7th May - Still in Sucre

Sucre was a pleasant place to chill out in. On the Tuesday morning Naomi was not feeling too good, she had a chest infection. I realised that I was flying home on Friday and needed some presents to take with me, so Mairi and I hit the shops in Sucre. We found one really nice shop called T'Ika where the gentleman was helpful and the clothes were all bought in from local crafts people. We spent a lot of money there and I treated myself to an alpaca cardigan.
When we returned to the hostel Naomi felt a bit better so we took a bus out to a place where the side of a hill has been excavated by a cement factory and a mass of dinosaur footprints have been uncovered. We caught a tourist open top  bus from a corner by the cathedral and went far out of the town, through an area filled with lorries and transport companies. Here are some pictures taken en route.

The cliff showing the footprints was pretty high and there are supposed to be around 5000 prints. One of the sets is from a baby tyrannosaurus rex and the prints stretch for half a kilometre, the longest set in the world. Another from an apatosaurus who may have been chased by predators.  You could go up to the museum but we had heard that it was a waste of money as you could see all the footprints from the road. So after a good look at the prints we sat on a piece of waste land overlooking the cement works and ate our lunch.

The cement factory

Naomi and Mairi after lunch

Entrance to the museum - pretty tacky

Dinosaur footprints

After an hour or so the bus took us back in to Sucre.

Naomi went back to the hostel for a rest and Mairi and I walked up to the top of the city to a working Franciscan monastery - La Recoleta. This was founded in 1538 and was at the heart of the Franciscan effort to convert the indigenous people to catholicism. There was a guided tour and we saw yet more colonial religious painting. The building had flower filled courtyards and was very attractive.

La Recoleta

In the church there were some very finely carved choir stalls. Mairi posed in one, guide book in hand.

In the grounds of the monastery is an ancient tree - the Cedro Millenario which is though to be over a thousand years old. Legend has it that if you run round it a number of times you will be married within the year.

There was a great view down over Sucre from a cafe outside the monastery.

We went back down to the centre on a long hill, taking us through a very nice part of the city.

I am not surprised that Naomi spent the afternoon in the hostel as we were going out that night to a theatre to watch some Bolivian dancing and have a meal.

Mairi and Naomi choosing from the menu

The food was good and the show was based on traditional dances and costumes from various parts of Bolivia.  We were sitting right in front of the stage which meant that we were close but looking up at the dancers. There was only now one day left to share with the girls before I left Sucre to fly home.