A bit of adventure!

Bored of the monotony of Buenos Aires, I swiftly left to Bolivia with 2 girls – Carina & Gabriela. I met them 2 weeks before in a bar in BA. Thursday I joined them in Santa Cruz. This city is the economic engine of Bolivia, but it could be a town in Europe. We arrived at the middle of the “semana santa” (a very important event in a country as religious as Bolivia). Lodging in a hostel next to the cathedral, we attended to all the events: mass, ceremonies… It was interesting but nothing very exciting! Therefore yesterday we took a 14 hours night bus to reach Sucre; the former capital of Bolivia. The trip was a complete quilombo (a mess). People were sleeping everywhere: in the corridor of the bus and in the hold of the bus. I could not believe it at first sight.
Anyway, Sucre is a city settled at 2790m of altitude, with white houses, and clean streets. The majority of the population is indigenous, and speaks Quechua or Aymara. They are small, tanned and dressed in a very folkloric way (see pictures). Needless to say that I am miles away from Buenos Aires! The food is very good here, which makes my trip even more enjoyable. Oh I forgot to say that they are all chewing coca. Henry – by neighbour in the bus-initiated me to the ancestral tradition. I have to say that it is nothing extraordinary, and it has a very bitter taste. When coca leaves are chewed, the extracted juice result in insensitivity to hunger, cold, fatigue and pain. In the city we walked a lot and went to the Museo de Arte Indigena*** and to the Museo de la Libertad**. The first one was very interesting and dealt with the indigene culture, and the second one with the political history of Bolivia.