Sucre, Potosí & Tupiza.
A whistle stop tour to a few Bolivian cities we squeezed in around the Salt Flats Tour.
- Sucre.
Sucre was our favourite city we visited in Bolivia, we wish we could have stayed longer!
It’s a colonial town with lovely buildings and seemed to be filled with students (including, bizarrely, traffic attendants dressed in zebra onesies!).
We stayed in the delightful guesthouse Casa Al Tronco. I’d highly recommend it to anyone, out of the hustle and bustle of town, perched on the hill with a lovely view of the city. (We got the breakfast as an extra before an 8 hour bus and it was well worth it).
Recoleta square is around the corner from the guesthouse and well worth visiting for the views of the city or a drink at Cafe Gourmet Mirador.
Unsurprisingly, we hunt down a couple of good restaurants in Sucre. Condor cafe is a social project and serves up delicious veggie food (including a Tucumana Boliviana – a fried empanada). Cafe Monterosso is a slightly unconventional but incredible pasta restaurant. We hesitantly rang the doorbell and were greeted by a smiley Bolivian man who took us through to what looked like his front room. We gorged on pasta with red wine, which set us up nicely for a couple of long bus journeys the following 2 days.
Central Market. Three stories high the market has everything you’d ever need. Sections for fruit, fruit juices, avocados (had their own section), vegetables, meats, cheeses, medicines, herbs, clothes, toiletries, cleaning products, you name it. We picked up some Agua de Florida which is technically perfume but it’s also good for altitude sickness.
2. Potosí.
We spent a night here in-between buses and sleepily wondered around the city. It’s set on a hill with beautiful little cobbled streets, and people selling popcorn on most corners (win!). It’s very high (4,067m) making the hill walks even harder!
3. Tupiza.
Tupiza is surrounded by dark red mountains making it a beautiful town to arrive into. We stayed at the wonderfully named Butch Cassidy Hostel which had questionable decor but lovely people and a brilliant breakfast. We didn’t get up to much in particular as we were attempting to acclimatise and a little short of breath from the altitude.
We went by buses from Argentina to Bolivia (from Salta > La Quiaca > Villazon > Tupiza), and despite some horror stories of border crossings it went swimmingly. The highlight of the whole journey was getting a rapido (shared shuttle bus) from Villazon to Tupiza, because half way through the journey a couple of Mormon missionaries hopped on. Elder Chapman and Elder Wamsley were getting a ride back to Tupiza after helping in a local village. Not only was it fascinating to meet real life missionaries, we also bumped into them again in Tupiza and 4 days later in Uyuni (on their day off hence they’re not wearing their shirt and ties – but still have their name badges on!).
We visited Bolivia in September 2018.
