Sucre


After an overnight stop in a dodgy hotel in Uyuni we said our goodbyes to Will and Louise, we've shared some great times over the last few weeks and its a shame that they have a different route to us from here, hopefully there will be a reunion in the UK in a few months.


Next stop for us though was Sucre. Another one of those "we'll go for a week and stop for three type places". Sucre is the capital of Bolivia, though all the government buildings and important stuff is in La Paz, Sucre is in fact the official capital. People also say it is the nicest city in Bolivia. It is a colonial town with lots of pretty white buildings and history that we didnt bother to actually learn about. This was because we needed to save room in our brains for all our new knowledge we were about to get taught., specifically Spanish.

That's right, we were going back to school. Again. This time we ended up doing three weeks of lessons and spent nearly every day at the school. Sucre is famous for being a great place to learn Spanish, and cheap too. Plus at the end of the three weeks we got a certificate! And a badge.

The lessons went well, and the two teachers we had were brilliant. We picked up a lot in relatively short time and feel a lot more confident when speaking. Not that confidence was in issue before but now we actually get answers to our questions instead of blank stares. Unfortunately we had one major problem with our lessons - the hostel. Well more specifically, the people in the hostel. At school we were encouraged to seek out Spanish speaking people to practice with or study in our free time, but we didn't. Every day we drank at least 2 bottles of wine with all our new friends and spoke nothing but English.

It was brilliant. We basically lived like proper students for 3 weeks, going to lessons in the afternoons but spending the rest of the time drunk or actively getting drunk. It was one of those times that we really enjoyed, but nothing much really happened. Other than general chatting and socialising which is always ***********vey on a blog. Suffice to say though, we met some great people which really did make the place so enjoyable for three weeks.

The three weeks resulted in some (but not a lot) of Spanish being learned, a lot of red wine being drunk (£1.80 a bottle), lots of conversations about political conspiracies concerning capitalist *******s, several hangovers, one trip to see some very dissapointing dinosaur footprints and lots and lots of Chicken and chips. We also co-founded a new national holiday - England day (later extended to commonwealth day). It signifies a reason to drink the following weekend after Australia day purely because if they have a day, why can't we?


La Paz


Another night bus brought us from the offical capital of Bolivia, Sucre to the unofficial capital of Bolivia, La Paz. We nearly didn't make it though as halfway to La Paz there was a road closure which threatened to delay us for upto 24 hours. It was because we were using a new road and even though the road was fine, the president hadn't officially opened it yet. All the buses heading to the road were getting pulled over and clamped by police. At about 4am We were left stranded sat on the pavement for an hour not really knowing what was going on and wondering where we were before we saw lots of people shouting and trying to force their way onto our bus. We managed to get back on and somehow somebody had managed to get the clamp off the wheel and we were off again. Bus travel is fun in Bolivia.

We have been looking forward to La Paz which is unlike us with it being a big city. But everyone we met has said how interesting it is and how good the free walking tour is. Our last free walking tour was in Buenos Aires which we enjoyed so we were disappointed to find out on our arrival that the free tour was no longer running. Red Caps, the company behind the tour had to cancel it because it had become so popular. The problem was it was taking too much business from all the other tour companies and as this is South America, the other companies started threatening the guides and tour groups forcing Red Caps to stop the service. The good news however is that in retaliation, red caps gave out their walking tour for free to download. So you can now visit all the same places with all the same information for free in your own time. So that's what we did.

San Pedro Prison

This is the famous prison of Bolivia. San Pedro is unlike all other prisons in the world. For a start it's in the middle of the city and takes up just one block, which isn't very big considering there are over 2500 inmates and their families. Each inmates wife and children are allowed to stay in the prison. Inside the prison it is seperated into 8 sectors of which prisoners can buy real estate to live. It all costs money, from sleeping on the dirty floor of the worst sector to having your own penthouse in one of the nicer areas. The rules and laws of the prison are decided by the prisoners themselves with a democratic voting process to establish, leaders, laws and developments. There is only about 15 guards who work for the prison and their only job is keeping prisoners inside. There are many businesses operating within the prison - cafes, laundrettes, mechanics. Coca cola even has exclusive rights for the pop sold inside.But the real business of San Pedro comes from the cocaine! Aparently the finest cocaine in Bolivia is made inside the prison walls and then smuggled out either via the wives and children as they come and go or through the holes in the walls on the outside.

We only got to see the outside of the prison. We walked around it and saw the holes in the walls that are supposedly still used to smuggle out drugs. We could also see into the yard through the doors but were told off by the guards when we tried to take a photograph. It's a shame because a few years ago the prisoners would give tours. It was quite common to bribe a guard to let you in and a prisoner would show you around, even letting you stay overnight if you wished. These days it is not as common and highly recommended not to attempt to bribe your way into one of the world's most nortorious prisons. There is a semi famous book which is highly recommended by Claire called Marching Powder that is all about the inside of the prison written by an English drug dealer.

