Sucre, Bolivia

After taking an overnight bus from Uyuni, we arrived in Sucre at 5am, finding our hostel, The Beehive, we were grateful to get offered a mattress, blanket and a spot in the common area to rest our tired bodies until sunrise. 

The Beehive is a great little hostel, renowned for its Spanish lessons and excellent hearty breakfasts. Up until now the Argentinian and Chilean breakfasts were mainly white bread, dulce (caramel treat spread) and the odd egg. So getting a plate of delicious fruits, natural yogurt, seeds , granola and oats was heaven! All four of us signed up for daily Spanish lessons, with me in the beginners class and Albertus in intermediate. 

We were tired after all the desert bashing, early sunrises and high altitude, and Sucre is the perfect city to rest and reload...

The city is an UNESCO heritage site with beautiful Spanish colonial architecture . The people are all laid back, and nothing seems rushed in this place. We enjoyed wondering the streets, going up to Recoleta hill and watching the sun set over the beautiful city. 

We were lucky with our timing as the country and city were celebrating independence week...which meant lots of specials and festivities all around. 

One of my favourite  places was the local market, where there are hundreds of stalls selling everything from meat, cheese, bread, fruit&veg to clothes and pots and pans. It reminded me so much of a typical colourful African market. Pure joy! 

We mostly bought nice fresh produce from the market and made turns with the Veenstras cooking at the hostel. A hit was definitely our chicken, quinoa, vegetables- stirfry! 

We also met our first fellow South African - Arno Visagie :) Who was born&bread Bothaville bloke and immigrated to Australia 13 years ago , due to increasing crime and murders and a personal incident on their farm. It brakes our hearts that there are people who are forced , due to circumstances,  to leave our beloved country. I am sure we made his day with a bit of good old Afrikaans. 

Since our budgets have been taking some strain (does anybody want to buy a 2012 VW polo;) ) , the lower cost of living in Sucre persuaded us to stay a couple more days to lower our daily spending average. 

Gracias Sucre!! Next stop....Tribal drum role...the AMAZON!!