last day in Sucre

Hola!

Hope you all had a nice Easter.

I am writing you now from a bench in the Parque Simon Bolivar in Sucre. Relaxing a bit in the sun in a tranquil green Parque which has a little Eifeltower-like statue in the middle at which you can climb. It's very quiet here, dogs sleeping in the grass, people sitting on benches, some birds whistling and I just discovered a tree which has a plug attached in it (weird!!??), so I could even charge by phone here, if I had brought my charger....(although I might have to climb in the tree a bit..)

This is already my last day in Sucre. Time flies! Tomorrow morning I"ll fly to La Paz, the big and high city. I will meet there with Cristina, a German girl who I met at the airport in La Paz, flying back from Sucre. With her I"ll probably travel to Copacabana and lake Titicaca.

Now just had a heavy lunch with my house mate Paul. I insisted in eating a toffee cheese cake as a desert and now I feel quite sleepy, so this is a perfect siesta like spot. Here the city begins to awake again, most things (musea, shops et cetera) are closed between 12:30 and 14:30 for the siesta. I will miss quiet Sucre, although there can be lots of traffic and pollution too during rush hours.

Yesterday I went to Tarabuco, an indigenous village (of the Tarabuco people) famous for its weaving (men do weave too but in a different more colorful style with bigger "drawings") and its Sunday market. They told me I had to be at the travel agency at 8:00 am and that the bus would leave at 8:30, so had to wake up early and that was quite difficult (had a bit too much wine the night before and slept restless).

Walking past the main square At 8:00 a.m I saw lots of people shouting, singing, with balloons and flags. I thought they were protesting, but when I asked a lady that was sweeping, she told me it was for Easter. When I had a closer look, I even saw that they were holding big crosses made of carton.

Arriving at the agency it was closed, but fortunately there were waiting 3 guys from Brazil who booked the same bus. While waiting and waiting, saw many people entering the church or coming out with flowers and ornations made of palm leaves. While it was getting closer to 8:30 more and more other tourists arrived (even people from French Basque Country) but no bus or open agency. Finally a bus came around 8:40 and a stressed lady making apologies for being late, since her colleague was supposed to open the office.

The ride to Tarabuco (3300m altitude) took more then 1,5 hours through green hills/mountains passing small mud brick farmers houses. Our little mini bus went really SLOW, especially uphill and made a NOISE! It was like an airplane engine. Many cars and little busses were passing us by. Finally arrived at Tarabuco around 10:30. We had 3 hours to walk around.

The first part I walked with an Australian girl with whom I chatted in the bus and turned to have Dutch ancestors. Tarabuco was not very crowded, but half of the town was in church for mass. There were lots of people in traditional clothes: ponchos for men with a kind of caps/hats and women with cloaks and skirts.

Couldn't really take close by photos since they don't really like that. Some locals sold traditional weavings, and other souvenirs, but there were also streets full of commodities for locals: huarache slippers made of rubber or leather, soaps, clothes, food, meat and stalls were they sold stuff for offerings.

These offerings consisted of small colored little tiles made of sugar with symbols on them: certain animals (lion, snake,butterfly, spider, scorpions), but also hearts, persons et cetera. I asked them what they were for and they explained me;": to attract money, for good luck, to get rid of your husband/wife, for love et cetera.

They also sold little animals of sugar, alcohol and some dried seastars and fruit. An older man next to me bought lots of staff and he was helping me choose my tiles.

I bought 3: for good luck and love. He told the people next to him, he was going to marry me and then asked me if I would like to come with him. No thanks... He said then "don't you like it here"? He was nice but a bit drunk already.

Then walked some more and first saw Fernando (the son of the house where I am staying in, he works as a guide) and then Ramon, a musician from Argentina whom I met at Uyuni. While chatting with him, we were watching the local elder men drinking strong liquor in the street (first they always spill some on the floor as a offering to Pacha mama, Mother Earth) and chewing coca leaves.

And then my new amigo was sitting opposite us on the other side of the street. I waived at him and told him I already found a younger guy to marry. He came to chat with us and told us his life story. His name was Pascualito and he was a traditional medicine man. That explains why he bought so many offering materials. He was 60 years old (he looked for like 70 or 80) and he lived on a house of a hill a little farther; he had 7 children, now living in big cities like Cochabamba, Santa Cruz and even one in Argentina; which plants he grew at his farm and that he worked very hard all his life to get his children to school.

He also offered us from his drink. I first didn't want too since normally they drink like almost pure alcohol here, but tried a bit and it was ok. He was hard to follow sometimes, since already a bit drunk, but a nice conversation.

Then said goodbye to Pascualito and Ramon and did some shopping and had lunch. I met the 3 Brazilian guys there and sayt with then. They spoke Portuguese and I Spanish, but it went well. One if them showed me photos from the Pantanal in Brazil, but on most of them if was him in swimming shorts and/or without shirt showing a white belly, a bit ackward to watch these, but I kept being polite saying: "nice pics".

Also bought a heavy woven blanket/rug. Have to see if it fits in my bag. At 1330 the bus went back and around 15:00 back in Sucre.

Overheated by the bus ride, I first went for some ice cream and my fave ice cream place Abby"s. Then went home and relaxed: tired of a bad night of sleep, cooked dinner and Skyped with my parents in Thailand. It's 11 hours time difference, so there it was already Monday morning.

Think I will continue walking now. Sun is gone and don't feel my fingers anymore from typing. Also want to visit a church with a nice roof view and maybe visit the cemetery. They say it's really nice. Then home and pack and book a hotel in La Paz. Tonight I will have dinner with an English woman Philly (a friend of a friend) and Akemi, a Bolivian girl from La Paz, who I met during dinner at Philly"s on Saturday, but will write about that later. To be continued...

Love, Chantal