Sucre Day 253 29/05/2015

In December 2005 Bolivia elected it's first indigenous president, Evo Morales. A socialist, from what we have read and heard, promised a lot and has also delivered against a number of his promises. Despite this Bolivia still remains a very stratified society and life is really tough for the majority. Continuing political strife leads to numerous, fairly random, strikes which result in the shut down of businesses, transport and road blockades as we witnessed yesterday. Whilst we were told that the strike was over, for now, we decided to take a shared taxi for our onward journey to Sucre, c120km east of Potosi, in the hope of a trouble free journey. We had breakfast at the hotel, packed and set off just before 1000. Even though the strike was over we still had to pay an extra B$20 (£1.75) to get through the blockade! The journey was a very comfortable ride, descending nearly 1500m through beautiful scenery. It was strange to see so many trees after a week in the barren desert. We arrived in Sucre early afternoon and checked into our b&b, Casa Verde, a lovely little place with the rooms set around an open air courtyard. First stop was the laundrette and then we wandered into the main square to find somewhere for lunch. We're keen to do a couple of trips whilst we're here and had a look around at what was on offer although we were slightly underwhelmed by the enthusiasm of the staff in the companies we visited. Back at the b&b we had a look on the internet and found one company that offered a city walking tour and decided to join that tomorrow. In the evening we went to dinner at Florin, a bar-restaurant serving a mix of international and local cuisine. It was very busy with locals and tourists and had a nice atmosphere. The food was very good and we enjoyed a fine bottle of Bolivian red (it was Friday night after all!) before heading back to the b&b.