A kiwi friend from my Antarctica cruise had been traveling around South America for the last few months and, thanks to cheap domestic airfares, today I was finally able to catch up with him and his girlfriend in Sucre.
We met at the town's main square, Plaza 25 de Mayo.
From there we headed up up uphill to a great lookout. From here, Sucre could have been any Mediterranean town with its green hills, blue skies, and terra cotta rooftops. The only thing missing in this landlocked country was a coastline!
We visited the Casa de Libertad, where Bolivia's independence from Spain was signed. Since there wasn't an English tour anytime soon, we made up our own history of Bolivia. I'm not sure how accurate it was, but it was more entertaining than the stuffy Spanish language tour.
As a snack, we picked up some chocolate. How can you ignore a shop called "chocolates for you"?
I spent the afternoon wandering around town on my own. I visited a couple of quiet churches before walking to Simon Bolivar Park.
I had noticed on the map something labeled "mini torre Eiffel" so I had to investigate. Sure enough, there was a miniature Eiffel Tower in the park.
It's common in Latin America to name streets after dates, famous people and battles, but this was by far the oddest and most specific street name I've discovered so far.
From there, I trekked to the cemetery. The skies were threatening but that didn't keep family members away. It was very similar to Buenos Aires's Recoletta cemetery with its large tombs, wide boulevards, and immacutely manicured greenery, minus the Evita seeking crowds.
My friends and I met up again for dinner and, as we walked home in the rain, we were followed by one of thehealthiestlooking stray dogs I've ever seen. He looked identical to the Littlest Hobo, Canada's 1980s TV show staring a do-good nomadic German Shephard, except his Bolivian counterpart didn't sport a red bandana around his neck. He kept up with us as we crossed streets, dodged traffic, and told him to go home. When we split ways to go tour respective hostels, Hobo followed my friends and even waited outside after they had shut the door! He was gone in the morning and we all lamented that we couldn't keep him.
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