Cochabamba Chronicles

Our 45^th Anniversary in Sucre, Chuquisaca, Bolivia – the Capital of Bolivia

We spent 4 days in Sucre starting on our 45^th anniversary, March 31, 2017. President Garcia was kind enough to give us Friday off from the temple. The temple was closed for General Conference on Saturday. We watched Conference from our hotel room on Saturday afternoon and Sunday, and made up the rest when we got home. I’m thankful for modern technology. We were able to watch sessions of Conference on Tuesday after we got home.

I can’t say that I knew much about Bolivia a year ago. I knew it was in South America. I had heard of Lake Titicaca, and that the capital of Bolivia was La Paz, a city high in the Andes and where the houses were built steeply on the mountainside. That’s about it. We have learned a lot since we got here, but after 6 months, and visiting La Paz, I still thought that La Paz was the capital. Then we visited Sucre, a tourist city in the west with 300,000 people, compared to the over 800,000 in La Paz. (2.3 million if you include the surrounding urban area) When our guide told us that Sucre is the capital of Bolivia, it was confusing. So here’s the scoop for anyone who cares, or might be taking a test on the capital cities of South America. Sucre is the official capital of Bolivia-I’m sure some of you are shocked. I even asked “SIRI” to make sure, and if “SIRI” says it is, it must be right. La Paz is the seat of two branches of the government, the executive and the legislative. Their economy benefits greatly from this. The judicial branch remains in Sucre.

In 2008, the Sucrenses (the people of Sucre) protested to have the other two branches moved back to Sucre. President Evo Morales and his party (Movimiento al Socialismo) quickly drafted a new constitution. It was passed by just over 50% of the people. The 4 more populated states (they call them departments) voted for it, and the 5 less populated states voted against it. They might have benefited from a Democratic Republic type of government and an electoral college. This helps explain some of the “yes Evo” and “no Evo” parades and blockades around the country. (Pictures in our last blog)

This is a monument built in the city cemetery to honor the three people killed in the Sucre protest against the government in 2008.

Tourism and cement are Sucre's biggest industries. The inner city has a requirement that all the buildings have to be painted white – thus Sucre is the whitest city in Bolivia. It is also the cleanest city we have seen with not as much garbage or graffiti. Our guide told us they have high fines, and I guess it helps. There are many museums in Sucre. We visited as many as we could, but some of the ones we wanted to see were closed for maintenance. (It’s like going to Disneyland and finding out Pirates of the Caribbean is closed)

A view of Sucre

The airport was about 40 minutes from Sucre. Martin asked our driver why they built the airport so far from the city. It was soon easy to see. Like Cochabamba and other cities in Bolivia, many of the streets are very steep. They had to go that far away to have flat enough land for the airport.

Our Hotel
Parador Santa Maria La Real, built in the 18th century.

A few pictures from the inside of our hotel. It was very beautiful and interesting.

The front dest, with a picture of the Virgin of Guadelupe, the Virgin of the city of Sucre.

Oh, I forgot my swimming suit. Didn't matter, there wasn't any water in the jacuzzi.

There were some very interesting sinks. If you can't tell, this one is built on top of an old treadle sewing machine.

There were many beautiful carved wood doors and shutters in Sucre. This is one of the ones in our hotel.

Confessions anyone?

How to make an old wood stove useful.

The funnest things we did were go to a restaurant that had a show of the dances of Bolivia, the dinosaur museum, and the hat factory. I liked the museums, too, but I would call them informative more than fun. You couldn’t take pictures in some of the museums, but we have pictures from some of them.

We also went in a few of their Cathedrals. One of the chapels contains their patron Virgin of Sucre- La Virgin de Guadelupe. The guide told Martin that many people sent gold, silver and jewels to place on the Saint. She said at one time they could have paid off the debt of Bolivia if they had sold all of them. The government considered it, but they would have had a real uprising over that. Their Virgins are very important to them.

