Sucre

Kevin and I did a little traveling on his two week Christmas vacation and the first designation was Sucre, which has similar geography to Cash Creek but with heat like the Okanogan. The flight ($70 US one way) was a little stressful for me with the turbulence and aircraft. We got a great three bed, two bathroom with sitting room hotel ($15 US per person) right across from the main square. Unfortunately all the museums were closed so we mostly took in the street and market atmosphere. I finally had my culture shock “tear session” and “holy crap moment” taking in all the street folks, old and young. The markets are great, but so dirty, crowded and full of poverty and western corporate products. It’s overwhelming. You can get anything and everything. Bolivians have a steady diet of starch and sugar as it is cheap and readily available. I think Coca-Cola is the devils corporation…or Nestlé. There are tons of cakes, buns, and baked goods sold every where. Street food, including veggies and fruit, turn me off…which is probably a good thing regarding getting sick. We did catch the textile museum which was good. They even had two women weaving so you could see how the textiles were made.

Yotala

Kevin and I spent New Years in a little town outside of Sucre called Yotala. We were advised by Antoineo (Bolivian) to head outside of Sucre and take in a small Bolivian town. We caught a bus around an hour and half out of town into the surrounding countryside to visit Kano’s (Bolivian with glasses) friend. Making our way to the VW bus that can sit up to 16 people we pasted through the locals market and saw a number of slaughtered pigs in cars, wheel barrows, and trucks amongst hundreds of people and products. "Arrow" is a Bolivian hippy who makes incense that is imported to Germany. He had a number of French friends (have immigrated to Bolivia) visiting him from Sucre who shared their music and wine. We ended up in the workshed, where Arrow also makes silver and metal jewellery among other creations, and had a private concert (BC style). Fantastic! This was also my first experience chewing coca leaves.

Nadia (Canadian), Kano, Kevin and I then strolled into Yotala for some eats and drinks. The countryside was amazing and the time of day was great with the sun just over the hills. Cacti and huge snake plants growing everywhere. In the town square, we ran into Pablo and Noelia (Bolivian uni friends of Kano’s) who invited us to party with them at the Art and Culture Pub. The owner was quite the character who also paints and creates plaster and wood sculpture. We end up staying and had a great time. The bar décor and set up was cool and clean which made up for the accommodation which was only $2 per person. Kevin took a picture of the toilet (Flickr), which takes the cake for the worse bathroom experience in all my travels. I didn’t end up using it. I found a metal plate which was preferable. Hand Sani times five!

More photos posted on Flickr. Chow!