Tupiza
We program a last site to visit which is definitely closed, so we make a last tour of town.
Leaving the hotel, the director announces that there are still blockages in the city: it is impossible to enter the city center!! .... Indeed the streets belong to pedestrians.
We immediately call Jack who should pick us up around 12:00... For him no problem he will call us as soon as he arrives on the outskirts of the city.
A long wait begins ... More than 2 hours ... Jack managed to penetrate the top of the city but we must reach him ... It takes us 45 minutes to find him and it’s a difficult challenge ... The city being built on hillsides the streets are very very steep and we hardly can breathe.
Happy reunion with Jack and his entire family.
We arrive at nightfall and are delighted to find our camper.
Potosi
We return to Potosi by taxi, but this time the driver is calmer than his colleague.
After a 2.5 hour drive, we set up at the hotel and look for a restaurant for lunch. It is Sunday and Potosi is a dead city ... Everything is closed and there are few restaurants open.
We find our happiness in a small alley and after lunch we head to the last site to visit.
* Convento Santa Teresa : Built in 1692, it has since been inhabited by a Carmelite order. Today only a dozen sisters still live there. It was common at the time of its construction to see girls aged 15 or 16, coming from good families, paying impressive dowries to enter and never leave. Thanks to this wealth, the Odre could appeal to the best painters of the region, hence the incredible collection of sacred art that adorns the entire convent
It is one of the most beautiful convents we have visited since we wtarted our tour. We came away dazzled.
For dinner we ask at the reception the address of a restaurant open in the evening to avoid us to walk endlessly in the cold
Tupiza
We spend our days at a slow pace while waiting for our package.
* site update
* sorting of photos and films
* film editing
Then we decide to visit Potosi and Sucre without the camping car by staying at the hotel and travelling by taxi.
Sucre
We ordered a taxi for the early afternoon to go to Sucre.
In the meantime we visit the Iglesia y museo Del Convento de San Francisco :
Built in 1726, it stands on the site of a church built in 1552. The cloister contains gigantic paintings by Melchor Pérez de Holguín and a small museum of sacred art. We also visit small catacombs and the visit ends with the climb on the roofs of the church that offer the most beautiful view of the imperial city.
We are entitled to a guided tour for ourselves, having no other visitors.
We return to the hotel and request an early departure.
The exit of the city is perilous ... the city is blocked by demonstrations and the taxi must take a dual route ... Barely movable stone path ... the detour takes more than an hour.
We got a driver who was "crazy"... driving at high speed over 120 km/h on a good but winding road ...
We spend most of the trip clinging to the doors while being tossed from left to right ... We travel 153 km in 2 hours 30 ...Arriving with a headache and a bearded stomach ...
We settle down at the hotel before taking a short tour of the city.
We stay 3 days full which allows us to take our time and enjoy this nice city.
Sucre, the white Sucre; constitutional capital of the country, seat of legal power, symbol of independence in 1825, is nestled in a green hills. Originally it was intended for the Spanish bourgeoisie and built as a city in the south of Spain with these patios and small cobbled streets.
The city was founded on September 29th 1538 by Pedro de Anzures, captain of Francisco Pizarro, under the name of Ciudad de la Plata de la Nueva Toledo (Silver City of New Toledo).
It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998.
* Catedral: Built from 1551 to 1650. This extended duration explains the mixture of several styles: Renaissance, Baroque and Métis. White, like many buildings in Sucre, it has a tower decorated with images of apostles. Inside, the Cathedral Museum has a magnificent collection of Sacred Art from the 16th and 17th centuries.
* Casa de libertad: Formerly a Jesuit monastery, today it is a university.
The declaration of independence was signed on 6th August 1825 within these walls, steeped in symbols. It is the symbolic heart of the Bolivian nation. The museum section contains numerous documents, portraits, works of art and various objects related to independence. Among the remarkable works, the bust of Simon Bolivar, liberator of Bolivia in 1825, in carved wood.
* Plaza del 25 de mayo: Main square of Sucre, its name refers to the date of commemoration of the independence movement of 25th May 1809. In the centre stands the statue of the Venezuelan Antonio José de Sucre, comrade in arms of Bolivia and second president of Bolivia.
* Convento de la Recoleta: Overlooking the city from the hills, the beautiful garden of the Franciscan convent is dotted with orange trees. The huge cedar tree that sits in the center would be over 1400 years old and 8 people are needed to tour it. The convent’s interior houses a large collection of anonymous religious paintings and sculptures, wooden crucifixes, and manuscripts of language and philosophy. In the church, the choir is decorated with beautiful sculptures and the carved wooden pulpit. Too bad that the visit was made at a race.
* Convento San Felipe Nery: It was originally a monastery and convent, and now it’s a school. What makes San Felipe famous is the view from the roof. The tiles and mosaics, undulating in shape, offer a breathtaking walk above the roofs of Sucre. From the top of the immaculate white bell tower, we understand better than ever why Sucre was baptized the White City.
* Santa Clara Convent: The Monastery of Franciscan Nuns of Santa Clara was founded in 1636; a neoclassical religious complex with a beautiful cloister.
The church built in the 17th century has retained its original organ, the largest of the colonial period.
* Little anecdote: the visit of this convent is obligatory with a guide. This one being busy, an elderly sister begins the tour ... But she has memory loss, which means that each painting she looks at she needs to lean forward to remember the theme ... Then we assume that she describes them to us in an unknown language ... Fortunately, the official guide has arrived to help us out of this dead end.
As already encountered in other cities or countries, museums, churches or other sites close from 12 pm to 3 pm ... or are closed without any explanation. Also it is difficult to organize tours and tour guides are often off topic.
Being at the hotel we have to eat at the restaurant every day for lunch and dinner. We don’t always feel like it, or not feeling too hungry ... And finding a good restaurant with a good menu is not easy.
It makes a change with our lifestyle in our motorhome!!!
Potosi
We reach Potosi by road with Jack, our driver from South Lipez.
This is an opportunity to meet his young wife and his two-month-old daughter. They accompany us to avoid him being alone for the return trip.
The distance is 250 km and it takes about 4 hours. The road is good quality but very winding.
When we arrive, the city is crowded ... it’s the exit of schools.
After our installation at the hotel we have lunch on site before starting our visit.
At an altitude of more than 4,000m and at the foot of reddish mountains, its history is linked to that of silver, the metal that caused the demographic and economic boom of the city for three centuries, as well as its decline and the poverty that followed when it became scarcer.
The richness of the underground earned him the nickname «imperial city». It is the symbol of the New World and the golden age of the Spanish conquest, but also the symbol of slavery.
Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, this city risks losing this distinction following its policy of renovating colonial buildings.
* La casa national de la moneda: It is one of the most beautiful colonial buildings and museum on the continent and the largest 12,500m². Built between 1753 and 1773 to house the currency issuing centre of that time, called the ‘potosi’. Today, it is a huge museum with countless pieces of collection, religious paintings from the Potosi school, decorative art, colonial furniture and sculptures.
* La catedral : Neoclassical building built from 1808 in stone and brick. It was on the foundations of an old church built in 1564 and which collapsed in 1807 that the cathedral was built by Brother Manuel of Sanahuja. Superb view of the city from one of the two towers.
* Plaza 10 Noviembre: It bears witness to this period of opulence and splendour. It is surrounded by important buildings, including the Cathedral, the Old Mint and the Cabildo (municipal parliament).
We walk through the colourful pedestrian streets.
Quiet evening after dinner at the restaurant ... The night temperatures are negative but our room is well heated.
ROAD BOOK 157
MAVROS ODYSSEE