After saying goodbye to the Websters, I hopped on a bus to La Paz (again). It was a quick bus ride back and I found a bus leaving for Sucre that gave me just enough time to dash down and pick up some nachos and a margarita from an awesome Mexican place Ellen and I found on our first visit to the city.
On the bus, I was seated next to this really nice lady from Sucre. She told me a little bit about the city and asked where else I had been in Bolivia. (Spanish conversation successes always make me quite proud.) After I was done with the nachos, they put on a movie dubbed in Spanish and I fell asleep. After sleeping-ish through the night (you'd think i'd be a pro at getting a good nights sleep on a bus by now), I arrived in Sucre and took a taxi to my hostel, the Beehive. The Beehive has the best breakfast of any hostel I have ever been to. Ever. And they have options! Oatmeal, eggs and veggies, or fruit. And the portions are massive. On the weekends they serve French toast and pancakes. I think part of the reason they have options is because people seem to stay so long that one breakfast would get old fast. It was interesting staying in this hostel. It felt a bit like I was back in university. Everyone was hanging out, taking a class, doing homework and then spending the evenings goofing around. |
| All the colonial architecture |
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| I came back to the hostel one day and they had all gone on a mad baking spree. om nom. |
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| One of the little restaurants in the Central Market. $2 for a soup and a full plate of food. |
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| This little guy followed us around for a few hours, then found us later in the market! <3 |
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| ALL the fruits |
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| Moon on the church! |
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| Avocado ladies |
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| This was pre-cow-tail-throw |
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| Pig feet anyone? |
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| She wasn't thrilled I took her picture |
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| Sucre from above |
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| La Recoleta and it's awesome view |
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| The little apartments in the cemetery |
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| A cross full of apartments |
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| Bands in the street |
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| On the last weekend in Sucre, I was invited over to my friend's house for his birthday party. This is him getting the charcoal going for the BBQ with a leaf blower while his dad fanned the sparks back from where we were sitting. |
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| Each of his parents gave a toast after dinner. It was quite wonderful. |
After checking in and napping for a few hours, I got my Spanish lessons and my volunteering sorted out. Lessons for two hours after four hours helping take care of babies in the pediatrics room/wing of a hospital about twenty minutes walk from the hostel. I actually only went to the hospital for two of the threeish weeks I was in Sucre, because for the last week and a half I caught the sickness that seemed to be going around. It included lots of aches, chills, and an awful cough. Not such a good idea to be coughing all over tiny malnourished babies.
I'm not sure exactly why I decided to go spend time in the hospital. It involved getting up early and changing the diapers of tiny humans that are eating formula. They were super cute though. I liked it more than I thought I would. Each day involved helping feed them all their morning bottle, change diapers, play time (the fun part), and more bottles. This was followed by napping, crying, and eating. Then I was free!! It was an interesting attitude in childcare because there were about ten babies and several toddles being cared for by three nurses and me. Difficult ratio. They explained to me that if you wrapped them in lots of blankets so they were extra warm, they didn't need to be picked up and they wouldn't cry.
I found out that the Bolivian government offers a program for all mothers and kids. They can come to the hospital and pick up essentials for the kids (under age 5) for free from the hospital. This included some formula, quinoa, rice and diapers. Even with this program, these twin girls came in in that looked small for newborns. Turns out they were malnourished prematurely-born two-month-olds. It is likely that they will stay in the hospital until they can eat solid food, because the parents couldn't afford formula.
I spent my afternoons in Spanish classes, wandering around the Central Market, and napping. The traveler life is tough, guys. It was actually really nice (and super helpful) to be taking the classes each day. We spent time learning grammar and just talking. I do feel like my Spanish improved a decent amount. It was incredibly weird having homework again though. Definitely not quite time for me to be thinking about grad school.
Sucre was founded as a Spanish colonial city because it has a very temperate climate and is close to Potosi and it's silver mines.After independence from the Spanish, Sucre was named as the capitol of Bolivia. The capitol was officially moved after the decline of the silver mines in Potosi to La Paz, although Sucre is still a very important city culturally and politically. It also has the best School of Medicine in Bolivia. The downtown is a Unesco World Heritage site, and apparently it is a law that most of the buildings have to be repainted white every twenty five years.
I'm pretty sure you could find any fruit or vegetable imaginable in the Central Market. I had no idea there could be so many sizes or types of avocado. There were women who sold only avocados and had at least five kinds. One lady let me sample all of hers when I was buying on for dinner. They all taste like ... avocado. I always love wandering around markets. The meat section always holds lots of surprises. At one point I even got a piece of cow tail skin/fur thrown at me (jokingly I think?) because I was taking pictures of the vendors cow noses.
