VENTURING FARTHER AFIELD

I’m woefully behind with updates on what the migrants have been up to.  This edition will cover our visit to Sucre and Tarija – two destinations in southern Bolivia that we’d heard were must-sees.  We took a week off just before Christmas to see what awaits there.

First up, Sucre, the constitutional capital of Bolivia.  It is the judicial center of the country with lots of well-preserved Hispanic colonial buildings, for which it has been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Getting there wasn’t without its challenges when the airline canceled our flight and automatically booked us on another flight, the day before which wasn’t going to work because of work commitments, and the next available flight wouldn’t have been until the next day.  Not wanting to lose a day of precious vacation, and ever the intrepid travelers, we opted for an overnight bus from La Paz. 

Our bus digs for the next 12 hours. Roomy... but not much sleep.

View from the bus the next morning.  That swervy road is to blame for the poor sleep.

Sucre is a lovely city.  The architecture with its tiled roofs and white exteriors has earned Sucre the moniker, “The White City.”  The Christmas decorations were also in their full glory, which added to the charm.

Our view across the White City from the rooftop of our hotel.

The town square was all decked out for Christmas.

So were the colonial government buildings around the town square.

The architecture on the colonial buildings, some dating back to the 16th century, was spectacular.

This building and its lovely courtyard were part of a university.

The second morning we were there, as we were strolling around, we noticed some streets were closed and people were gathering along the sides.  Apparently, a soap box derby of sorts was about to begin, so we stuck around to see what the fuss was about.  Like La Paz, Sucre is at elevation (about 9,000 feet) with lots of hills that make it hard to find much level ground in the city.  Made for a challenging course for the entrants – and a challenging town to walk around without getting winded.

Geronimo!

Miss that curve?  No worries - there's a mattress strapped to a building to protect you.

There are lots of paleontological sites around southern Bolivia, so we decided to check out the Cal Orck’o fossil bed just a few minutes outside Sucre.  About 5,000 dinosaur tracks were discovered on an almost vertical surface when the adjacent concrete plant was blasting away limestone in the mid-1990s.  It’s now a protected reserve.

Those little dots are dinosaur tracks from 68 million years ago that were once a lakebed, now raised almost vertically through tectonic activity.

We wrapped up our stay in Sucre by meeting up with some friends from the embassy who were also visiting Sucre for a few days.  We joined them for a guided walking tour around the city center.  We love doing walking tours in any new city – a great way to learn a bit of the history and culture, and get your bearings.

Looking over Sucre from a hike up to Recoleta Monastery.

And a stop for a roadside choripan (sausage in a bun) on the way back - $1.

A final sunset from our hotel.

And a stroll through the city on our last night.

From Sucre, it was on to Tarija, which is about as far south as you can get in Bolivia and is Bolivia’s wine country.  Believe it or not, Bolivia makes some pretty tasty – and cheap – wines, so we figured we would go to the source to learn more about the area, and do some wine drinking, ahem, research, to see which ones we really liked.  We balanced all that, um, research with some other activities too. 

Lots of pretty, green town squares in Tarija.

Colorful murals in downtown.

We walked by this church a couple of evenings, and both times there were groups dancing around this may pole (for lack of a better term).  Christmas festivity action shot.

Foosball is big in Bolivia.  We've seen entire foosball halls in La Paz too.  

We hired an outstanding guide who showed us around for a few days.  The plan was to have some morning activities, and then to balance out all that activity with afternoon wine tastings.  The morning activities, included a walking tour of the city center (of course), and a picturesque hike to a waterfall (and some birdwatching for me).  

Our walking tour included a stop at the local market.  Look at all that amazing fresh fruit!

And potatoes!  Bolivia has over 4,000 varieties of them.

And breads!  I am a bread snob.  Not gonna lie - the breads here are not my favorite.  It's hard to bake at altitude - I get it.  But they still look great.

We hiked along this lush valley to see a waterfall at the end - and to earn our wine that afternoon.

And our afternoon wine tastings brought us to some superb wineries.  The buildings were modern, and the wines were tasty (mostly reds - think malbecs, cabernets, and the very Bolivian tannat) - and cheap.  A bottle of very drinkable red wine will set you back about $15.

This was our favorite winery - Magnus.  We had a fabulous visit.  The wineries aren't set up like California or Oregon - you don't just roll up and have a tasting.  Reservations are required, and we figured we'd be there with other groups.  But we had the place to ourselves, with a private lunch to boot.  A super memorable place.

Magnus also had on display dinosaur bones that had been unearthed during construction.  Because, of course.

Our private lunch set-up in the cellar.  Delicious!

Harvest was in full speed.

The tasting room at Campos de Solana... and another lunch to accompany.

Last but not least, Casa Solum Winery - a small, family-run  winery.  The winemaker/owner showed us around.

Our last day took a bit of a detour after the Bolivian government reduced its long-standing subsidies on gas and diesel* and the country’s bus drivers went on strike by blockading the streets all over the country.  That kept us from getting to our last scheduled winery.  But undeterred, we found another winery within walking distance from our hotel, so we visited there as a Plan B.  We capped it all off with a paella feast at one of the wineries we had visited early on and really enjoyed.  An altogether successful trip – airline cancelations and blockades can’t keep us down!

This is what a Bolivian blockade looks like.

And this is what Plan B looks like.  Aranjuez Winery - walking distance from our hotel.  One of Bolivia's oldest wineries with a very pretty setting.  The wine... not so much.

A paella feast at Magnus with our guide to celebrate our final night in Tarija.

*Bolivia’s former government had subsidized the price of gasoline for over 20 years.  When we arrived, a liter of gas cost about 30 cents.  The new government that came in right after we arrived in Bolivia is trying to make changes to bring Bolivia into the 21^st century.  The changes are coming at a price – like lifting the subsidies to try to build up their abysmal cash reserves.  Of course, that means gas costs more now (still less than neighboring countries are paying), but people weren’t happy about it, and blockades are their preferred method of protest.

Back in La Paz, Christmas – and the arrival of our stuff from Indonesia – awaited.  Our delivery came just a couple days before Christmas, so our house was decidedly unadorned this year.  But we had some fabulous holiday celebrations with friends, so we didn’t miss the lights and tinsel at all.

The checkout staff at the local market was definitely feeling the holiday spirit.

Our stuff arrives!  With help from a local street dog.  (Don't worry.  The street dogs here are very well cared for, complete with dog houses and coats.)

As I’m writing this, we have just returned from Cusco and Lima, Peru.  The tales from those adventures further afield will wait for another time.To be continued...