Sucre and the Bolivian Lifestyle

Following the shock and awe that is Potosi, a 3 hour cab-ride brought us over to Sucre (Cabs are only a bit more expensive than the bus). Boasting 146,000 residents and a the title of a U.N. world heritage site, Sucre is a real treat for any aesthete. The city boasts massive colonial buildings drenched in white, accompanied by wide plazas and parks. As I entered the city, advertisements for 2 cultural festivals were displayed throughout the city center, as tourists gathered in the main plaza for live folklore music. Any traveler´s dream, right? well, not exactly. The cultural aspects of the city are certainly a treat, but anyone truly seeking to explore the Bolivian way of life would be be lost in this Oz. And so, we decided to trek through the country-side. Before I move forward, i must once again stress the difference between the Average tourist in South America- i´ll stereotype them as being Blonde, European, and all too willing to shell out for outlandish prices, and the Israeli Mochilero- Usually wearing sandals or trekking shoes, always wary of being played for a sucker. Though experience shows that i waver between these two very distinct worlds, I usually lay my fiscal fortune with the latter. Back to
the story...

Sucre, the ´White City´ of Bolivia

After a little research, We discovered that there is a three day trek through the villages to the West of Sucre. The hike is offered by the local agencies as a sterile two day event with a hefty price-tag of 300 Bolivians each. This was utterly unaffordable both due to principle and financial logic. And so, after purchasing supplies and a map, we headed out ourselves. 5 Israelies, 60 bread rolls, 2 jars of jam, 6 bags of cookies, 3 bags of deli meat, 3 cans of tuna, 3 kilos of rice, 2 tents, 2 camp-stoves, 2 ipods with speakers, and some clothes. All together, costs for food ammounted to 90 bolivians a person. We had to cab it out to the first stop, the chruch in Chantaquila. Cost per person = 25 bolivians.


Even in a Roman Catholic chruch, a shrine to Pachamama


From there, a 2 hour hike to Incan cave paintaings, followed by a 4 hour hike down a 600 year old Incan trail, used centuries agho to connect the vast Incan empire, which stretched from Peru to Patagonia. The view was sublime, but i´ll let the pictures speak for themselves. We slept outside Tourist information in Chaunaca, a town of 15 houses and 300 chickens.

View from the Cave



The Inca Trail


We awoke the next day and headed on to Maragua, a town nestled within an immense Crater. Having to ford a river and then make our way up 2-3 mountains, we were quite tired by the time we arrived at the town, though not tired enough to play a little soccer with the locals. I spoke a bit with an Italian Anthropologist studying the cosmology of the local population on beghalf of the University of St. Andrews. He´s been living in this 20-hut town since November, studying the way in which the Incas of the past and their descendants today use the stars for Agriculture, Navigation, Religion, and even to tell time. Many living in these towns (over %70 of the Bolivian population) Lack hot water, electricity or much of an education. Yet there is a massive wealth of knowledge unknown or unimportant to the standard Western person. We purchased some water from a six year old girl manning the only store in the pueblo, and set camp in the Soccer field.

Fording the river...

On the way to the crater...



View from an Incan graveyard onto the crater.

The next day, we got a bit lost...Our ride back to Sucre was to leave at noon, and an easy 3 hour hike became a 5 hour ordeal as we took a few wrong turns in the canyhon leading out of the Crater. We ended up climbing 2-3 too many mountains, and sliding down most of them on our bags. David, one of the travel-mates, and I made it out of the bush first and ran to the church at QUila-Quila in order to stop the truck. Yes, the 2.5 hour ride back to Sucre was aboard a flat-bed truck. At first I attempted to stall the driver by speaking to him about Israel and Bolivia, as well as offering him Cocoa leaves. I held him off for 20 minutes, but as he grew angry I grew desperate. I bribed the driver with double payment for all five of us,. that´s 10 Bolivians instead of 5 per person. We picked up the straglers and headed out to Sucre. I was sitting on a bag of Corn listening to Bob Dylan´s Gas-light sessions as we stopped by every pueblito on the way picking up goods and people. The truck miraculously made it upo and down the central Andes, even fording a river that reached its grill. We got back to the hotel just in time for the European tourists to wake up from their siesta. Oh yea, total cost of the the trek was 138.5 Bolivians a person.

On the truck back to Sucre...

We had to infrom him she wasn´t for sale...

Back in ´civilization´, I decided to explore the city a bit before we head out to jungles of Santa Cruz. Today begins Sucre´s bicentennial celebrations, and the entire city is spotless and white. Within 3.5 hours, I´ve managed to check out 2 photo exhibitions, spy on a dance-troup practicing in the national theatre, and catch a film depicting Aymara (An indeginous tribe) life, as part of the human rights cinema festival. Unfortunately, I won´t be here for the celebrations, But this small taste of Sucre leaves a want for more, and a rejuvinated excitement for exploring Bolivia, a truly astounding and underappreciated Country.


Apparently trance festivals are popular in Bolivia, as well...



All hail Christopher Walken, apparently one of Sucre´s founding fathers...