Giving a third chance to Sucre – white city of the America

I remember very well the days when I was planning my South American trip in January 2012.  After visiting Argentina and Chile, Bolivia is on to-do list. I asked a few friends and checked online the best places to visit there and Sucre was mentioned too.

I was planning to stay in Sucre just for a couple of days, let’s say 2 days in the town and then doing trekking to Maragua crater to see all the dinosaur tracks (how awesome would that be?!)

But my third day during Uyuni Salt Flat trip I got sick and then just spent more than a week in bed, coughing, with strong sinusitis, fever and not being able to breathe nor speak properly. And just everything was going wrong, you know those days. So as I was sick and couldn’t go trekking, I wanted to stay in Sucre for 2 days only. But then, the destiny wanted it differently and I was ”forced” to stay in Sucre for a week.

I didn’t know much about Sucre before my visit apart from the fact that it is the constitutional capital of Bolivia and that the so called ”white city of the America’‘ was declared UNESCO World Heritage site in 1991.

Sucre – white city of the America

Being sick is one of the worst things that can ever happen to you when traveling and getting ear, throat and nose infection and almost not being able to breathe at all was definitely the worst sickness in the high altitude of the Andes. I thought my head was going to explode, literally. Destinations in the mountains and airplanes were not the right places to be for me. But if you’ve never experiences sinusitis, you don’t know.

It was a tough week in Sucre not only because of my sinusitis that has been destoying my life since I was a kid, but there was also that stupid platonic love. I bet you think that the crazy sexy fun traveler just doesn’t give a damn about guys! But I am still a human being with feelings so (un)fortunately I still do … sometimes!

At least I got friends there who helped me with my stay. Yes, new friends! I could spend a few hours talking to them, trying to think positively and the rest working.

Sometimes bad days like those really teach us heaps! And my week in Sucre was the best example.

In the end it turned out to be a fun adventure and a great experience.

I wanted to leave Sucre after 3 days of fighting against my sinus infection and not doing much else, but believe me or not, my bus to Santa Cruz was cancelled and I only found out about it once I took a taxi to the bus station with my heavy backpack.

”The bus driver simply refused to come to work today” the ticket seller years younger than me told me with a smile.

”Pero no te preocupes, mañana seguro no habrá ningún problema con tu bus.” he added.

It was the last bus of the day so I had to rebook the ticket to the following day, take another taxi and get back to my hostel. After banging on the door for a long bit, my friend opened and just laughed at the story.

Now I had one more day to see more of Sucre apart from the main square and my favorite market Mercado Central. But still, my best shape looked far different, so only walked for an hour or so around the town.

I packed my things again, said goodbye and sat into an old taxi listening to the words of my friend ”you will be back again, you will see!” followed by a laugh when he hugged me and closed the door behind me.

I came to the bus station with a bad feeling. There was no one waiting at the platform where my bus was supposed to leave from in just 30 minutes. Sweating with a big backpack on my back, I took steps up to the ticket desk. There was no one either! I walked back down to the platform and back up again. I had enough.

After 10 minutes the same ticket seller came and just stared at me like frozen. I knew exactly what it meant. No bus again. I was furious and started shouting at him in Spanish. He gave me back my money, even the price of one taxi ride too, said ”Lo siento” and that was it.

The same story from the previous day just happened AGAIN! This time it took me much longer to get into the hostel. Just when I already wanted to sit down at the street and wait for someone to come, a person staying in the hostel heard me and opened. Both the owner and my friend were not there, but thankfully the keys to my room were where I left them.

I jumped on the bed still with the backpack on and just could not believe it! That minute I hated Sucre. That day I hated Sucre. To be honest, the last 4 days I hated it!

”The morning is wiser than the evening” someone once said so I decided to take the advice to heart. I watched one of my favorite movies and took a long sleep.

The following morning I realised it was all meant to be. I changed my Santa Cruz plans, and I was happy to give third chance to Sucre. Yes, my intention to leave the town twice did not work out and this time I stayed for 3 more days which I fully dedicated to exploring.

a chocolate heart

I have to admit, I even started to like Sucre as a town because its people I did love already during my ”first” days there. When I was finally leaving Sucre, on the bus to Cochabamba I did have mixed feelings. Sadness crossed my mind too. But I was happy the destiny gave me a third chance. I gave a third chance to Sucre. If it hadn’t happened, I would have left Sucre and never come back in my life. Now I can proudly say I would return any time. And not just because of my favorite always smiling vegetable lady at the market or the imposant white buildings all around Sucre – white city of the America. My last minutes in Sucre I treated myself to a not very cheap chocolate heart. I think it says it all.

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Posted in Bolivia, budget travel, changes, personal, South America, travel Tags: Bolivia, Sucre