Sucre - Bolivia´s Chocolate Capital!

On December 16th, Jeremy and I took yet another bus (this time no flat tires!) to Sucre. Sucre is Bolivia´s "White City" (because so many of the buildings are white), the constitutional capitol of Bolivia (La Paz is the other capitol), and it's famous for its chocolate!

Jeremy and I ended up relaxing in Sucre for almost a week. To relax, we strolled through Sucre´s parks, and watched lots of movies including "Todo Sobre Mi Madre", "Y Tu Mama Tambien", and a triple feature one night that included "Mean Girls", "The Terminal", and "Insomnia".

Cafe Mirador

One of the most difficult things about traveling so much is the constant search for food. Finding a clean place with food that we like at the price we want to spend can be time-consuming. And because most of the places we stay don´t have kitchen facilities, we go out for nearly every meal! Anyway, in Sucre, we found a place we really liked that we went to a couple times. It´s called Cafe Mirador, and though it takes a bit of an uphill hike to get there, the overlooking view of Sucre from the patio was magnificent and the food was healthy, plentiful, tasty and well-presented. One time when we were there, we played a fun game of chess! Here are some shots from Cafe Mirador.


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Museo de Arte Indigena

Another highlight of the time in Sucre was my visit (Jeremy wasn´t feeling well enough to join me at the time because of bad back spasms) to the Museo de Arte Indigena (Museum of Indigenous Art).

There, I learned all about the famous local weavings from the area around Sucre. Tarabuco textiles (my personal favorite) are colorful, clear weavings often depecting celebrations, rituals, and agricultural practices. Jalq'a textiles are black and red weavings that depict a dark underworld. Tinkipaya textiles often have zigzags that represent traditional Carnaval dances. And textiles made by men have a very distinct look as well. They are more often for commercial rather than functional uses, but often include large colorful animal images. I even had the opportunity to see female weavers in action from Tarabuco and Jalq'a and a male weaver as well.

In addition to the weavings this museum had exhibits that represented offerings traditionally given to the gods, and traditional musical instruments, costumes, and dances. Some that I took pictures of include an exhibit about the "ñaqch'a" (like a woven belt that protects a baby or adolescent through their growing-up years), and a charango (a bolivian instrument used by many indigenous groups for traditional ceremonies). Here are the pictures from the museum!


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Just as we were leaving Sucre on December 23rd, we saw a very long line of mostly campesino children (children from outside of Sucre). The government promised to give each child who waited in the line Christmas gifts. As the local newspaper wrote, most of these children wouldn´t have had any gifts otherwise due to poverty.