Although Sucre is the capital of Bolivia, it's a relatively small, quiet city with a slow pace of life - it feels more relaxed and safer than La Paz though nowhere near as modern. The overnight bus from La Paz was surprisingly comfortable; we watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button along the way.

I arrived on a Sunday so the town was pretty sleepy - hardly anyone around and not many shops open. I just walked around town, admiring the pretty buildings and many churches, sitting and soaking up the sunshine in some of the nice plazas.

It was a couple of weeks before the Carnival festival and there seems to be a tradition connected with Carnival of people soaking each other with water bombs and water pistols. In most towns it's just children playing with their friends but in Sucre, bizarrely, it involves people of all ages, generally in a 'drive by' style from cars and buses and often targeted at tourists. I was hit by a water bomb from a passing bus but I got off lightly - some of the others in the group got completely soaked. At one point I was at an internet cafe and a band started up outside (eeevery day - I think there's a brass band following us around South America!) and the (adult) staff ran to fill up water pistols and go out into the street to squirt people!

In the evening I went to the fab Joy Ride restaurant for dinner (I also went there for breakfast three days in a row - it was so good!).

The following day I went horse riding in the outskirts of the city, through villages. Most of the terrain was very steep and rocky so not best suited to horses - they were slipping and sliding a bit, obviously nervous, which scared me a bit. We stopped at a river to have our packed lunch while our guide, Eduard, took the horses for a drink. Apparently, while we were away, two of the horses had a fight and Eduard's horse had blood pouring from its leg so he had to walk it half the way back to town before he could ride it again - I felt so sorry for him, he was very upset about it. My horse, Dámaco, was 'relaxed' (read: lazy) so I couldn't get above a walking pace but it was a very pleasant riding back as it was sunny and warm and the landscapes were beautiful. When we were closer to town there were children playing with water bombs who thought it would be funny to throw them at the horses, which spooked them - luckily I escaped this.

That evening we watched a documentary film, The Devil's Miner, about children that work in the mines in Potosí (the next city I'm going to). It was shocking - it was filmed about four years ago and featured a 14-year old boy named Basilio who had worked in the mines since he was ten years old and his younger brother who now worked there too. Their father had died when they were toddlers and their mother had no other source of income. The film showed how they fitted work in between school and how they hoped for a better life through education. It was also interesting to see how the miners worshipped a Devil-like entity named Tío.

Afterwards a few of us went to a great Japanese and Thai restaurant named Wok - it was a tiny place and the chef came out and chatted to us, he was obviously passionate about his work.

The next morning we visited a centre that helps disabled people from around Bolivia - a disabled person can stay there for a period (with their children if they have some) while they learns skills that they can use to make a career at home, such as sewing or baking. The centre helps in whatever way they can - we heard from the mother of a boy that had a type of cancer that attacked his retina and Bolivian doctors had said nothing more could be done for him but Belgian doctors that visited the centre believed they could save him so he was flown to Belgium for surgery and now he is well and has a prosthetic eye.

There is also a primary school at the centre that promotes the integration of disabled children into the national school system. We brought some presents for the children and we played with them in the playground for a while - they were very excited by it all!

Later we visited the Para Tí chocolate factory where we saw how the chocolates were made and sampled a few

Before leaving Sucre we went for a beer at a balcony restaurant overlooking the main square, which was bustling in comparison to the calm of Sunday. There was a protest going on there - I'm not sure what the cause was but there were lots of people, mainly older and traditionally dressed, who sat in the street all day.