A whole day in Sucre
Life at the Hostal de Su Merced just gets better. The rooms are beautiful, it`s lovely and quiet and the breakfast is stunning! Loads of fresh fruit and bread, feshly squeezed juice and fresh cakes – banana, lemon meringue, cherry cheesecake. My Father-in-Law would be in his element! Just what we need to set us up for the day.
As expected, Mario the taxi driver was waiting for us next to a very shiny cab. We were a bit naughty and told him a little white lie about how Eugene had been to see the Doctor who had told him to rest his toe for the next few days. Mario was very understanding. We went back into the hotel until he had driven off then limped into town.
It was a bright sunny morning and something was going off in the main square. Lots of Bolivians in their traditional dress were marching round the square with placards, drums and pipes. What an amazing sight and what a find! We found a corner to spectate and must have stayed there for a couple of hours. There was a bit of shouting and lots of music. Then part of the march in front of us seemed to have had enough and stopped for a sit-down. Can`t blame them really – it was quite warm and they were all carrying their sacks on their backs. A large bucket appeared amongst the resting bodies. They all proceeded to have a glass or two of whatever (boozy, we guessed) concoction was in the bucket. We wondered if this was a fiesta and protest all mixed into one.
With another group of “revellers” a little dance was going on, which involved feet stamping and a bit of wailing – they were all in quite extravagant dress. At around midday, most of the “march” seemed to be breaking up for a rest. We wandered past them into the main square. Most of the men were munching through bags of coca leaves – one by one feeding them into mostly gummy mouths. We found a seat in the shade. The little Coca Cola boy and his mates descended. We wanted to buy a drink from him didn`t we. A “yes”/”no” conversation proceeded with him. Then he tried his cute “feel sorry for me” face, which nearly worked. During this time, we`d had to turn away two of his shoe-shine buddies – we were wearing sandals after all! They moved away in the end – our intense English conversation about how awful it was to see such young children having to work must have bored them silly.
We found a Chinese restaurant for a drink and to view the digital pictures from the mornings march/fiesta! Eugene tried his first mug of Coca tea – made from the Coca leaves and supposed to help with altitude sickness. We hadn`t felt any effects of altitude yet – a little breathless at times but the traffic spewing fumes weren`t helping much either. He said it just tasted of normal green tea. I had a coffee – the waitress seemed almost apologetic when she checked that Nescafe was OK. It was just like being at home!
After another wander around and ‘the toe’ stumbled on a nice little cafe for lunch – decorated inside with larger-than-life sculpted mushrooms – more typical of an Amsterdam hostelry! We ordered a beer each and a butty. The beer arrived and 10 minutes later, the waitress removed the tops from the bottles. We could watch the street life meander by and were both entertained by the predictable begging that was going on. An old lady or a child was permanently in-situ on the cafe step. As soon as a patron got up to leave they were on their feet removing their hats and holding them out. You had to physically push past them to get out of the cafe – even if you had put a couple of Bolivianos their way. They weren`t rude – just desperate I suppose. And it wasn`t just the “rich white tourists” that were being picked on either.
We headed back to the tranquility of the Hostal de Su Merced, perused the guide books and had a game of crib on the terrace – naturally, the best man won.
Tags: Bolivia at last!
mihai
January 1st, 2005 at 6:34 pm
Nice to Know there are hotels with good breakfasts, we left ours in Spain. Much the same as yours but then it is of Spanish origin.
Beggers too many with children on th e streets of Barcellona, Take care
Love
Mum and Dad