Churches and Museumm

The knockers on many of the old doors were very high, because those who would be knocking were on horses.

The seal of Bolivia

What a kitchen of the Tarabuco Indians looked liked long ago, and how many of them still cook.

A picture of how the Tarabuco Indian's dress.

Many of the beautiful pieces in the museums came from Europe.

Very intricate vase.

The ceiling in one of the Cathedrals

The guide told us that someone loved the face of the man on this painting, so he cut it out and took it. If nothing else, it leaves something to the imagination.

What do you find in a crypt underneath a Cathedral? Layers, and layers of bones. It was pretty musty down there. We couldn't stay long because it was hard to breath. You can see what happens if you stay too long.

This is La Virgin de Guadelupe that I talked about at the beginning. It is in a small chapel in a Cathedral, and is covered with jewels, etc, that the people of Bolivia sent, and is worth a lot of money. There are over 18,000 jewels including rubies, emeralds, sapphires and diamonds.

A view of the chapel where the Virgin is located. We were lucky to get in because it isn't open very often.

The Liberty Bell of Bolivia. It even has a crack in it like the one in Philadelphia, only this one cracked because of the effort that was made to ring the bell.

The next pictures are of the Castillo de la Gloria. It was built by the Princes of Sucre in the late 19th century. None of them had any children of their own, so they took care of and helped orphans.

They were going to invite us to a ball, but we weren't dressed appropriately.

The ceiling in one of the rooms for the females. (Cherubs)

The ceiling in one of the rooms for the males. (Lions and gargoyles.)

They built a replica of Big Ben in London.

We climbed up the inside of this tower. It was kind of like climbing up the inside of the lighthouses in Uruguay. Round and round you go. Good luck trying to breath.

The males had to walk down one side of the stairs, and the females down the other side.

A statue representing some of the orphans and the Principe de la Glorietta.

Casa del Gobierno. It was was once the principle place for social activities sponsored by the Princesa de la Glorietta.

These are the doors to the Casa de Libertad, where they wrote the Bolivian Constitution when they received their freedom from Spain, and broke off from Argentina. For a period of time, parts of Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina were all combined. It is across from the main plaza.

One of the devil masks.

Petrified mummies.

Musical instruments of the local natives.

Not much has changed. People still like to change the way they look. It might make it easier to wear one of those bolero hats.

A closer view of Casa del gobierno,

Two more petrified skeletons.

Another replica of the local costumes of the Tarabuco Indians.

This is how a Cholita in Cochabamba would have dressed. The Cholitas in each department of Bolivia have a distinctive style. They still dress similar to this, only they don't wear the white hats, they wear the bolero hats.

More masks representing the history of Bolivia.

San Miguel the archangel.

The devils and the archangel San Miguel triumphing over the devils.

If you don't like the shape of the head a few pictures above, you could try this one. This person would have a hard time wearing a Cholita hat. He probably wore a long stocking cap.

The local market (mercado) in Sucre

They grow lots of potatoes in Bolivia. Some of the varieties look a little scary, like they had a rash or something.

Now this is a juice bar! You pick your own fruit. We wished we had dared try some. (They said in some of the literature I read, that cleanliness standards are not as good as we are used to, and you should give your stomach awhile to get used to things, before you try food that is not from a reputable restaurant.) Although, things looked cleaner in this market than in many others we have seen.

Cow snouts anyone?

The workers usually don't just sit there. We see many of them knitting. One woman was sitting here pealing potatoes. Many times we see people asleep, and wonder why their goods are not stolen.

No chairs needed. It seems like they love to sit on the ground, or cement. I wouldn't be able to get up after a short time.

The fruit market.

This man was selling some really interesting ponchos, en antigua. (very old) He showed us one that he was trying to sell for $1000 American dollars.

The man that owned this shop was knitting hats. Martin bought a hand knitted one from him.

The Cemetery

Many of the people are buried in vaults that are stacked on top of each other. They put memorabilia of the person, or fresh flowers in the front of the vault. I believe a child is buried here.

