We eventually made it to Sucre and were met by the local operator who gave us a huge selection of activities to do over the next 2 days. We had lunch-dinner at a small restaurant around the corner with Gui, Vicky, Fran and Sandy, a 3 course set menu for 30 Bolivianos ($4.00) and the food was very good.11th Today we set off on a walk to see some rock paintings and an Inca trail. We set off with Gui, Vicky and our guide in a mini bus to the start of the hike a couple of Km outside Sucre. We drove through a large agricultural market that is held once a year over a week. There were donkeys, cattle, llamas and other live stock everywhere. It was very colourful and interesting. We also had to stop at a police checkpoint where they have a piece of rope strung across the road to stop at. When the toll has been paid they lower the rope for the trucks and cars to pass. The hike itself was tough as we were hiking at altitude of over 3,000m.
We walked down to the first of the rock paintings where there was a man in traditional dress waiting to let us in as they have been fenced off.
We then had to walk back up which was the hard part, and down again to the second larger rock paintings. 
The next part of the hike was a long walk back to the van where we took a short ride to the start of the Inca trail. 
This was a steep down hill walk which took its toll on David's knees. All up the walks took around 6-7hrs. On the way back into town we passed some dinosaur foot prints so the driver stopped for us to take some pictures. We finished the day very tired but happy.12th Today was our big mountain biking day. Asher, Charles, Gui, Vicky, David and Catriona all headed off to the tour place at 9.15 to be fitted out with our bikes, helmets and gloves. Freddy, the guide headed off and we followed him through the busy traffic filled streets of Sucre. I (Cat) had trouble keeping up, as did Charles. We eventually caught up as we headed out of the city centre. Gui and Vicky where no where to be seen but they had our guide from the previous day with them. We headed in the same direction as our trip the previous day had taken us, out past the airport up hill and past the markets. I had trouble with my bike being too big as it had an extension on the post for the handle bars. Luckily for me Asher swapped bikes with me and I was able to ride a little better.
Just after the markets we took a left turn and were out into the country side. We stopped at an excellent viewpoint for lunch,
then it was off again on the trail heading back into town past many farms etc. We passed a boy and girl in school uniform in the middle of nowhere so David stopped and gave them both a pencil with Koalas and Kangaroos on them. We had problems with our bikes with gears slipping etc for most of the ride On the way home Ashers chain broke and Freddy did not have a chain breaker with him, so he swapped bikes with Asher and coasted down hills and David pushed him along the flats an small uphills until we reached the outskirts of Sucre where he was able to borrow a pair of pliers to fix the chain. It was a slow uphill ride back to the shop where we arrived exhausted..
We found out later that the guy with Gui and Vicky had no idea where he was going and they ended up at the police check point before turning back. They ended up just riding back the same way they had come. Vicky's chain had also broken on the ride and their ¨guide¨ also didn't have a chain breaker so they had to push the bike back. A complete disappointment for them. We arrived back at around 2.30pm so we had time to explore the city. We stopped by the Cathedral, the Library and also the local produce markets. The fruit and vegetable displays were extremely colourful. 
Ended the day an early dinner and then the night bus ride to Cochabamba.
1 comment:
Great photo of the fruit & veg stand! could be in a magazine!!
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