We arrived in Sucre, the judicial capital of Bolivia, on 23 December. There we met up with Sinead´s sister Sarah, her boyfriend Bevan and her two friends Rachel and Hester. On Christmas Eve we went out for a traditional Bolivian meal before joining the ¨Baby Jesus¨procession around the town (where many people, and not just children, carried slightly freaky dolls dressed in white lace) that culminated in Midnight Mass.
On Christmas Day, where strangely for us many shops and restaurants were open, Sinead´s other sister Anna arrived just in time for our Christmas dinner - amazingly Anna´s five flights that took her from London to Sucre were all on time. Everyone in the hostel pitched in with making a fine Christmas feast, which included the food I´m used to (turkey, potatoes, carrots etc.) as well as some local fare (quinoa salad, guacamole etc.). After dinner myself and the seven Kiwis exchanged our Secret Santa presents - I got a great colletion of Bolivian finger puppets. While certainly different, it was a great Christmas Day.
On St. Stephen´s Day I decided to shave for the first time since being in Las Vegas in September - afterwards it was strange seeing my small-looking face in the mirror, but I was glad to be more streamlined again. After saying goodbye to Rachel and Hester, myself and the remaining five New Zealanders spent a couple more days relaxing in Sucre - a highlight of which was our trip on the ¨Dino Truck¨to see hundreds of preserved dinosaur tracks.We then headed to Potosí, the highest city in the world at 4060m. It was previously one of the richest cities in the world due to the silver that was mined in the nearby Cerro Rico mountain. Although there isn´t much left in the mines, they are still operational. We were brought into one of the mines by a former miner - the tour was at times shocking (seeing workers including children work in Victorian conditions), scary (being deep inside the mine as explosions were detinated), and fun (setting off our own dynamite when we got back outside) - only in Bolivia!
From the dust and mud of the mines, we headed for a dip in a crater lake whose water comes from natural hot springs - another memorable experience.
Unfortunately, Sarah and Bevan will remember Potosí for another resaon - they were scammed by some fake policemen and lost their camera, ipod and some money. Still it could have been worse and no one was hurt.
For New Years we went to the city of Oruro. As that city doesn´t have much going for it, we had to make our own fun - which was easily done with some cheap alcohol (all alcohol here is so cheap) and a deck of cards. We welcomed in the new decade in a club where we were the most lively revellers - I´m sure the locals were impressed with our performance of Fallai Luimni. It was a very random but very enjoyable New Years.
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