I really enjoyed Sucre. It's a big city, but the city center and surrounding area are great fun to explore by foot. A couple of really awesome parks. A great mirador from which to check out the city. Some tasty locally made chocolate. A really interesting cemetery. According to stuff I've read online, Bolivians may decide not to rest with their family, but with fellow workers. Apparently their profession is core to their identities and many unions will buy up large areas for their members. Children also have their own area, which was quite somber to see.
For the week leading up to Carnaval, any trip out of the hostel ran the risk of getting pegged with water balloons or sprayed with foam. Especially gringos. I think we're extra points. It seemed like groups of people would hire a band and then go dancing up and down the streets drinking and throwing water balloons. I actually went with a few people to Oruro, which is the biggest traditional celebration in Bolivia. More on that later. It deserves its own post.
Anyways, after staying in Sucre for three or so weeks, it was really hard for me to leave! I'd gotten to know the city pretty well and met several absolutely wonderful people. I do not like goodbyes. Especially when the goodbyes are followed directly by twenty four exhausting hours on a bus and one incredibly slow border crossing. But I was on the my third country! Peru! And I'd heard only lovely things about it!
I'm not sure exactly why I decided to go spend time in the hospital. It involved getting up early and changing the diapers of tiny humans that are eating formula. They were super cute though. I liked it more than I thought I would. Each day involved helping feed them all their morning bottle, change diapers, play time (the fun part), and more bottles. This was followed by napping, crying, and eating. Then I was free!! It was an interesting attitude in childcare because there were about ten babies and several toddles being cared for by three nurses and me. Difficult ratio. They explained to me that if you wrapped them in lots of blankets so they were extra warm, they didn't need to be picked up and they wouldn't cry.
I found out that the Bolivian government offers a program for all mothers and kids. They can come to the hospital and pick up essentials for the kids (under age 5) for free from the hospital. This included some formula, quinoa, rice and diapers. Even with this program, these twin girls came in in that looked small for newborns. Turns out they were malnourished prematurely-born two-month-olds. It is likely that they will stay in the hospital until they can eat solid food, because the parents couldn't afford formula.
I spent my afternoons in Spanish classes, wandering around the Central Market, and napping. The traveler life is tough, guys. It was actually really nice (and super helpful) to be taking the classes each day. We spent time learning grammar and just talking. I do feel like my Spanish improved a decent amount. It was incredibly weird having homework again though. Definitely not quite time for me to be thinking about grad school.
Sucre was founded as a Spanish colonial city because it has a very temperate climate and is close to Potosi and it's silver mines.After independence from the Spanish, Sucre was named as the capitol of Bolivia. The capitol was officially moved after the decline of the silver mines in Potosi to La Paz, although Sucre is still a very important city culturally and politically. It also has the best School of Medicine in Bolivia. The downtown is a Unesco World Heritage site, and apparently it is a law that most of the buildings have to be repainted white every twenty five years.
I'm pretty sure you could find any fruit or vegetable imaginable in the Central Market. I had no idea there could be so many sizes or types of avocado. There were women who sold only avocados and had at least five kinds. One lady let me sample all of hers when I was buying on for dinner. They all taste like ... avocado. I always love wandering around markets. The meat section always holds lots of surprises. At one point I even got a piece of cow tail skin/fur thrown at me (jokingly I think?) because I was taking pictures of the vendors cow noses.
I really enjoyed Sucre. It's a big city, but the city center and surrounding area are great fun to explore by foot. A couple of really awesome parks. A great mirador from which to check out the city. Some tasty locally made chocolate. A really interesting cemetery. According to stuff I've read online, Bolivians may decide not to rest with their family, but with fellow workers. Apparently their profession is core to their identities and many unions will buy up large areas for their members. Children also have their own area, which was quite somber to see.
For the week leading up to Carnaval, any trip out of the hostel ran the risk of getting pegged with water balloons or sprayed with foam. Especially gringos. I think we're extra points. It seemed like groups of people would hire a band and then go dancing up and down the streets drinking and throwing water balloons. I actually went with a few people to Oruro, which is the biggest traditional celebration in Bolivia. More on that later. It deserves its own post.
Anyways, after staying in Sucre for three or so weeks, it was really hard for me to leave! I'd gotten to know the city pretty well and met several absolutely wonderful people. I do not like goodbyes. Especially when the goodbyes are followed directly by twenty four exhausting hours on a bus and one incredibly slow border crossing. But I was on the my third country! Peru! And I'd heard only lovely things about it!