Sucre, Bolivia

One of the best parts of travelling is when you accidently find yourself in the middle of some national or provincial celebration. This has happened to us nearly every day for the past week and the challenge has been to work out exactly what is going on when everything is in Spanish.

Sucre is the judicial capital of Bolivia and nice city of white archways and colonial, well kept housing and churches. This week marks the bicennetary of independence, and we have found ourselves in the middles of parades of school bands, city marches and potlicial speeches from the balcony of the goverenment building in the plaza. Add to this, dynamite explosions (positive, we think) and chants and signs and general proudness of this citys liberal accomplishments. And then a similar parade about tubercululosis the next day? Alas, we know little about the detail but it´s fun to be part of it!

In Sucre we have chilled out and slowed the pace down a bit. We visisted the highly regarded Musuem of Indigenous Art yesterday which details the weaving and clothing of Bolivian and Andean people, and the stories of the designs and labour-intensive hand woven, methods of the unique clothing here. Really intersting place, and we have a increased respect for the weaving culture now and are off to buy a piece for our wall back home. Also checked out the Casa de la Libertad (House of Liberty) which is a beuatiful colonial house where the declaration of independence was signed and historical and political artifacts are on display. We aslo visited a Dinosaur park where hundreds of dinosaur tracks measuring up to 80cm in diameter were found in the quest for mining. Quite amazing to see (even if not up very close), and hopefully something they can presevere long term.

Have been eating lots of local food including saltenas - a folded pastry dish with chicken or meat, spice, potato, and date which is excellent. Have been adventourous with local food (within a fairly safe hygiene level still) and have not had any unwellness yet which is great. There are no real supermarkets in Bolivia and all foods are purchased from markets which are a fantastic array of colours, and smells and any goods you can want. The very exposed displays of meat and chicken and innards make me a little squeamish, but the fruit and veg area is fanastic.

Tonight we are going to watch a movie called The Devils Miner which is a Bolivian film about the mines in Potosi and the life of a 14 year child who worked in them. Tommorrow we are going to a indigeous village where there have great cultural markets, before taking a overnight bus to La Paz which is technically the capital of La Paz after taking the trophy from Sucre in the recent past. But dont tell Sucre that.