Hasta Luego, Sucre (Maybe)

In a few hours, we move on from lovely Sucre, city of many names: the White City (for the colonial buildings always freshly painted), the Capital Plena (a slogan on signs around town, in the wake of conflict with the federal government, declaring its status as the official capital and seat of the judicial branch), Chuquisaca (the Spanish spelling of its original name, and still the name of the state), La Plata (for the silver processed here during the colonial era).

You get the picture.

It´s a stunning town, a pleasant place to stroll around for days or, as we did, weeks. In the mornings, we ate salteñas. In the afternoons, we took four hours of intensive one-on-one Spanish classes. In the evenings, we took in a folkloric dancing show or had a local Potosina beer on the plaza. Each weekend brought a new festival or citywide event: the chocolate festival, independence day, the university´s homecoming parade, the street-racing championship.

We hate to leave. But, at the same time, we´ll feel lucky to get out of here before the roadblocks start up again. In a university town with an independent streak, at a critical point in Bolivia´s political history, there´s always a demonstration. This time, the truckers are protesting taxes. Lucky for us, protesters take the weekends off.

So, if the traffic gods stay with us, we´ll post next from Potosí, the highest city in the world and source of Spain´s colonial wealth.