Sucre

Sucre, one of the two disputed capitals of Bolivia, was said to be a beautiful city and a great place to chill. And chill I did. I was a bit in shock when I went to pay my hostel ¨tab¨and was told I had been there 12 days. Oh well, it was good to relax and do nothing for a while before heading up to Cochabamba to tax my stale brain with fours hours of Spanish a day for the next month. My ¨doing nothing¨consisted of lots of walking around, sitting in the park talking with the shoeshine boys and eating lots of street-za (the name I gave the yummy pizza cooked and sold by mobile vendors). The hostel I stayed at was one of the most comfortable places I've stayed on this trip and was a hell of a deal for 40 Bolivianos ($5+) per night for my own room. There was a good group of ´long timers´ there studying Spanish and the family that ran the place was great - especially the newly turned 6 year old chess prodigy, Antonio. I got my first look at the Bolivian birthday tradition that includes cake and singing at breakfast and the ´lucky´
one with the birthday having their face shoved in to the cake (glad I´ll be gone by December). Another highlight was the grand 'entrada' that lasted for hours and hours. It was great to finally see my friend Samarah come dancing through the square well after midnight. Though really cool (amazing costumes and a fantastic disregard for public safety), I'll be fine if I don't watch another parade for a long time.