Hats

Traditional Bolivian dress for a woman includes wearing a bowler hat. All over the city, you see women with 2 long plaited ponytails and these hats. The reason for this fashion was due to some Italians in the 1920s. They ordered in a large shipment of bowler hats to sell to the Bolivian men. They ordered a small sized hat because most Bolivian men were quite short, but once the hats arrived they realised that although they were short in height, their heads were of a normal size. So they simply lied to the women (who did had have smaller heads) saying that all the women in Europe were wearing bowler hats. It worked and the fashion quirk remains to this day. Apparently if the hat is worn to one side the woman is single or widowed whereas on top of the head it means she is taken.

Witches Market

This was probably the most disappointing thing in La Paz - the famous witches market. We were expecting dead newts, black cats and cackling witches gathered round couldrens casting spells and such. But we didn't even see a broomstick for sale. Aparently these arent the witches that have graced our fair lands in years past these are basically women that sell homeopathic 'medicines' and offerings to mother earth. No pointed hats here, just ordinary looking womem. They do have llama fetuses hung up outside for luck but thats about as witchy as it gets. And they won't let you take a photo of themselves because it is stealing their soul.

Murillo square

This is the square that contains the legislative buildings, the presidential palace and the cathedral which would normlly set off the boredom alarms for us - Politics isnt usually something we care too much about. However Bolivias political history is littered with lies, murder and backstabbing so it's completley different to our genuine respectful politicians in the UK. Erm... some of the stories are quite extreme though by any standards...

• Bolivia holds the world record for the most political leaders in the shortest period of time. In fact between 1825 and 1982 Bolivia had 188 new political leaders and nearly all via, murder or force. Never by democracy.
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• In 1946 President Gualberto Villarroel was attacked by protesters in his home, the presidential palace and then thrown from a balcony into the square below where he and his men were then hung from a lamppost. Shortly afterwards the protesters decided they had gone too far and built a statue to commemorate his life.
  
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• One of the worst presidents was in the 1860s, a man named Mariano Melgarejo was one of Bolivia's worst presidents. After murdering his predecessor he ruled for an amazing five years even though he was illiterate, an alcoholic and a maniac. He would have orgys every night in the palace and his worst decision was trading an area of land the size of Ireland with Brazil in return for a horse. Which died soon after.
  
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• More recently were the 'gas wars' in which 65 people were killed. The president Goni had sold off all Bolivias gas to neighbouring Chile leaving Bolivias residents with no gas at all. People resolved to creating bonfires in the street to cook. The president also increased taxes on all the police and workers of the country except formthe army. In 2003 this culminated in a mini war breaking out in this square (the bullet holes are still visible). Once the president realised he was going to lose he fleed to the bank and collected 2 suitcases of taxpayers money before getting a helicopter out of the country. He now lives in a mansion in the USA which is referred to as the 'Bolivian Tax Mansion'.
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• Also in the Murillo square is the cathedral. This took over 200 years to build and was only completed when the pope announced he would be visiting in 1988. The cathedral was rushed, the pope came but as he was scared of the building falling down so he only stayed for a quick prayer and left within 5 minutes.
  

Balaclava boysAll over the city there are shoe shining kids wearing balaclavas. We wondered why at first, it looks like a lot of terrorists wandering round shining boots or carrying 'shoe bombs'. Apparently it's because this job is seen as quite degrading and the kids wear the balaclavas due to fear of being recognised and ridiculed.
We didn't do much else in La Paz, other than eat a very nice pizza. Both Bolivian capital cities Sucre and La Paz are two of the more interesting cities we have visitied, for different reasons. La Paz has felt like an educational break from all the drinking we were doing in Sucre so its been a good couple of days. Next we plan to meet some animals...
Things we have learned1 Claire has learned how to crochet2 Chicken and red wine is awesome3 Most Australians do not know what Australia day is for.

TRANSPORT STATS
Planes used - 11
Buses/coaches used - 94 (+3)
Trains used - 25
Metros/subways used - 48
Cars used - 14
Minivans/Collectivos - 12 (+1)
Russian Campervans used -1
Horses used - 1
Camels used - 1
Taxis used - 28 (+6)
Cable cars used - 1
Bicycles used- 3
Tuk tuks/autorickshaw used - 31
Scooters used - 6
Elephants used - 0
Ferrys used - 7
CycleRickshaw - 1
Bamboo HouseBoat - 1
Tour Boat - 2
Combi Van - 2
Huge 4x4 Truck Thingys- 2
Catamarans - 1
Kms travelled in campervan - 12298
Toyota Landcruisers - 1