Pushing Pesos: Sucre

From Potosi we headed to Sucre having heard a lot of good things about this Bolivian city. We were not dissapointed, the city streets were decorately lined with beautiful white-washed colonial buildings. We had been told that Sucre was the prettiest city in Bolivia and that it would be a good place to study Spanish.

We originally checked into a hostel called ´Amigos´ and pardon my french but my god it was a shit hole! We booked a double room that was reminicent to a room from the exercist, it only had a dusty old bed with no other furniture and no windows. To top it off we had a wooden shutter for a door that had a large cardboard plastered over it to cover a gaping hole in the glass. Feeling not so secure we checked out the hostel and moved to another one called Wassi Massi where our pals from the salt flats where staying.

Wassi Massi was really nice with a little garden area, perfect for sitting out in the sun. As soon as we settled in we started looking for Spanish schools and settled for Me Gusta which was highly rated on trip advisor. That day we had to sit an exam to see what we knew, which was nothing. I think Michael only managed to write his name. So once they realised we had not exadurated and that infact our Spanish was next to none, they placed us in a group for a week with a gruelling 8.30-12.30 morning schedule.

After travelling for several weeks being able to sleep in as we wished meant an 8.30 start nearly killed us, not to mention the 4 hours of hard graft Spanish. By the end of our lessons our heads were spinning! As we were in Sucre for 3 weeks we wanted to volunteer as we studied so we volunterred at an Orphanage in the afternoon for about 3 hours. We helped look after the kids aged 2-5 who has been abandoned by their parents. Some of the children had underage parents so they was a chance that once they turn 5 their parents could start looking after them again. Alternatively, there was a chance they could be adopted,otherwise they would be moved to another older orphanage.

On our first day we entered the play area and there was 40 kids running around, jumping off swings and tall slides. They had no fear, they were tough little ones I tell you. They would bang their heads and would not even cry, if that was in England it would be, "No dont do that, it not safe". All the children had their own personalities but at first it was overwhelming as they would call every woman mama and every man papa. It was obvious that these little children needed parents. At times they would be very affectionate holding your hand and within a second they will say "No" and walk away from you. With volunteers coming and going I think the children found it hard to have an emotional balance. There was one little girl Natalia who was always crying, I asked the careers why she was so sad and it turned out she had been left on the streets by her mum, she was only 3. This was only a couple of weeks ago so Natalia was still confused as to where her mum had gone. The other children had similar stories, I was told it was common for parents to abandon their children on the streets.

The children were well dressed and they had nice meal every day that varied. In the afternoons we would play with them, help them with activities such as colouring in and walks in the park. We also helped at meal times, making sure they ate their food, doing the airplane trick. Without the volunteers they only had 2 women to look at 40 children, its always really busy. On our last day we brought the children toys from the market and it was sad to say goodbye as you think what will come of them when they are older as they were all sweet kids. While we were there a lovely couple and there child were spending time with the children and I found out they were there as a phasing in time with Rodrigo who they were adòpting. I was so happy for Rodrigo, they seem such as nice family and he seemed so happy. I was glad to think that Rodrigo was finally going to have a chance in life.

Outside the Orphanage

Me with Mimi (cheeky devil) Santiago and Marianna

Natalia with Miguel

Me on the siw saw with Natalia

The view from the Orphanage play ground

My pal Sonya

Queing up after washing their hands

Helping out with Dinner

Pauline with Israel

In Sucre they had an amazing Market called Mercado Central where we went and bought our lunch everyday after class. You could buy a plateful of cassarole stew for 1 pound each, bargain. They also had a fruit section where bolivian women (who we later coined mamas) would make you a fruit shake for 60pence each or a fruit salad for 80pence. Any fruit you wanted, it always tasted really good. You could get any spice, meat, fruit, bread, veg in this market. Everything and anything, even house hold items. It could give Morrisons a run for their money.

In our time at Sucre we rented a mini apartment which had its own balcony, kitchen, living room and toilet. Plus one double room (which me and michael had) and an attic room with 2 beds which we shared with friends. It was like having a home away which was really nice. After class and volunterring we would often just watch the lastest movies on dvd ( you can buy any film you wanted from streets vendors for 50pence each) from the comfort of our living room which is a distant memory now we are back on the road.

After a week of hard work we would go out on the weekends. Sucre being a small place only had 2 nightclubs. One called Mitos which was underground, dark and digdy and Mooy which was a posher club set on a roof top. We tried both out and it as a lot of fun with our friends. On our last weekend we all went to Mooy and had a good drink as the following week we would all go our seperate ways.

After 3 weeks we too graduated from our Spanish class. Our spanish isnt perfect but we can certainly have a good go with having a conversation and hearing Spanish doesnt seem so alien anymore. We had a lovely time in Sucre and it was nice to settle in one place for a little while. We visited the Waterfalls which is in our previous blog and the Puljay Festival which was amazing within our time at Sucre. It was a great time but by the end we were keen to go to La Paz and see new things.