As Sweet As Sucre

The city of Sucre, Bolivia

The taste of mosquitos was replaced with the taste of relief as we boarded our Amaszonas flight from Rurrenabaque to the sweet sounding city of Sucre, south of La Paz in Bolivia. Its our base for four days and a comfortable place to stroll around with its whitewashed colonial buildings, colourful squares, numerous cafes and most importantly a launderette after our sweaty Amazonian experience.

A three hour bus ride west from Sucre took us to our next destination, Potosi, the highest city in the world at 4070m. Its also famous for its massive silver mine which incredibly is the size of New York. So rich was Potosi that it was the wealthiest city in South America and underpinned the Spanish economy for more than 200 years.

Street vendor in Sucre

The mine is now depleted of silver but thousands of miners continue to work there in horrific conditions and for very little pay.  For some bizarre reason, the chance of a four hour tour into the mine has become a bit of a tourist 'must do' but we just don't understand it. Temperatures undergound range from below freezing to 45C and there's a high risk of explosions, but undeterred, many tourists literally sign there lives away for a chance to see the conditions that these men work in. No thanks.

Potosi is just a stopping off point for us on the way to Uyuni with its spectacular scenery, but most importantly its where we meet Vanessa's mum and Gary who've made an incredibly long and difficult journey to come out and see us. Its perfect as its exactly half way through our trip and its a chance to do a three day/two night tour together in what should be an incredible but very cold place.  Vanessa can hardly contain her excitement, mainly because there's a big jar of Marmite heading her way.