We left Potosi in a private minivan, a slightly run down vehicle but got us to our next destination of Sucre no problems. Again the landscape on the three hour journey was amazing, and changed from valleys, to mountains, to lowlands continuously. As we descended from the heights of Potosi we could feel the temperature increas. Once the capital of Bolivia Sucre still remains one of the most important cities in the country. All the buildings are whitewashed and aesthetically probably the most beautiful city in Bolivia. After Potosi it was such a contrast, far more modern and affluent, and the people visibly less dour. Having descended several thousand metres this was the first time in over a week that everyone in the group felt more or less well, and it being Saturday night we planned a bit of a night out. We had a very good dinner, and found the local cocktail Chuflay which is a local spirit Singani mixed with ginger-ale, very refreshing but caught a few of the girls off guard. We then headed to a local club far too early at midnight and were the only ones there for half an hour. Everyone had a good dance, but when the music changed to the dreaded reggatone I made a quick escape it being 2.30 anyway. I got a taxi back to the hotel for 5 Bolivianos, less then fifty pence!

The next afternoon we all went Quad biking out in the hills, again a first for me and everyone else. We were collected in a pickup and me and the Ozzie guy sat in the back, properly feeling like we were in Bolivia! They only had three auto bikes, and one semiauto which the guy decided I should have, after twenty minutes instruction for everyone we set off, unfortunately after ten minutes one of the bikes broke down, so two people had to double up. We drove out through some very poor suburbs and then into the countryside and into the hills, we had some great views looking back into the city and then on the other side a mountain range. The Quads were brilliant fun, and I was quite pleased having the semiauto which was a bit racier then the straight autos. On our way back the sky was looking ever darker and flashes of lightning indicated what was on its way. As we literally got back and drove the quads into the garage the first drops of rain fell. Needless to say by the time we reached the hotel, from sitting in the back of the pickup I was totally drenched, but it was pretty funny!

Our second day half the group went rock climbing whilst three of us had a very chilled day walking about and checked out the local food market which was fantastic. We had lunch there in the food hall. This is not a food hall like a shopping mall…it’s rows of long basic tables and at the end of each table is a little open kitchen. All of them serving more or less the same food and all of them clamouring for your custom. Our three meals came to £3! Later in the afternoon all of girls went for a pedicure. It wasn’t the best place, but for £2.50 none of us complained. Two of us had also needed to get some shoes repaired, I’d found an old man running a cobbler business on a street corner, and I was slightly dubious how he was going to fix my hiking shoes. The work was perfect and for £1.

That evening we had dinner in a bar that twice a week screened a film, “The Devil’s Miner”. This is a documentary film made about a fifteen year old boy that worked in the mines in Potosi which we’d visited earlier in the week. It was very impactful and shocked us all further regarding the conditions and circumstances of the mine.

Our last day in Sucre was somewhat of a disappointment as we all were up and at a tour office by 7am for paragliding!….which ended up being cancelled due to the guide being stuck in a road block. We were all pretty psyched about this, so was a real let down but nothing we could do. We had a bit of lazy day not really doing too much, and in the afternoon four of us went to see some dinosaur footprints. Which I was a bit nonplussed about as they are on a cliff and the viewing platform is so far away you can hardly see them! But it killed an hour or two before we took the twelve hour night bus to La Paz……