Some people say the best way to get to know someone is by traveling with them. I disagree. The best way to get to know someone is through a shared experience of poo sample collection. That’s right! I said poo collection. I have been blessed with some form of unenjoyable intestinal issues. Due to my feeling like I needed to faint constantly and always needing to vomit we decided to skip Potosi and to head straight for lower elevation earlier than planned. What did we miss in Potosi? Well, Potosi is famous for the Cerro Rico. It is the mountain that provided the Spanish with the majority of the silver they took from South America. The mountain has a sad history of slave labor, poor conditions, and unfortunately a huge number of deaths. Now tourists can walk/crawl through the mines with the current miners, learn of the sad history of the mountain, and see the horrible conditions that still remain for the workers. It is suggested that tourists tip the miners with either coca leaves, cigarettes, or TNT (seriously). I would have loved to seen this and to have asked the miners a ton of questions, but alas sometimes our bodies limit us and I could not physically go. I had hoped Nico could go without me, but I was too sick to make it to the hospital alone and he needed to escort me.
We got to the hospital and paid roughly two USD to see a doctor. While we waited to go into the office, I looked around at the people waiting and the conditions of the building itself. The ceiling was crumbling and the peeling sign for radiology was only a simple printed picture of a deformed chest cavity. The scene made me think about something I learned when I first left the US as a kid, the world isn’t a fair place. My parents always did a great job of being fair with my brothers and me. I always knew that if I accidently broke one of my friend’s toys, that my parents would make sure to replace it. If something was unjust and within my parents’ power to fix, they would. The reality of the world is not as balanced as the safe bubble I grew up in. This hospital was a perfect example of that. As a toddler I never saw the inside of a building in such poor condition and most likely my children will never either. I will probably never be a millionaire, but with a high degree of confidence I can say that my children will have a good education and strong medical care. This is not because they will be innately more worthy of such things, but simply because they lucked out to be born into a comfortable situation. Moments like this make me thankful and at the same time wish that there was more educational equality throughout our world.
Anyway, the doctor felt my blood pressure was way too low and that my heart was working too hard to pump blood throughout my body. She recommended that we head for lower ground and prescribed pills for my vomiting. While at the pharmacy I proceeded to ask Nico the same three questions several times and it was then that we realized my brain wasn’t getting enough blood because I wasn’t able to remember things he just said. To say the least the whole experience was scary and one I would not like to repeat. To make things more difficult, the following day, which was the day we had planned to leave for Sucre, was an election day and thus there was not going to be any transit. So we ate the money for the hotel in Potosi and jumped on a bus which of course took several hours longer than it was supposed to.
Once in Sucre it became obvious that our planned two days weren’t going to be long enough for me to recover, so we ended up staying for a week. During that week we were only able to do one day of tourism and the rest of the time was divided between our hostel The Celtic Cross, a vegetarian restaurant The Condor, and the hospital. We had to go to the hospital every morning to turn in stool samples. Nico even offered to deliver the samples on his daily runs. That was a thoughtful offer, but I didn’t really want him running through the streets with my fecal matter in hand and thus I declined.
Sucre is the constitutional capital of Bolivia while La Paz is the actual seat of the government. During the time of the Spanish, Sucre was the wealthy resort town which provided the Spanish a retreat from the grunge and altitude of Potosi. Thus, lots of money was dumped into the aesthetic appeal of the city and is why today Sucre’s white washed old town is a shining jewel amongst the brick cities of Bolivia. The main plaza is extensive and filled with greenery and towering palm trees. It was so refreshing to be in such a nice city and we were not surprised to see lots of foreigners in filling the city’s cafes. If you plan on doing an internship or studying Spanish in Bolivia, I recommend you choose Sucre as your home base.
During a tour of the Casa de la Libertad, the tour guide explained how many countries in South America (before becoming countries) were once united against the Spanish. This is why they share many of the same liberators such as Simón Bolívar, San Martín, Antonio José de Sucre, Manuel Belgrano, etc. She also said that many people believe that Sucre is where the first call for the independence of the South American colonies from the Spanish was made in 1809. Other than visiting the Casa de la Libertad, we checked out the lookout over the city, ate at the central market, and visited the Parque Cretácico to see one of the world’s largest collections of dinosaur footprints (over 5,000 prints).
If you want to relax in Bolivia, Sucre is going to be your best bet.
We got to the hospital and paid roughly two USD to see a doctor. While we waited to go into the office, I looked around at the people waiting and the conditions of the building itself. The ceiling was crumbling and the peeling sign for radiology was only a simple printed picture of a deformed chest cavity. The scene made me think about something I learned when I first left the US as a kid, the world isn’t a fair place. My parents always did a great job of being fair with my brothers and me. I always knew that if I accidently broke one of my friend’s toys, that my parents would make sure to replace it. If something was unjust and within my parents’ power to fix, they would. The reality of the world is not as balanced as the safe bubble I grew up in. This hospital was a perfect example of that. As a toddler I never saw the inside of a building in such poor condition and most likely my children will never either. I will probably never be a millionaire, but with a high degree of confidence I can say that my children will have a good education and strong medical care. This is not because they will be innately more worthy of such things, but simply because they lucked out to be born into a comfortable situation. Moments like this make me thankful and at the same time wish that there was more educational equality throughout our world.
Anyway, the doctor felt my blood pressure was way too low and that my heart was working too hard to pump blood throughout my body. She recommended that we head for lower ground and prescribed pills for my vomiting. While at the pharmacy I proceeded to ask Nico the same three questions several times and it was then that we realized my brain wasn’t getting enough blood because I wasn’t able to remember things he just said. To say the least the whole experience was scary and one I would not like to repeat. To make things more difficult, the following day, which was the day we had planned to leave for Sucre, was an election day and thus there was not going to be any transit. So we ate the money for the hotel in Potosi and jumped on a bus which of course took several hours longer than it was supposed to.
Once in Sucre it became obvious that our planned two days weren’t going to be long enough for me to recover, so we ended up staying for a week. During that week we were only able to do one day of tourism and the rest of the time was divided between our hostel The Celtic Cross, a vegetarian restaurant The Condor, and the hospital. We had to go to the hospital every morning to turn in stool samples. Nico even offered to deliver the samples on his daily runs. That was a thoughtful offer, but I didn’t really want him running through the streets with my fecal matter in hand and thus I declined.
Sucre is the constitutional capital of Bolivia while La Paz is the actual seat of the government. During the time of the Spanish, Sucre was the wealthy resort town which provided the Spanish a retreat from the grunge and altitude of Potosi. Thus, lots of money was dumped into the aesthetic appeal of the city and is why today Sucre’s white washed old town is a shining jewel amongst the brick cities of Bolivia. The main plaza is extensive and filled with greenery and towering palm trees. It was so refreshing to be in such a nice city and we were not surprised to see lots of foreigners in filling the city’s cafes. If you plan on doing an internship or studying Spanish in Bolivia, I recommend you choose Sucre as your home base.
During a tour of the Casa de la Libertad, the tour guide explained how many countries in South America (before becoming countries) were once united against the Spanish. This is why they share many of the same liberators such as Simón Bolívar, San Martín, Antonio José de Sucre, Manuel Belgrano, etc. She also said that many people believe that Sucre is where the first call for the independence of the South American colonies from the Spanish was made in 1809. Other than visiting the Casa de la Libertad, we checked out the lookout over the city, ate at the central market, and visited the Parque Cretácico to see one of the world’s largest collections of dinosaur footprints (over 5,000 prints).
If you want to relax in Bolivia, Sucre is going to be your best bet.
