Sucre'

South America - Day 30

Exploring Sucre' & Orphanage

Today, with nothing overly interesting to do, we wandered the streets aimlessly to fill in time. We did find a couple of nice looking buildings to photograph along with a long park (pictured is the entrance to it) just outside the city centre. The green was a welcome relief after weeks of arid landscape.
I could easily have caught the plane to Santa Cruz that morning, but we had to wait. Come to think of it, I could have caught the plane to Santa Cruz after the 4x4 trip. Instead of the hellish trip to Potosi, returning to Lapaz would have been a better option then fly to Santa Cruz from there. I guess that's the sacrifice you make when you go on an organized trip.

Sucre Orphanage

That afternoon there was an option to go to an orphanage. I'd had enough of uncomfortable meetings with locals and decided against it. Kerri was keen and went with about half the crew. I don't know that much about what went on, but the photos tell some of the story.

Kerri hadn't been at work for some months by that time and hadn't had her kid fix. She particularly likes the ones that aren't sick like at work. (Sounds weird doesn't it? Nothing sinister I assure you.) This orphan (above) didn't look like she was doing too bad.

Apparently this little guy wasn't at all happy. Nothing the crew did could make him smile. I guess he had reason.

That night we had to say good bye to Polly, Richard and Melissa. They were flying back to Lapaz early the next morning before doing their own thing. Polly was headed to Rio de Janero and coastal Brazil, and Melissa & Richard were on their way to Argentina (if I remember correctly). It was all a bit sad having spent a month with them at close quarters and we'd all become quite close. It had to happen at some point. Most of the tour group went to a fairly decent restaurant and enjoyed some nice food and wine.

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.