Me Gusta Espanol

January 9th, Sucre Bolivia

Woke up this morning really excited and happy because:

a. We were going to Sucre

b. We were taking a 45 minute flight versus a 12 hour bus

c. We were leaving La Paz - great city but too chaotic, and I was ready to go to lower altitudes because I was always out of breath

The flight was much more than the cost of a bus, in fact the taxi to La Paz airport cost more than the bus, but it was so worth it to travel in comfort! We got out at the tiny Sucre airport bathed in sunshine and 19*C. I'm yet to find out the reason, but there are dinosaurs everywhere! Huge statues in the airport, parks, even our cab driver's gear was a dinosaur head!

We pre decided to stop and chill at Sucre for 2 weeks and checked into hostel 7 Patas. As soon as we got here we saw a big group of people chilling in the patio and started chatting. Very quickly we made friends with 2 Brit boys and their traveling companion from Iceland. 

Bernie and I have decided to take Spanish lessons in these 2 weeks and it looks like that's what most people are doing in Sucre. It's just such a lovely peaceful pretty town that if you're coming from La Paz or from Chile, you get here and realise you need a break from mad big city life. So most people here have been here/intend to stay here for a minimum of 2 weeks, most have already been here a month or more.

After a lovely meal at a restaurant called Joyride, the 5 of us headed out to Me Gusta Espanol, the Spanish classes that got extremely high reviews on Tripadvisor (once again, thanks Tripadvisor). The Brits are really hilarious and I can't stop laughing at their stories and jokes. They also have been traveling for 2 months now and speak little to no Spanish, so we joked that maybe we'd all be in the "idiota class".

At Me Gusta, we met the owner who explained how it works (4 hours a day, 5 days a week with lots of fun activities such as movie night, cooking night etc, and lots of conversational practice), he then gave us our entrance test to see what level of Spanish we were at. It was actually really fun, but as expected, the "quatro idiotias" are in beginner class together, the Iceland boy was a bit more advanced so is in another group. I have to wonder if we'll actually learn anything because my group is full of loonies, but I'm excited. I mean, we've actually voluntarily signed up to go back to school with homework and everything!!!  

After signing up for Spanish School, the 5 of us walked to the local market to buy a random range of things for the boys who have all 3 been robbed of a lot of stuff at some stage of their travels. The roads in Sucre, much like La Paz, are amazing. They have entire roads of lawyers, shoes, clothes, jewellery, photocopying, even libraries! And I mean shops and shops selling identical wares on the same street, it's crazy yet very efficient if you think about it. You need a power tool, go to the power tool street, need a carpet? It's on carpet street next to power tools street!

We spent all afternoon walking around the market area and through the 'Witches Market' which sold all sorts of herbal looking remedies, and boxed up 'portions' to help any solve sexual issues, alongside dead llama and bat carcuses. I mean there weren't any shamans with pointy hats stirring a smokey brew, more mainstream witches I guess! There weren't too many of them, and all had identical stalls so it was a bit disappointing.

We also bought notebooks for our school tomorrow!

Back at the hostel, we sat at the patio and the boys began drinking beer. Random people from the hostel joined to chat, it's good fun hearing about everyone's experiences. I wasn't drinking after my exciting night out in La Paz, so after a dinner of a chicken+beef+pork roll from the local 'pollo' joint, I am up in the room chilling now, very tired. I hear the boys having a blast downstairs, I left them as they bought a new bottle of whiskey from the local shop and have been passing it around swigging from the bottle. Classy Englishmen!

We considered renting a flat and staying here longer, but let's see what happens after day 1 of school!

Hasta luego!