Visiting the white city of Sucre

The whitewashed Casa de la Libertad, where Bolivia’s Declaration of Independence was signed on August 6 of 1825, after 14 years of fighting for independence. From that point of view, Bolivia was the last Spanish imperial territory in South America to gain its independence.

Sucre’s nickname is “La Ciudad Blanca”, which means the white city, because many of the colonial style houses and structures are painted white. Downtown is very well-preserved with buildings from the 18th and 19th century (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucre). Also the city is really clean, and here it is the ladies, that get the job done. Check out their female uniform.

We enjoyed a snack and fresh squeezed grapefruit juice on Plaza 25 de Mayo, before we went to the local market “Mercado Central”

The colorful Mercado Central stand in big contrast to the white building. The market is divided into different sections…

1. visiting the fruit section

2. the vegetable section

3. the meat section

4. The chicken and egg section

5. the restaurant section. This is where we bought our first salteña, and its not gonna be the last

Salteñas are savory pastries filled with beef, pork or chicken mixed in a sweet, slightly spicy sauce containing olives, eggs and potatoes. The history of the Salteñas: during the early 19th century, Juana Manuela Gorriti was the first person to create the current version of this product. Gorriti was born in Salta, Argentina and was exiled to Potosí, Bolivia during the Juan Manuel de Rosas dictatorship in Argentina. The Gorriti family endured extreme poverty, and they came up with the recipe in the early 19th century in order to make a living. The product was nicknamed “salteña”, and became very popular. Kids would say: “Ve y recoge una empanada de la salteña” (“go and pick up an empanada from the woman from Salta”). In time the original name disappeared, but kept the nickname “salteña”. Eventually the salteñas left the Potosí and became a Bolivian tradition (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salte%C3%B1a).

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p align=”center”>It was time to go back to Lance

Glad that it was a lot easier to find our way back to Lance, than figuring out the system of electrical wires. While we were in Sucre, we were camping in a small campground near downtown. It was more camping in a backyard, that that room for about 4 overlander vehicles. Then our French family, who we have met in Bonito in Brazil showed up.

No matter now they tried it just couldn’t fit through the gate. For us it was time to leave Sucre and go 68-65 million years back in time to walk in the footprints of the Dinosaurs. Leaving Sucre… need a new tire or to get a flat one fixed? These small tire stores are everywhere. No flat tires yet here in Bolivia .

We are on our way… dinosaur footprints here we come!