me gusta espanol

we spent nearly two full weeks in sucre, bolivia, took spanish classes and really settled in.  sucre is a beautiful and charming city.  it was the city where bolivia's independence was declared and was the capital until the capital seat was moved to la paz.  although it is bolivia's third largest city it maintains a small town feel.

our backpacking family navigating the streets of sucre on arrival....

we spent the first couple nights at a sweet little hostal in the center of town...

then we moved to a homestay that was arranged by our spanish school.  we stayed in the home of senora cristina but actually had our own little two bedroom apartment.

our home away from home for a couple weeks

the homes here are deceptive as they look like nothing from the outside but then open up into these lovely courtyards filled with trees and flowers (it is winter right now so the vegetation wasn't in full force)

outside our homestay

inside the courtyard

we ate breakfast and lunch prepared by senora cristina everyday.  her brother (an unmarried lawyer) joined us for lunch everyday as this is the big meal of the day in this culture. she cooked typical bolivian food which was pretty good overall. we were on our own for dinner, so sometimes cooked for ourselves and sometimes went out.

we spent 4 hours everyday in spanish class at our spanish school called 'me gusta spanish school'. todd and i had class together with a teacher and the kids were in a class together as well.  it was very intensive and we feel we now have a good foundation of spanish to continue on our travels.

becky and elder were the kids teachers

our teacher carolina

our classroom

there were a few school organized activities. our favorite of which was wallyball, which was volleyball played in a court such that you can use the walls. it was pretty fun. we played twice during our time in sucre.

in our free time we explored sucre.  it is known as bolivia's white city and most buildings are a stunning spanish colonial white.

we of course saw many a church with elaborate altars.  todd and i tried our best to give the kids a crash course in catholicism but we are woefully a poor source on this subject.

a painting of the virgen de guadalupe that was covered in gold, silver and gems....apparently she is worth millions

every street corner has a juice cart. for less than a dollar a nice lady will squeeze you a cup of fresh orange juice. lucy was a big fan of the juice cart!

this is one of my favorite quirky things about sucre.  the government pays people to dress up as zebras and stand at intersection dancing and waving to encourage the traffic to obey the traffic lights (like actually stop at the red light).  the zebras are super friendly and would high five the kids as we crossed the streets.

that about sums up the past couple weeks for us and though we have had a wonderful time here in sucre we must move on.  we are leaving tomorrow to go back to la paz.  from there we fly to the outskirts of the amazon and start our weeklong jungle tour!
hasta luego!

southern bolivia

we survived an overnight bus from la paz to uyuni in southern bolivia. actually lucy was the only one who slept well as she was small enough to stretch out across two seats.
we had reserved a tour of southern bolivia but had a day in the small town of uyuni to relax and catch up on sleep (plus riley desperately wanted to be able to watch the US vs ecuador game in the copa america cup!) even this small town had a park and a crazy slide!

todd also made me promise to include these metal sculptures from the town center (the kids and i thought they were freaky but todd loved them....beauty is clearly in the eye of the beholder!)

the next morning we took off on the 3 day 2 night tour of southern bolivia.  the first stop was at the train cemetery.....these locomotives date back to the 18th century.  the trains came but not the parts or the mechanics to fix them....so as they died they got pushed out into the desert.

the big highlight of the southern bolivia circuit is the salt flats.  before we got to the flats themselves we stopped at a salt 'factory' where they process the salt for sale.

Luis (our guide/driver) in front of a pile of salt

the salt flats are this vast otherworldly place.  the flats themselves are huge....over 4500 sq miles.  it is blue sky and white ground as far as the eye can see (with some mountains just visible in the distance).  a very unique place that attracts many many visitors from all over the world.

the endless white allows for an altered perspective that makes photos really really fun. we spent a couple hours taking these fun pics!

the last stop the first day was to the isla inchahuasi (which is also called 'fish island').  it is literally an island in a sea of salt, but is covered with cacti, some are over 1000yrs old.

sunset over the salt flats...

the first night we slept in a salt hotel. the walls, beds, tables and chairs were made from blocks of salt. even the floor was salt!!

the second day of the tour found us driving through the area of southern bolivia called los lopez. it is spectacular in its own way, though maybe not as dramatic as the salt flats.  this is high desert. we were mostly at about 14,000ft the entire time but there is no snow, no moisture, it is dry dry dry (and super cold!)

crazy rock formations.....

tree rock

cobra eating the kids

this is a plant that we were told evolved from coral (as this area used to be under water)...it looks very dr. suessy

occasionally we would come across lagoons with flamingos no less! it was winter so there were only a few, but apparently during the summer there are thousands.

it was so remote.....just our vehicle winding through the volcanos in this high altitude desert.

the last stop on the second day was in the crater of a volcano called sol de manana. this was at a whopping 16,000 ft. we were able to walk among the bubbling mud pots and steam (couldn't do this in yellowstone!)

the second night our accommodation was right next to a hot springs.  this is what it looks like in the day but we enjoyed it under a full moon the night before.....so delightful!

the last day included this area called 'rocas del dali' because the rocks look like a salvador dali painting

the most southern stop on the tour was at this volcano which apparently touches bolivia, chile and argentina.

we were so pleased with this tour and the chance to see a really unique and beautiful part of bolivia.  lots of time in a car but well worth it!!

the next stop is the city of sucre where we will go to spanish school for a couple weeks!! hasta luego!