Sucre and La Paz

The picturesque, white-washed city of Sucre was a welcome discovery after the dusty, fume-filled streets of Potosí. Sucre, originally named La Plata, was the capital of Bolivia in colonial times. It is here where 'Alto Peru' declared independence from the Spanish after years of bloody wars and the city still has an obvious sense of pride in the part it played in history, recognising itself as the place where the new republic of Bolivia was born. In Tarabuco there is a very graphic monument in tribute to the indigenous warriors who fought in these wars. The statue depicts a warrior stood over the body of a Spanish soldier whose heart he holds in his hand and whose blood pours out of his mouth... Apparently eating the heart of your enemy was the done thing when celebrating a victory.
Tarabuco is a small indigenous market town a couple of hours from Sucre. While we were there, they were celebrating Pulljay, which is their most important festival. The locals wear there finest traditional gear, complete with tiny cymbals on their feet and dance around the town. In a field nearby they construct a giant tower where they place offerings. Again, not quite Rio Carnaval, but it was interesting to watch and the market stalls provided a good opportunity to stock up on souvenirs.
On our last night in Sucre we met a couple of Bolivian men who had sat on our table and surprisingly started chatting to us. I say surprisingly because so far we had found most Bolivians to be very closed and almost unfriendly - and although we have met some locals who have been very friendly and helpful, on more than one occasion eye contact was out of the question and being told the price of something in a shop seemed like the biggest of favours.
When I asked them about this they said that some of the indigenous Bolivians were anti-gringo. Due to their bloody colonial past, some still believe that Westerners are here to take advantage of them rather than to spend their money and boost the economy via tourism. In fact, since Bolivia elected its first indigenous president, the country has suffered economically, with trade links to the US being completely severed... Apart from in the case of cocaine. Bolivia is now the World's largest exporter of cocaine and the government is seemingly deeply involved in the trade, with the head of Bolivia's police, who always stated publicly that he was anti-drugs, being caught in the United States facilitating deals. Note that most of the things I say on this blog are regurgitated from conversations I have had with locals so apologies if you spot inaccuracies in anything I write... So if you do read anything on here that you'd like to bring up at a dinner party I suggest you Google it first to ensure accuracy!

From the historic capital we moved on to the current capital. La Paz leaves a striking image when you first arrive from the roads surrounding the valley that it engulfs. Buildings consume the hillsides like overgrown moss and the impressive snowy Mount Illamani in the backdrop makes the mass of brown bricks take on a unique beauty. The city itself is on the ugly side of the scale when not viewed as a whole, but there are interesting nooks and crannies with cute cafes and shops selling all the artisanal souvenirs you could ever want or need. Needless to say the shopaholic in me broke loose and I may have bought more than I can carry... If you happen to be in Bolivia right now and see a European girl selling stuff out of her backpack, that will probably be me...
Not many exciting pictures this time as we've been spoiled with stunning landscapes the past couple of weeks and the imagery of the cities have become somewhat underwhelming. Lake Titicaca and the Amazon jungle are coming up next though so I'll be trigger happy once more!

Key info, Sucre
How we got here: 4 hour bus from Potosí.
Hostel: KulturCafe Berlin - Hard to say anything helpful about this one as the owners had double booked our beds so they let us stay in their own spare room - which was great! The bar was a good place to hang out and the location was central.

Key info, La Paz
How we got here: 14 hour bus cama from Sucre.
Hotel: Hotel Fuentes - Ensuite twin room with awesome hot showers - right in the middle of the nicer tourist area with 10,000 shops at your doorstep.