Towards the end of our bus journey to Sucre, we were to experience something quite amusing. About 30 min away a man got up in the middle of the bus (or he had gotten on somewhere recently) and started giving a lecture to everyone on board. I couldn't quite work out what he was saying at first and thought he was preaching but then, Antonia burst out laughing and told me he was lecturing the bus about the importance of brushing your teeth regularly and the benefits of dental hygiene. We tried very hard to contain our laughter but not very successfully. He was of course trying to offload some materials he had but still proceeded to give a demonstration on how to brush your teeth. We thought this was very random and amusing but when thinking about it a bit more, I cant imagine that dental hygiene is high on many campesino's daily thoughts. Still it was some good entertainment for us.

Sucre was going to be my last main stop on this tour and by now I was very content with the amount of travel I had done and almost ready to go home. However the main reason I chose Sucre to kill some time before my flight back home was to not only take an opportunity to learn some more Spanish (its quite popular and cheap to do it here) but also, to have the opportunity to volunteer helping to teach some young kids English.

Teaching the kids was a fun experience even though for most of the week it was just one young boy in the class. I thought I would be helping out another teacher with her class but I was soon thrown in the deep and had to teach all by myself with no structure, just a book to follow that the kids were all using. Even though I was only doing this for a few days, I felt the kids were getting slightly let down as they could be learning more if something was a bit more organized. I had to remember though, that this was a bonus on top of what they may be learning at school during the day. It didn't stop me trying to make an effort with them though as after the first lesson, I decided not to use the book and teach them some other concepts. It was quite scary how much I liked being in front of the room teaching but more rewarding was that for the most part I had to try and speak Spanish as their English was limited.

Valentin was a boisterous character but keen to learn and quite intelligent. He was there every day and I think warmed to me immediately. Alejandra was another cheeky character but she only turned up twice. She was a bit serious at first but soon opened up as well and was actually being more cheeky than Valentin in the end. All in all, I really enjoyed it and it reaffirmed that I would like to do more with kids in my spare time if possible (but not enough to do it full time)! I did also receive some positive feedback as apparently, Valentin quite enjoyed working with me because I was a man and that I could be stern when needed to make sure he was doing what he needed….ha!

Sucre is a very relaxed, nice, small city, with a rich colonial past. It is picturesque and has been made a UNESCO world heritage site but still remains Bolivia's judicial capital (with the governmental capital being La Paz), a fact that many locals make sure you are aware of. I spent the first weekend here just walking around getting a feel for the place but wasn't really motivated about trying to do as many activities as possible. I had seen many museums and undertaken many outdoor pursuits on this trip, so was just happy to try and be part of daily life here. Most of the week was just spent doing my routine of going to school in the morning, heading out in the afternoon for lunch, wandering around, coming back to do some homework and then go back to the school to teach the kids English. When I wasn't learning, teaching or consuming I was exploring the local markets, walking around the city, admiring the view from the hilltop mirador of Recoleta or conversing with young shoe shine boys keen to extract money from me (i did give in on occasion even though i wasn't wearing shineable shoes).

We had spent 10 days in Sucre and Hostal CasaArte Tukubamba became like our home. All the staff here were very friendly and helpful but I especially developed a bit of a rapport with the young hostel manager Joaquin. On our final evening he organized all the guests to get together and have a pizza night in the garden. There was an outdoor wood fired oven and we all brought our own ingredients to attempt creating culinary masterpieces. Some were more successful than others and it was quite comical at times but it was a good social evening with lots of drink and banter. Would definitely recommend staying here.

I was coming to the end of my trip soon and Sucre was a nice way to finish it off. We were off to La Paz after this but for me this was just a stop gap for a couple of days before departing back to London. I had not really heard of Sucre before coming on this trip but many people along the way had recommended a visit here. They were right, as it is a nice place to spend some extended time and is a perfect way to break up or end a journey because you feel quite comfortable here. Very South American but with little stress or hassle.