One of the mausoleums of one of the more well to do citizens of Sucre.

This is a mausoleum of a very important person. I love the angel watching over him.

I took a picture of this because it is a mausoleum for women. It says at the top "Centenaria Sociedad Socorros Mutuos" I was interested in this because the name of the Relief Society in Spanish is La Sociedad de Socorro. There will be Sisterhood even after death!

We actually found this on our way to the cemetery. We had to stop for a picture. An ancient dinosuar with an ancient phone. (Everyone here has cell phones, and they seemed to be hooked to their hands, just like everywhere else) We asked our guide if it still worked, but she didn't know. She had a cell phone, too.

The Plaza

The main plaza of Sucre

What kind of uniform does a Cholita wear to clean the sidewalks with a palm frond? A bright orange dress. A palm frond makes a pretty good broom. I don't think it would work very well in a house.

A nice place to spend an afternoon.

The plant designs in this park were pretty.

This statue in the Plaza is Sucre, who fought for the freedom of this area. Even the pigeons like him.

PARQUE CRETACICO

Cal Orck'o limestone wall

The World's largest paleontological site.

Cement is one of the main industries of Sucre. The cement factory is called Fancesa. They had been working through the side of a mountain for the gravel for their cement, and some of the workers discovered what looked like animal tracks. The experts have found thousands of dinosaur tracks from at least 8 kinds of dinosaurs. They quit tearing down the mountain, and made this dinosaur museum with life sized dinosaurs. One of the Sisters who works in the temple was on her way home to Sucre on the same plane as the two of us. She told us that the dinosaur museum was just for kids. Luckily, we didn't listen to her, and we went anyway. It was extremely interesting, and we took lots of pictures for our grandkids who love dinosaurs. Maybe I'm just a kid.

You can see some of the dinosaur tracks on the mountain. They are assuming this ground was flat when the dinosaurs walked on it. That would be pretty tricky walking straight up.

A wider view of the mountain.

Walking up to the museum.

A man working near some dinosaur tracks made by a long neck dinosaur, a titanosaurus.

Martin is next to the leg of the long neck. They match, they both are wearing grey! This is the biggest replica of a dinosaur in the world.

A skeleton replica

Dinosaurs cracking from eggs. Aren''t they cute.

Maybe not this one. I hope he's not a biter. (Charlie, that hurts!)

The biggest dinosaur. She makes Martin look pretty small. (I think it is a she, because she has a baby with her)

Why won't anyone play with me?

The blue one (Teropodo) is mad at the green one because he was making fun of his short front legs, or are they arms?

I know some of my grandkids could tell me the name of these dinosaurs.
Spikey?

Tag, you're it!

The Loch Ness monster?

I'm turning blue!

Jurassic Park- don't look behind you.

Enter at your own risk.

The part of the museum that is for kids.

The Hat Factory

We were very interested to see how they make hats from wool felt. Here are a few pictures showing the process

Hand sewing bows on hats. This is a specialty hat, that they wear somewhere in Bolivia. I can't remember the city he said. Martin says it was Tarija.

The Cholitas with their long braids look much better in a bolero than I do. I still can't figure out how they keep them on their heads.

The boys in this school class were so excited to find this "Harry Potter" hat.
I understand Harry Potter in Spanish!

"Origenes"

Our special anniversary activity was going to a restaurant that had a show with the different types of dancing from Bolivia. The food was nothing great, but the dancing was very interesting. It was hard to get pictures that were any good because it was either dark, blue or other colored lights, or they were moving to fast to get a good picture. I did the best I could. Many of the costumes were similar to the costumes in the Carnaval Parade in Oruro.

My newest buddy in Sucre.

If you got hot in this costume, you could fan yourself.

This dance represents the archangel, San Miguel fighting against the devils. The dancing tells the story of the ultimate battle between good and evil. In the end he kills the devils, and it becomes apparent that good has triumphed over evil.