Sucre, Bolivia 🇧🇴

Today I wanted to do a city tour, just to get my bearings a bit. It is Sunday, so the streets are really quiet as I make my way to the Condor cafe. This cafe runs tours on a not for profit basis and they support local community projects so I feel the 70bolivianos they charge for a city tour is money well spent. We meet at 10 o’clock and we are a group of 5; two Aussies, two Americans and me. The first stop is the Catedral on the main plaza. It is Sunday so we are fortunate to find it open and we can look around. It is quite simple, no ornate angels adorning the ceiling but pretty in its own right. The janitor locks up behind us, bolting the huge door and fancy gate. The main plaza is still not busy, apart from a school group practicing for the city’s celebrations on the 26th May. The guide explains the Bolivian symbol or shield, with the Potosí hill in the background and Llama in front. The motto on the government building is ‘stronger together’ with the 9 stars representing the departments that make up the union of Bolivia. The current president created a new constitution in 2008, recognising more of the indigenous people’s rights but also said this created a new Bolivia and thus he was eligible to run an additional term!

The San Francisco church is famous in Bolivia, and it is very popular. The bell tower houses the bell that was rung on the 26th May and initiated the start of independence uprising across South America. The bell was rung that hard it cracked, and this is how it remains as a reminder. It is around the church that there are some nice vendor stalls selling a myriad of souvenirs. Behind the church is the central market and we walk through the centre. There are fruit & veg stalls, cheese sellers, a meat section and well to be honest there is everything here. We sample some chorizo from a stall that is famously run by seven sisters. The chorizo is spicy, which makes a change as the Argentinian and Chilean food was surprisingly bland.

We walk on to Bolivar park, this was created and donated by a eccentric childless couple who also adopted over 80 orphaned children. The park has a big children’s area with a dinosaur theme, but also a replica Effel tower. It was constructed by Gustov Effel himself as he was a friend of the couple. We then hop on a local bus, only 1.50Bols one way (anywhere). We are heading up the hill to Recoleta, the oldest part of the city. There are several streets that are named after cats where the freedom fighters first planned the uprising for independence. The cat streets lead us to a cobbled square that overlooks Sucre. This is where the tour ends but close by is the Mirador cafe where I have arranged to meet the girls. This spot is amazing, and we spend the whole afternoon sat in the deckchairs looking out over Sucre in the sunshine. The cafe is great for food but best is their cafe frappe which is deliciously cooling in this lovely weather.