We spent a long time (for us) in Sucre - a whole week, which was dedicated to brushing up our Spanish skills. We each had a private teacher (which is affordable in Bolivia), and feel that we made a lot of progress. We certainly feel more confident conversing with people now.
 |
| Sucre - our home for the last week or so |
The real highlight of our visit to Sucre, though, was a 4-day trek in the nearby Cordillera de los Frailes. We organised it through a local agency, and spent three full days walking before returning by local bus on the final morning. We were joined by a friendly English couple, Steve and Harriet, and the fantastic local guide, Zulma, to make 5.
 |
| The Cordillera de los Frailes |
Each day of the trek showed us something different: the first day took us to 2000 year old cave paintings; the second day to a huge, ancient volcanic crater with a village in the middle; and the third to 65 million year old dinosaur footprints. The best thing about it, though, was to spend all of that time walking amid stunning landscapes. Each new turn in the road, collapsing bridge over a river or vertiginous path alongside a waterfall brought new hues in the mountains shaped by millennia of different layers of rock.
 |
| Coloured rock lining the way |
The final day took us back to Sucre in only two and a half terrifying hours. Having walked around the cordillera, we now needed to cross back over the mountains. The rickety local bus struggled along the barely wide enough unmade roads, with a cliff on one side and a sheer drop on the other side. Occasionally there were trees bordering it, which may have broken the fall if the bus driver made a mistake. Luckily, he didn't, and we have survived to tell the tale before flying to Santa Cruz tomorrow.
 |
| Hiking in the cordillera |
No comments:
Post a Comment