia and most of Peru. It was somewhat similar to Arequipa in Peru. The lower altitude and proximity to the jungle means that it gets a nicer climate and more rain so the place is nice and green. We wandered around for the afternoon & sorted out the supplies and washing issues.