Sucre and La Paz (Part 1)

After surviving the mine tour, we were desperate to leave Potosi and head north to Sucre for some R&R. With the Uyuni to Potosi bus trip fresh in our minds though, no one was too excited about another stint on the Bolivian roads. Things got off to an ominous start when we learnt that there were only 6 ‘normal’ seats left on the bus. Someone was going to be up front with the driver in the ‘conductor’ seat. Dean volunteered for the first stint in the cab, thinking we’d switch every half an hour…

We arrived in Sucre 4 hours later to find Dean as white as a ghost and visibly glad to be off the bus. It turned out that each frequent, seemingly random stop was the driver picking up locals. Cash jobs, so to speak. Final count in the cab was the driver, Dean and 7 others…A full cab didn’t stop the driver doing 130km/h on the wrong side of the road around a blind corner while texting though…

To a man, we had all thought that Bolivian food would be the worst we’d eat in South America. The lads were understandably stoked to come across one of the finds of the trip so far. Kingdom Chicken, Sucre’s premier Bolivian chicken fast-food chain, was sensational. “Better than KFC”, in the words of a few…The Internet on the other hand was absolutely woeful.

Some of the boys also found space for less healthy food choices…

Next up was La Paz. The world’s highest capital promised plenty and delivered.

One of the highlights was attending the Sunday afternoon WWF wresting exhibition in El Alto (the highest part of La Paz). This was no ordinary wrestling. The centrepiece featured fully kitted out Cholitas (old Bolivian ladies who wear a bowler hat and numerous colourful skirts) wrestling each other. A midget (sex unknown) also featured…A bizarre but strangely enjoyable couple of hours.