May 21 – 24 – The real capital

Luckily for Chris, our cab driver was quite fast, and the roads were perfect, so we made it to Sucre on time for the game, and they found the bar only a few minutes after the game started. As Chris is a diehard Manchester fan, we all opted to cheer for Chelsea, and I did my best as a good Canadian to point out that hockey was a much better game, and every little thing that the fans groaned about would never happen in a hockey game (come on, how many hockey players take a dive…..and the net is the size of the goaltender and they can get the puck in there at least 4 times a game…not like this silly soccer stuff). As we enjoyed this bar so much, and we were looking for any reason to sit still for a while, we set up camp there for most of the day, only taking a break late afternoon to go to the hotel for a shower and nap before returning for dinner and a night of hanging out. During the evening, we had a few different presentations from different tour operators outlining the different options we had in Sucre over the next couple of days. As tomorrow was Corpus Christi, nothing would be open so we opted to go on a biking trip in the morning that would take us on a downhill route to the dinosaur park….that is if the tour group would delay the start time to 11:00 so we could sleep in.

Well, true to their word, the tour group did delay the start time, and even though they had an extra two hours, we still had to wait a little bit while they found bikes for all of us and loaded the trucks with all the equipment. Once we piled in, we headed up to the highest point on the road to start our downhill trek and unloaded beside a cement factory. While the drivers were unloading the equipment, our guide took us for a walk up the hill behind the cement factory along a gated gravel road. After a short walk along this uninviting road we came upon the Parque Cretácico, an brand new, beautiful looking, Disney-esque dinosaur park. This park, the main children’s attraction in Sucre, was built around the largest set of dinosaur tracks in the world. About 25 years ago, the workers at the FRANCESA cement company noticed that there were a series of indentations in the hillside that were to ordered to result from the mining. After some investigation (which took a few years before anyone came down to look into it) it was determined these were indeed dinosaur tracks, over 150 sets of tracks (6,000 tracks in total) up to 80cm wide coming from many different types of dinosaurs.

They figure these tracks were formed when the dinosaurs came to the water’s edge to drink. At the time this area was tropical and close to sea level, so when the dinosaurs walked to the water’s edge their tracks were left behind in the mud. These then dried and were covered by other dirt and new tracks were set in the mud. In all, they have found about 8 different layers of tracks which were formed only a few days or weeks apart from each other. After they had fossilized, the tectonic plates started moving in order to create the Andes and thus moved the once level land, onto a 90˚ angle creating the most intriguing way to look at dinosaur tracks. Recently declared a UNESCO site, they finally have money to protect the tracks (which, exposed to the elements, have been deteriorating at an astonishing rate) but since the area is so large, a shelter is not an option, so instead they are covering the hill and tracks with latex.

After looking at the wall, you go for a walk through the dinosaur park, consisting of life-size replicas of what the animals that made the tracks looked like. These were probably the most anatomically correct dinosaurs in the world as they have not been given the “Ken doll” (in other words, reproductive and digestive organs were not omitted, as is the norm). It made for a very Disney type of park in the middle of Bolivia.

Once we returned to the bikes we realized that we were not going to be starting at the park, but instead would drive another 15-20 minutes to the top of the next hill where we would start (some of us didn’t want to do any uphill biking). Once we got there and unloaded the bikes, they noticed that there were not enough helmets, so one of us would not be able to go. We also noticed that the bikes were not in the best condition possible, with the seat on my first bike not able to raise, and the second bike I had didn’t have top gears, so my speed was greatly reduced. Sadly, the trip disappointed further, probably because I did the death road in La Paz. The downhill segments weren’t as quick or steep, and the total length of time was so short that when we got to the bottom, I actually asked if there was more left to go. As we were short one bike I switched off with Katherine so she could have a chance to ride, while I boarded the trailer behind one of the vehicles to take pictures of everyone while they rode….this as it turns out would be the highlight of the bike ride for me.

The end of the ride was supposed to include a swim in the river and a lunch, but instead of the river we were promised, we found a stream where the whole town was washing their clothes up river from us, and it was browner than any other river I have seen. And the lunch was a tiny sandwich, definitely not something to replenish you from a ride….and not something you want at 3:00. All in all we were very disappointed with this entire ride, but at least we got to see the dinosaur tracks.

The next day was a free day for all of us. The only thing we had organized that day was dinner that night with a visit to the chocolate festival Sucre was holding over the weekend. Even though most of us went our separate ways, the town and city centre is so small that we bumped into each other more often than you can imagine.

In the morning I opted for a douse of Bolivian history, as up to this point I had not received much of it in my travels. For this I headed to the Casa de la Libertad, the centre of government in Sucre and the site of the signing of the declaration of independence. Officially Sucre, and the Casa de la Libertad, is the capital of Bolivia, according to the constitution, but over the past couple of decades the centre of government has been moved (some would argue illegally) to La Paz, much to the disappointment of the people of Sucre. Because of this, Bolivia as two capitals, La Paz as the administrative capital, and Sucre as the constitutional capital.

As Sucre has been the capital for most of Bolivia’s history, the Casa de la Libertad was filled with many of Bolivia’s political artifacts. Throughout my tour (which I could have had in Spanish or French…even though they knew I was Canadian, they didn’t offer an English tour to me, probably because I speak Spanish with a French accent) we were shown the declaration of Independence, Constitution, portraits of the important figures in Bolivian history and pictures of the “official” presidents (they have had so many presidents, there is not enough space on the wall, so only the official presidents were welcomed on the walls).

