March 1st, Last day in Sucre:

 Friday, March 1^st, Last day in Sucre:  We were picked up at the hostel at 7:30am by the shared taxi company and we then headed for the area where people go to catch the shared taxi.  He quickly found a couple from La Paz, a cholo and his wife. This is not a degrading name in Bolivia.  It just means someone who dresses in their indigenous clothes.  The woman was dressed in her long, layered pollera skirt, shawl and bowler hat. We were on the road by 8:00am.  The taxi driver asked me lots of questions about the Church and what we believed.  He had heard the name, Joseph Smith and he had seen the missionaries.  We had quite an interesting conversation which made the ride back go fast.  Mom had a Book of Mormon in her purse, so I gave it to him and asked him to read it.   We arrived back in Sucre at 10:30am.  Before leaving Sucre we had made reservations at the best hotel in Sucre, the Parador.  It is amazing!  First of all, it is a restored colonial home and every room is furnished with European antiques.  All the wealthy mining families went to Europe and brought back furniture.  But our room was not ready and we both wanted a shower really bad. So I walked around taking pictures of the hotel. 

The patio on the roof of the hotel.

One of the courtyards of our hotel.

In the basement of the hotel there is a small museum.

View of the Cathedral from the roof of the hotel.

One of the courtyards of our hotel.

 We only had to wait about a half hour.  Our room was fabulous and the shower even better. 

The sitting area of our room.

Our Bedroom in the hotel.

The ceiling above the bed.

View of the Cathedral from our room in the hotel.

I don't think you need a caption.

We met up with the Dibbs and headed for my birthday lunch.  I wanted to find that “best piece of meat in Bolivia” that Pres. Crayk had talked about.  So we asked the owner of the hotel.  He suggested a restaurant, but I had read in the guide book about a different one.  He agreed that that one was also a good place.  So we got a taxi and went there, but it was closed, so the driver said he knew of another.  It turned out to be the one the hotel owner had recommended.  It was ok, but it was not the “best piece of meat in Bolivia”. 

Lunch searching for the elusive best steak.

After lunch we took a cab to the Dinosaur Park.  It turns out that the cement factory, after 26 years of excavation had uncovered a layer of sediment that was not good for cement.  It is an almost vertical wall of over 5,000 dinosaur tracks of at least eight different species of dinosaur.  It is the largest collection of dinosaur footprints in the world.  So they built a museum and some life sized dinosaurs and now have a very nice tourist attraction.

Dino greeting everyone to the park.

The entrance to the Dinosaur Park.

View of Sucre from the Dinosaur Park.

At the Dinosaur Park.

Me about to be stepped on.

At the Dinosaur Park.  The wall in the background has over 5,000 dinosaur footprints.

Can you see the foot prints?

Can you see the foot prints?

At the Dinosaur Park.

My imitation of T-Rex growl.

We road a double decker bus back to Sucre.

Sucre street from the top of the bus.

After this great adventure we went back to the wonderful hotel and played cards on the patio on the roof.  Mom and Linda won.  They cheat.

The card game begins.

The last card game of the trip.

As we played the sun began to set.

And of course continued.

Until city lights began to come on.

Feb. 28th, Potosi:

Thursday, Feb. 28^th, Potosi:  We got up early and mom and I headed for Potosi, a Unesco, World Heritage Site.  The elevation is 13,343 feet above sea level.  The Dibbs decided to stay in Sucre.  We took a cab to an area of the city where you can get a shared taxi to Potosi, that only takes 2 and ½ hours, where as a bus would take 3 and ½ hours.  But we had to wait for almost half an hour for the fourth person.  One never showed so the driver finally left with only 3 passengers.  He drove like a race car driver cutting all the corners and speeding up really fast then slowing down for corners, but taking them as fast as he could.  Mom was in the back seat and right next to the radio speaker.  Needless to say, with music blaring in her ear and being thrown back and forth, she was a little car sick by the time we made it to Potosi.  Potosi is an ugly town as you approach.  This is a mining city.  Silver was discovered here in 1556 and more than 8200 metric tons of silver was sent to the Spanish Monarchy during the next almost 300 years.  The legend says that enough silver was sent to Spain to build a silver bridge from Potosi to Madrid and still have silver to carry across it.  During the city’s heyday, more than 200,000 people lived in Potosi and it was one of the largest cities in South America.  The mines were notorious for the terrible working conditions.  The Spanish required all indigenous slaves to work 12 hour shifts and stay underground for four months at a time.  So many of them died from accidents and silicosis pneumonia that the Spanish imported millions of African slaves for the labor force.  They died even faster because of the cold.   The fist mint in Bolivia was built here in 1672 and for many years was run by mule power. 26 churches were built in Potosi in the colonial period all of which survive today.  Many of the powerful Spanish families had homes in Potosi and some of them still have their coat of arms above the entrance to their houses.  We arrived about noon and found our hostel, a step down from the one in Sucre. 

Hello from our balcony of our hostel.

Our room in Potosi.

Our room in Potosi.

Looking up the street from our balcony in Potosi.

Looking down the street from our balcony in Potosi.

We had a bowl of soup for lunch at a café on the plaza.  Mom still wasn’t feeling great.  We then walked around looking at some of the old buildings and ended up at the Museum of coins where the mint was located.

Mom on the street in Potosi.  Many of the buildings have rooms that jut out over the sidewalk.

The streets are smaller here than in Sucre.

Mom in front of the Cathedral in Potosi.

School had just gotten out as we were walking around town.

The front of the Cathedral in Potosi.

Street View.

Street view of Potosi.

Big sister helping her little sister across the street.

Front door of the House of Coins.

The Museum at the House of coins had a lot of religious art.

The virgin of the hill.

Some of the machines that the pressed the ingots into thin pieces of silver in order to stamp out the coins. These are on the floor above the mules.

The mules would have to walk in circles to provide the power for the machines on the floor above.

One if the passageways in the museum of Coins.

After the tour we visited the restored Convent of Santa Teresa, a Carmelite Convent. 

The Chapel at the Carmelita Convent.

The Pulpit at the Convent.

The ceiling at the convent.  Each square was different.

A room at the convent restored to show some of the art and gifts to the convent.

One of the Courtyards at the convent.

One of the restored alters pieces at the convent.

We had pizza on our way back to the hostel.  Mom said that all the backpackers at the hostel started singing Karaoke about midnight and she wanted to go and tell them to go to bed.  I was of course already asleep.  But about 2:00am I woke up with a splitting headache.  The altitude always bothers me and for about 2 hours I sat reading because to lie down just made my head pound.  We left at 7:30 in the morning.  Mom really wanted to come here and I gave in. 

Mom says this is how she wants to see South America next time.  These guys had shipped their bikes from Spain and were traveling all over South America.  They were staying at our hostel.