The tour begins...
Hi...
How is it all going? In Sucre at the mo... but back to La Paz for a minute as I always forget to write everything... at a few of the zebra crossings in La Paz they have (people dressed as) zebras - pretty funny... There were gunshots going all night... and about 2am some fireworks (didnt get up to watch tho). And got to say the hotel was beautiful - very fancy...
The flight to Sucre today was ok - got given a goodie bag before boarding that had a roll (ham and cheese of course) and a sweet bun... - exciting stuff :)
The rest of the group were already at the airport when we arrived (they had flown from Santa Cruz)... There are 15 in the group (incl me)... all are from teh uk (and a few in their gap year) apart from Carmela (from the patagonian tour - from melbourne) and an irish newly web couple... The tour leader Juan-Louis... not a terribly fantastic first impression (bit too relaxed about it all) - but still should be a good tour. (We are getting a new tour leader when we get to La Paz for the Peru section).
Carmela, Jo and I did a city tour after we did a group lunch... Our guide was brilliant - got some good history of the place... Went to the textile museum, a castle, a few of the city parks and the local markets. Some little interesting bolivian facts: There are over 5000 kinds of potatoes across the Andes (over 500 in Sucre - 50 in season at the moment)... In Colonial Sucre there is a law that all the houses have to be painted white too! And the government pays for all the kids uniforms and school books to promote eduction - pretty good.
You will never guess what I am doing tomorrow... PARAGLIDING! Should be interesting considering my fear of heights etc... but looks like the views will be amazing... - hopefully I am able to bring myself to run off the cliff with the instructor. It is an early start so just about to get a quick meal and get the rest of our breakfast (we got some custard apple from the local market - delic). Then visiting a local school on Friday and then to see some dinosaur footprints in the afternoon. On Sat morning we leave for Potosi....
Anyway talk to you again soon (hopefully! ;) )
Valley of the Moon
Zoo bear
Condor
Bolivan lady at the zoo
View of colonial Sucre
Mini Eiffel tower in the city park (Carmela, Jo and I) - we climbed up -scary stuff - it wobbled and half the steps were corroding away - but we made it
Castillo de la Glorieta