13/12/2022 From Uyuni to Sucre
Bus rides are always a surprise
For Blake sitting in a bus with limited leg space is never fun. Last night was one those bus rides again. When the Bolivian Mama next to us started yelling into her phone at 4 a.m. on the bus, we knew we’d get the tourist bus next time. And all of this after a three-day-trip to the Salt Flats without a warm shower and getting up at 4 a.m. the previous morning just added to our misery. I know I’m sounding very German right now (complain-mode: full on).
What to expect
Sucre
Please let us in
We got to our hostel at 5.30 a.m. and couldn’t get in until check-in time at 12 noon. When it rains, it poors (at least not literally). Luckily, we found a hotel around the corner that would let us in (without ever seeing the rooms before). And we could even cancel the original hostel.
Expected it to be warmer
We passed out until noon again. That sleep was probably much needed!
In the early afternoon it was time for breakfast for us! We found a cute café, called “WOW Healthy Food. Coffee” with Christmas decorations and a Christmas tree which still seems very very far away for us. After our typical acai bowls and a matcha latte for me (my new “coffee” 😉), Blake went to a bar to watch the World Cup game, while I stayed a little longer for a cookie and another hot drink.
I was really looking forward to the warmer weather in Sucre. But apparently it’s still at 2800m and 18 degrees still doesn’t feel warm to us. I know, it’s December and we must be pretty spoiled after all the heat in Central America…
Blake and I walked around town a bit and admired the Christmas decorations in Simon Bolivar Park in the centre.
Taste Bolivian chocolate
There are a lot of good chocolate places in Sucre, so I pretty much had no other choice but to try them (all). Tough life.
Where are all the other backpackers?
We don’t know what it was about this city: the white colonial-style houses were pretty. But there were hardly any other tourists in town. Maybe Sucre isn’t part of the “backpacker trail” after all… What we did notice, however, were the many old women and young kids sitting on the street, either selling street food or begging for money.
Trying the Bolivian cuisine
We found a very cozy restaurant for dinner, named “Café Restaurant Florin”, where Blake went for the typical Bolivian dish “Pique Macho”.
Pique macho is a typical Bolivian food. It is a heaped plate consisting of bite-sized pieces of beef, and french fry-cut potatoes. Added to this mixture are onions, locoto, boiled egg, mustard, mayonnaise, and ketchup.”
wikipedia.com
In the evening we discovered a night market where everything from cow heart to underwear was sold – it was fascinating!
14/12/2022 From Sucre to la Paz
An “orange juice” a day keeps the doctor away
We’ve almost made it a tradition to always buy a freshly squeezed orange juice from a street vendor in the morning (for 60 cents). Even though we are usually quite adventurous when it comes to street food, the orange juice is probably as crazy as we get in Bolivia. Since we’ve heard about so many cases of salmonella in Bolivia by different backpackers, we didn’t want to risk it in our last days in South America.
Eat Bolivian salteñas
But we still wanted to try the local food. So we went to a “salteneria” and tried different salteñas with meat (for Blake) and without meat (for me). They were actually really tasty, pretty similar to empanadas from Colombia, but not as greasy.
Salteñas are savory pastries filled with beef, pork or chicken mixed in a sweet, slightly spicy sauce containing olives, raisins and potatoes. Vegetarian salteñas are sometimes available at certain restaurants.”
wikipedia.com
Visit the Mercado Central
Afterwards we went to the local market where you could buy anything from toiletries, over flowers to all kinds of food. Together with the walking tour we went back here later to try a milkshake with the fruit called “tumbo” which was very tasty.
Do a free walking tour
The free walking tour was interesting and the guide taught us a lot about Bolivia’s history. Apparently, Sucre is the safest city in Bolivia. To be fair we never felt unsafe in either of the places we’ve been to in Bolivia.
Finally a good night bus again
After the walking tour Blake and I caught the night bus back to La Paz (for 13 hours). After the last bad night bus from Uyuni to Sucre we went for the “Mercedes” of the night buses to make sure Blake would have enough leg space this time. The bus company was called “Trans Copacabana” and had comfortable big seats that go back 160°.
Resumé Sucre
Sucre was a nice visit and the white houses, the park in the centre and all the cute European looking cafés make it more like a small city than a capital. However, if you don’t have much time, you won’t miss much by skipping Sucre.
15/12/2022 La Paz
La Paz
It’s all about location
We arrived in la Paz around 8 a.m.. On our second visit to la Paz we swapped the party hostel to a nice hotel (Hotel Sagarnaga) with a very great location right in the city centre and right next to the “Café del Mundo” where I ate every single day last time in la Paz. Almost as if I had known that it would be right next door… 😉
Protests in Peru
Let me tell you our original for the next week: Normally, we would have gone back to Peru, stayed a few days in Arequipa and then head further to Lima in order to catch a flight to Canada from there to surprise Blake’s parents for Christmas.
But Peru’s president just got arrested and the country called out the national state of emergency. Since then there have been protests in the whole country. Bus companies are not running, Machu Picchu is closed, railways are damaged and some airports are closed. While a lot of backpackers are stuck in different cities of Peru and are trying to get out of the country, we are trying to get back in. As always, I’ve been very optimistic until we got to la Paz where I had to admit that the situation is not going to get much better within the next seven days.
No chance to get back to Peru
This is why we needed a Plan B.
We thought it would only be wise to cancel our flight from Lima, Peru. Luckily, we had booked it directly through AirCanada and got a voucher for our cancelled flight. (We use AirCanada all the time when going back and foward in between our home countries.)
Where to fly to next?
So after breakfast at Café del Mundo (where else 😉), we spent the whole day of looking at different options. Turns out la Paz is not the best city to fly out of. Mind you, we wanted to get a (cheap) flight for the next day or the following, which made the search criteria a little harder.
16/12/2022 La Paz
We found a flight!
At some point last night after dinner we gave up trying. It was too depressing looking for flights that either didn’t exist anymore or jumped up in prices once we clicked on them. But then we found one! So before going to Canada for Christmas, we will have a quick four-day-stopover in Mexico! 😀
Let’s soak in some sun before -30°C is awaiting us in Canada!
Buy some Bolivian souvenirs
For the rest of the day we walked around the city one last time, knowing that this would be our last day in South America for a long time.
We got a fresh orange juice from the juice lady, tried the typical Bolivian soup “sopa de mani” (peanut soup – very tasty) and bought some souvenirs.
Enjoy spectacular views from the Mi Teleferico (cable car)
In the afternoon we took one of the many cable cars in the city which took us up to the mountains.
The view from the cable car was great, overlooking la Paz and its mountains surrounding the city.
Quick turnaround
In the evening we picked up our laundry, got take-away food and tried to get to bed early for our 3 a.m. wake-up call. But I guess for a flight to a new country it’s worth getting up early 😉.
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