The drive to the airport, and the time it would take for us to check in would be longer than the flight. Flying with a Bolivian airline, wasn`t really something I was most looking forward to. The flight lasted a massive 35 minutes, take off, seat belt signs off, the fastest cabin crew drinks service on record, and then seat belt signs back on for touch down in Sucre. It was more like a scenic flight than a commercial passenger flight. The views of Bolivias sparse, rugged and baron interior were stunning. The mountain ranges, valleys and dried up river beds all coated in a desert like tone were worth the flight. It is a mammoth overland journey if not flown, and looking down at the roads and tracks that intercept the hillsides and the small villages existing in the some the harshest and remotest landscapes, made me very grateful for air travel, even if it was Bolivian.Touching down in Sucre was an experience, as the run way suddenly appears rapidly after passing a mountain peak. I have never walked off a plane literally onto a runway before, nor have I ever been to an airport where the only plane is the one you have just got off. The drive from the airport to the city is short and scenic passing a couple of hills before the city is revealed below sprawling into the mountainside.Sucre is known as Bolivia´s white city, and planning laws mean that buildings in and around the centre have to remain white, or the military police might have something to say. It is also home to one of the best universities in South America and as a result has a 60,000 strong student population. It provided a surprising and welcome contrast to Santa Cruz and the border crossing and instantly raised my opinion of Bolivia.We dumped our bags at the hotel and went to the backpacker famous joyride café for lunch, and planning of our next couple days. We had picked up 7 new travellers in Sucre doubling our group, which now numbered 14. Joyride Café was started by a Dutchman who came to work in Bolivia for a charitable organisation. He was a keen biking enthusiast and set up joyride, a bar / café / restaurant / cinema / nightclub / tour operator, as a sort of one stop shop for backpackers. It's an excellent place popular with both locals and gringos. We opted to sign up for a mountain biking excursion the next day, and that afternoon went on a brief city tour. Visiting some of the main squares, cathedrals, cemetery, local weaving / cultural museum and a tin baron`s mansion situated next to an army base 20 minutes from the centre. All were extremely interesting, but the weaving museum was a surprising highlight. I think I have just become far too cultured. Amusing as the image of me wandering round looking at tapestries is, the fact that it would take the artists a month to make something not much bigger than A3 and then accept less than 55dollars for this, was slightly humbling.Being the first place we visited at any altitude and having eagerly signed up for extreme mountain biking the next day, we decided to have a bit of an early night and rest up for the next day.The biking option we selected would last the better part of the day. It was supposed to be predominantly downhill, having opted to pay slightly extra for a van to take us the first hours uphill. The biking was in the hills and mountains surrounding Sucre, and it offered spectacular views of the Cordillera Real mountain range. Whilst taking in the views we also passed various indigenous farming communities, which showed a rural way of life untouched for centuries. Ox towing ploughs through the crumbling dusty soil, that looked unlikely to bear anything green. Passing a couple of small villages and a school we were surrounded by a number of young children all practicing their best ´hellos´. After a couple of hours of up and down, we had one long downhill before stopping off by a river for a quick lunch. We continued our loop of the surrounding hills further and were rewarded with a breathtaking view of Sucre below us. A few more up and downhill sections followed, with the only real traffic being shepherds herding their sheep and goats up sometimes very narrow tracks. We waited patiently for the precession to pass before continuing. The last section of the day was uphill for about 7km. I swallowed my pride (I wasn`t alone), put my bike on the roof and enjoyed the ride back up the hill. My excuse was high altitude, and pedalling uphill was genuinely very difficult. So far so good, that was the only adverse effect from the altitude I had felt. We returned to joyride, cameras full of photos of the spectacular scenery and exhausted.As the sun began to set, we strolled up the highest hill in Sucre, to a beautiful plaza with a vista over the city. Watching the sun set, at a café with the best view in town, provided a perfect end to our time in Sucre. It certainly helped shift Bolivia from being a third world hassle, to one of my favourite destinations in South America thus far, and I was hopeful that Bolivia had many more Sucres in store!