Sucre is a wonderful city, full of colonial buildings and old world charm. The guide book refers to it as an architectural jewel. Its centre is now a UNESCO world heritage site. We both loved it. On top of this it was clean with a vast troop of women (most very elderly) cleaning the streets daily (the only thing they didn't pick up was the dog pooh! Must be something to do with job descriptions). Sucre (founded 1538) was the administrative and religious centre during Spanish rule and is still officially the capital although all but one government department has moved to La Paz.

One interesting feature of Sucre is the zebra crossings. During the morning and evening rush hours the main crossings are 'manned’ by…..zebras! Well students in zebra costumes. They stop the cars and direct pedestrians and generally try and bring some order to the chaos. Great system that made us laugh, but two flaws. In the costumes they don’t always seem to be able to see properly, which can cause some scary moments and no one under the age of 4 seems to take any notice of them!

The first day in town we took the’ Dinobus’ to the local cement works where they have set up a park after workers found loads (approx. 5 thousand) dinosaur footprints (from 150 different species) in a near vertical rock face. The footprints were laid down between 65 and 85 million years ago in a flat mud bed covered in shallow water. The bed was later covered in volcanic ash and other sediments becoming fossilised and finally it was pushed vertical when the Andes was formed. You can’t get that close but they were still pretty neat. The plastic dinosaur replicas were fun.

Peter went off for a quad biking trip in the surrounding countryside with three girls (I’ve got to watch him) which he enjoyed, whilst I had a relaxing day in the city. I visited a great museum with weavings from the two main indigenous tribes (Jalq’a and Tarabueceno). Peter said he was happy to give that one a miss (I wonder why?). The weavings are amazing, so colourful and delicate. They use the finest wool and weave incredibly intricate patterns. After this I visited the main market which sells absolutely everything on small stalls which are not always the most hygienic looking.

We did both pop into the cathedral (built between 1551 and 1712) which houses the Virgin of Guadeloupe (religious patron of Sucre). It was painted in 1601 and wealthy devotees began sticking jewels (Rubies, Emeralds and Diamonds) on it as thanks for wishes granted. Finally in 1734 the jewels were rearranged and the image laminated in gold. It even had gentlemen’s gold watches stuck on it.

Potosi is not such a wonderful city. At least that was our first impression. But it does have the distinction of being the highest city in the world at 4100m. This makes anything more than sitting down hard work and all the vehicles struggling up the hilly streets of the city pour out exhaust fumes. Even Gerty laid a smoke trail when we pulled away. All this makes breathing in Potosi rather difficult. Peter did manage a short run, but had to walk up anything resembling a hill and took all day to recover!

Cerro Rico, the silver rich hill (extinct volcano) looms over the city which was founded in 1545 as soon as the Spanish found the silver. Legend tells that the Incas had found the silver a 100 years earlier but a rumble from the volcano was interpreted as a warning from the gods not to touch the silver. In 1545 a llama herder looking for a lost animal found the silver and the news quickly reached the Spanish. A silver rush was soon underway. The city became the largest and wealthiest city in the Americas but at the cost of an estimated 9 million of lives (slaves), working in both the mines and the smelting factories where mercury was used. The silver ore extracted was 80% silver. In 1672 a mint was founded to coin the silver. The silver kept the Spanish crown afloat. By the 19th century the boom was over and now very little silver extraction occurs. Despite all this Potosi is also a World Heritage Site.

Potosi has some neat architecture left over from the Spanish but it is all looking a bit tired nowadays. One interesting style is Mestizo-Baroque which mixes Christian and Pre-Christian Andean symbolism and includes weird designs and creatures, even some mermaids strumming guitars.