South by South America Tour – Bolivia Part 16
Wednesday, October 2, 2019
Sucre, Bolivia
Elegant windows in Sucre, Bolivia.
On my last day in Sucre, the staff of the Beehive Hostel was nice enough to let me hang around all day after I checked out to wait for my bus to La Paz at 7:00 pm. I mostly just stayed on my laptop, trying to catch up on my Photoshopping and blog posting duties. At the same time, there was a lot going on at the hostel. I guess you could say it was a beehive of activity! Ha ha ha! Although the electricity in the old mansion had failed a couple of nights before, it had since been mostly restored, so the hostel staff were giving the property owners a look around at the remaining dark rooms. One of the hostel staff members later informed me that the property owners didn’t want to pay to have all of the electrical wiring repaired or replaced. Oy vey!
Sucre is sweet.
At the same time, some backpackers had infested one room with bedbugs, so it had to be quarantined and fumigated by an outside company. Double oy vey! I felt so sorry for the Beehive staff for having to deal with so many trials and tribulations. They are a group of super friendly young women who work really hard to make the Beehive not only a hostel, but a cafe, community center and supporter of local women and children. The Beehive helps local women by offering them training that ends with part-ownership of the business. The Beehive also supports women Spanish language teachers, who give lessons to travelers at the hostel daily. Travelers can also become involved, as some profits derived from daily operations benefit social projects at community centers in Sucre. So, if you ever plan to visit this lovely city, please stay at the Beehive. Not only are their hearts in the right place, they also offer a variety of free, yummy breakfasts with the already rock bottom price of the beds. If all of this doesn’t entice you, I don’t know what will.
A mural at the Beehive Hostel in Sucre, Bolivia.
Around 6:30 pm, I jumped into a funky little taxi cab piloted by a guy with his girlfriend riding shotgun. Straight away, we sat in gridlock traffic for a spell, then wound our way through the maze of streets that is Sucre. After getting dumped out at the Terminal de Buses, I checked in my luggage at the window of Trans Copacabana. A short while later downstairs at the gate, I was amazed to see all of the luggage for our bus get lowered over a railing by a guy brandishing a rope with a hook on the end. Often, people milling about below would almost get hit in the head by descending luggage and cargo. I narrowly escaped getting bonked upside the head myself. That whole scenario was so precariously rigged and sketchy! Although the bus was supposed to leave at 7:30 pm, we didn’t actually depart until 8:20.
A woman unhooks two backpacks that had just been lowered by rope from the second floor at the Terminal de Buses in Sucre, Bolivia.
Straight away, the conductor turned on a movie called Fly Away Home, which “dramatizes the actual experiences of Bill Lishman who, in 1986, started training Canada Geese to follow his ultralight aircraft, and succeeded in leading their migration in 1993 through his program Operation Migration.” Following that was a Disney movie called Homeward Bound, about a group of pets that make a long journey home. Part of the way through that flick, the conductor abruptly turned it off, forcing everyone to try to get some shut eye. Let it be known that on this Trans Copacabana bus, there was no dinner—not even a snack or water—and when I went to the toilet to pee, I was dismayed to find no running water, or (as expected) toilet paper. Luckily, after the bus proceeded through the endless cramped, curving streets of Sucre and up into the mountains outside of town, I was able to fall asleep at a decent hour.
Words and photos ©2019 Arcane Candy.
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