Our tour guide also provided us with a few interesting facts about the Bolivian history. For example, the Bolivian crest has 10 stars, 9 for the existing provinces and 1 for the province they lost to Chile through war. As Bolivia is really bad when it comes to war (it has lost over half its territory to all its neighboring countries since independence) they are trying to get access to the ocean through diplomatic relations. Also Bolivar and Sucre (two of the main liberators of South America) are celebrated with vigor nowadays, but back when they were alive, they were hated by the people and Sucre, after being president, was murdered by the time he was 40.

After finishing my tour, I headed for a walk around the city. Sucre is an incredibly beautiful city that is known as the “White City” because of a law which dictates you can only paint your building white. This, combined with the tile roofs, helps the Spanish colonial architecture create the marvelous historical feeling of the city. My walk around the town helped me embrace the history and feeling of Sucre. My path took me through the University (students are the same in Bolivia as they are in Canada) and past the Plaza Pizarro to the Parque Bolivar. This is one of the mina parks in the city, where while I was there, they were having a recruitment fair for preschools. Every preschool from miles around was there with their kids to help show how their school was better than all the rest. It was very much like a university recruitment fair, just for 4 year olds. Parque Bolivar also boarders the Supreme Court of Bolivia (one of the parts of the government Sucre was able to hold on to). This was a remarkable building that I just had to go inside to look at. After I got inside, it didn’t take long for the security to quickly usher me out, I guess I didn’t look very Bolivian.

I met up with the guys I was traveling with for lunch in the most beautiful courtyard (with a senior citizen bus tour) and then headed out in search of the chocolate festival. We stopped at a few places that we were told were taking part in the festival, only to find out it didn’t start until later that evening, but we did manage to find a place that was baking a chocolate cake and we were told to return around 6 to get the fresh, out of the oven cake. We all decided that would be a very good idea, so we parted ways again with the intention of meeting back up later that afternoon for chocolate.

That afternoon I wandered around again and found myself in the middle of the market district, and it had to be the most organized market in all of South America. Everyone had set stalls, there were sections to everything and it was all very organized. They even had little (we’re talking 3’ x 6’ stalls) areas where you could buy anything you wanted from staplers to blow up pool toys to underwear. And as with everything else in Sucre, it was all painted white. The street outside the market was just as well organized with shops lining a lovely pedestrian walkway.

The highlight of Sucre would have to be La Merced, a very small church located near the downtown core. This church doesn’t have much to offer inside, but it more than makes up for it with the view from the roof. I climbed up to the top of the church and was able to walk around the tiled roof in order to have the most remarkable view of Sucre. From up there you could see why it was called the white city as every direction you looked consisted of white buildings with red tile roofs. While I was up there, I met a fellow traveler and through the use of the MEC method found out he was from Montreal (if a Canadian doesn’t have a flag on their bag, their bag came from Mountain Equipment Coop….every Canadian has one of their bags when traveling).

After relaxing a bit (and enjoying the fresh chocolate cake….it was still warm from the oven) we headed to dinner and decided to stop in the main square of the town. As Sunday was going to be the independence day for Bolivia (May 25th), there were at least 20 high school marching bands from all over the province practicing for tomorrow’s parades. The spirits of the people in the square was very high with fireworks being set off, bands trying to out do each other, and general madness…as only the South American’s can do it. I must have spent about an hour or so celebrating with the locals around these bands as the energy was contagious beyond belief. It was also the start of the chocolate festival, so I had to indulge myself a little bit.

The next morning we said goodbye to Sucre, but not without a bit more excitement. As we were flying to La Paz, we had a strict schedule to stick to and when we headed out to our taxis we noticed a parade was coming down the street and we would have to rush our goodbyes (only some of the people were going to La Paz to finish the trip, the others were headed to Brazil) but weren’t quite fast enough and found ourselves in the middle of a parade and had to wait for it to pass before we could start our journey. Luckily for us, the parade was only one band long as it was another practice session after last night’s festivities. But while we were stuck waiting for the band to pass, I was able to inspect the taxi, one of the legendary “Transformers”. As Bolivia is extremely impoverished, in order for the locals to afford vehicles, they have to buy used cars, and since there aren’t many new cars sold in the country, all the used vehicles come from outside Bolivia. This was fine until cars started to arrive from Australia and the UK with the steering wheel and peddles on the wrong side of the car. In the true resourceful South American style, they were not phased and moved the wheel and peddles to the other side of the car. This left a gaping hole where the steering wheel used to be, and the instruments sitting in front of the passenger. For the passenger, this provided a unique experience as you kept trying to grab the wheel, which you would expect to be there since the instruments are directly in front of you.

On the way to the airport, we ran into another issue; protests/riots. Since the government moved the capital from Sucre to La Paz, the government hasn’t been well liked in Sucre, especially the current President, Evo. In celebration of independence, Evo was planning on coming to Sucre for the festivities, but the locals didn’t want any of this, so they set up protests, which quickly became violent. From our taxi we were able to see the teargas in the air around the stadium, and when we were at the airport waiting for our flight, we watched the escalation of the violence from peaceful protests to shots being fired into the crowd (the military was provoked to react this way, it wasn’t completely unwarranted) and the police storm various buildings and the stadium in search of the protesters. Wisely, Evo decided not to come down to Sucre for the celebrations, and we got out of Sucre without any incident.