EC-Rider Travels

Today Noel took me on a City-tour of Sucre. We started in the main Square which is very lovely with a number of attractive Colonial buildings with large balconies as in Peru. There is also the imposing Metropolitan Cathedral which is sadly rarely open. There was much clearing up going on after the Halloween revelries, with lovely ladies in orange sweeping the streets, most effectively, with huge palm fronds.

We first went to Liberty House, a former university which was renamed after independence on 6 August 1825. We saw the Declaration of Independence and paintings of Simon Boliviar and Antonio Jose de Sucre who were both Venezuelan and responsible for the liberation of Bolivia (and also Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and Colombia). Interestingly they did not sign the declaration as their dream was to create a united South America – a ‘Big Colombia’ and there are many who would still like to see this today. There were also paintings of Tupac Katari and his wife Bartolina Sisa and Juana Azurduy de Padilla who played significant roles in Bolivia’s history.

We then went to the Treasure Museum where I joined a tour to hear about the hundreds of different semi-precious stones which are mined in Bolivia (plus one precious – the emerald), including the rather beautiful Bolivianite which is a combination of amethyst and citrine. It requires a perfect combination of iron presence and differing temperatures within a very confined space, and is only found in the Anahí mine, near Santa Cruz. It is not known to exist anywhere else on earth.

We then went for lunch in the oldest tavern in Sucre and in the afternoon Noel took me round the textile museum explaining the different techniques the various communities have used over time to make their extraordinary cloth. How they dyed their wool and the stories and meanings behind their beautiful work. Fascinating.

We ended the tour by going up on to the roof of one of the churches and enjoyed the views over this very attractive White City as it is often known. I decided I couldn’t face more Halloween celebrations – it goes on for three days here! So spent a happy evening on the telephone to some of you…