Wednesay, in Cochabamba, Mark and I woke up to what sounded like the wild, wild west outside of our hostel. We were a bit alarmed at what sounded like gunshots going on all around us! After freaking out for a bit, we finally headed out for the day, the loud shots seemed to have calmed down and the people on the streets were carrying on as if it were a completely normal day. We headed for breakfast at a nearby cafe and on our way back down the road, we stopped back at the hostel to see if we could meet up with Burrill and Courtney. They were not there, but once we were inside the hostel, the loud banging noises started again, all around us, and with even more intensity. Also, you could hear a guy yelling through a megaphone getting closer and closer. We asked the lady at the hostel, in our broken Spanish, what the noise was and if it was dangerous. She told us it was a protest with los campesinos and that no, it wasn't dangerous but that we should stay inside until it passed! That we did.

Once the noise faded away, she gave us the thumbs up and we headed back out. Again, the people on the streets looking as if nothing were going on. We headed back to the cafe to get some wifi access to see what the protest was about.

(The story behing the protest is one that is very inspiring. For the better part of two months now, the hard working indigenous people,known as Los Campesinos (peasants), have been protesting the construction of highway that will connect the Andean highlands with the Amazon rainforest.

"Despite the potential economic benefits of such a road, the proposed path of the highway crosses through protected indigenous lands. The Isiboro-Secure Indigenous Territory and National Park, known as TIPNIS, is a preserved plot of land in the rainforest that is mostly isolated from the rest of Bolivian society." -BlueChannel24.com

With an upcoming election on Sunday, the native people have decided to march from Cochabamba through the Andean mountains to the political capital of La Paz. Hopefully they will be able to stop this process and preserve this absolutely prestine ecosystem. Los Campesinos have stated that preserving this area will be of benefit to all people in the world and will stop at nothing to protect it!)

We met up with Burrill and Courtney - they had been in the central square as the protest rally was beginning and had to cross through the protest to get back to our hostel. And the gun-like noises were just firecrackers (which we had hoped and suspected). All the same, it did put us a little on edge, even though we were assured it was a peaceful protest.

As were were walking to find dinner that night, we popped into a travel agency to price out flights to Sucre. We were thinking of heading into the mountains to a national park for a few nights, then head to Sucre. This 10-12 hour overnight bus ride was not all that appealing. Flights were pretty cheap ( ~ $45) and only a half an hour in length so we decided to splurge and go for it! As we're booking our flights and talking to the travel agent and her husband, she begins to warn us of the dangers of the park we were going to head into (right in coca growing country), and telling us of the coming election on Sunday and how it will be dangerous in Cochabamba if we stick around. Although we had a hint that she was exaggerating a BIT, we decided to play it safe and head straight to Sucre the next day by plane.

Thursday morning, we headed to the airport to board our TAM (transporte aereo militar) plane to Sucre. The 30 minute flight was vicious! It bothered me more than our 8 hour bus rides through the switchback mountain roads!

Arriving in Sucre was amazing - a smaller city, full of white Spanish colonial building with orange rooves and a nice warm sun! We checked into Hostel Amigo for one night (only one was available and this was definitely a blessing in disguise!) The Lonely Planet had a good review for them but we were not impressed. The price was great but poor Burrill and Courtney were put in a room big enough for only their double bed, with no windows and no bathroom! We headed out into the city to find lunch and to find a nicer hostel for the weekend.

We had a nice, long, relaxed lunch at a cool spot called "Florin" with a great back patio. We probably would've stayed all afternoon if some strange music practice (complete with metronome, flutes, and operatic singing) hadn't chased us away. Instead, we grabbed some drinks and went back to the hostel for a rowdy game of yatzee.

Once the drinks were gone and the yatzee was done, we headed to a nearby bar for the remainder of the evening. It was definitely a gringo bar, and their selection of english music was somewhat small and misguided (i.e. same Abba and Billly Joel songs mixed into a very short rotation!) Either way, fun times.

This morning, we packed up and headed for a quick breakfast. We ate as fast as possible, grabbed our gear and headed out of Hostel Amigo as fast as possible! We checked into Hostel Libertad happily - seems like the nicest place we've stayed since Cuzco. Feels more like a hotel than a hostel.

We had a pretty chill day today. Had a nice lunch out, an afternoon siesta. We also signed up for Spanish classes tomorrow and Monday. We would've like to have lessons Sunday as well, but because of the election, EVERYTHING will be closed. We are going to have a nice day-in with movies and PJs and lots of junk food me thinks.

For dinner tonight, we hit up the local Bolivian-German club (yeah, that's a thing) for an Oktoberfest feast - scnhitzel, sausages and sauerkraut! And tasty Bolivian papas rellenas - spicy filled potatoes!!!

Chill night tonight - Spanish lessons in the morning!