Back in Sucre, I signed up for a few weeks of Spanish classes. While I have enough Spanish to get around (order in restaurants, buy bus tickets etc.), it has been far too easy when staying in hostels and travelling with other backpackers to speak English most of the the time. I decided to go for the full Spanish immersion experience by opting for one-on-one classes and by choosing to stay with a Bolivian family. So I moved in with the Hurtado Canseco family - Antonio, Jassel, their three daughters aged 12 to 17 and Toto the dog.
After four months of not needing to know what day of the week it was, I suddenly had some sense of normality (I have my own room where I fully unpacked my rucksack for the first time) and a schedule: breakfast at 7:45am with my bean an ti and some "playing" with Toto; school from 8:15am to 12:15pm; back home for dinner with the whole family; then off to the library to do my homework.
After a studious week (albeit one that included a couple of nights out and a game of poker), I needed a break from the books on the weekend so I went on a two-day trek in the mountains surrounding Sucre. We (two Americans, two Australians, and one English girl) camped in the beautiful Maragua Crater and hiked through some lush and remote areas.
To get back to Sucre we took the local transport, i.e. an open-top cattle truck jammed with people of all ages carrying all sorts of bundles. The experience of standing for three hours while bumping up and down on steep dirt roads in a truck while being pinned in on all sides by people (including the old man who was sitting on my feet) is one I won´t forget.
Looks like a great hike Keiran, nice photo of house and rainbow too.
ReplyDeleteWe are off to Oruro on Friday so maybe we´ll see you around there (amingst the other 500,00 people??)?
Best,
BK