It was hard to leave Tupiza, but we had to go on. After 4 days of hard cycling we arrived in Potosi. Potosi once was the most important city in the world (even more important than Rome and Paris) because there was a huge amount of silver in the mountains surrounding it.

Now there’s not much left of all that silver, but the mines are still working mines. Other minerals are being extracted now. You can do a tour through the mines, but we chose not to do it. We heard and read some stories on the terrible circumstances under which the men work there. They haven’t changed much since the start of the mines. Because of the toxic air in the tunnels, they develop lung problems after a few years. Apparently the men and boys die of lung failure within 15 years of starting to work in the mines.

We cycled from Potosi to Sucre in 2 days, 165 km (100 miles). The first day was great, almost everything was downhill and we had a stormy wind as tailwind. That was great cycling for a change and we were able to do a lot of kms!

When we got to about 15 kms (9 miles) before Sucre, we thought we were almost there. But then we saw a lot of parked busses, cars and trucks in front of us and there were many people standing on the hills. Bolivia is notorious for its roadblocks which are put up here by protestors (for example miners) to get what they want (for example better working conditions). Just days before we entered Bolivia there had been massive roadblocks which lasted for days and blocked all the major cities from the outside world. Usually they let cyclists pass, but you never know.

When we got closer we saw many food stalls and many people getting food from them. The road was indeed blocked and the police were there to guard it. They wouldn’t let us through and we didn’t understand why so we assumed it was a roadblock. It had something to do with cars and it could last up to 1,5 or 2 hours.
So we sat down, in the burning hot sun. After a while a car came speeding towards the crowd and it didn’t look like it was going to stop. We actually thought it was going to hit the crowd, when it turned right al of a sudden, onto the gravel. And then we got it; it was a car rally! There were more cars coming and after about 1,5 hours it was over and we could continue to Sucre in between the busy traffic and dirty exhaust fumes from the cars.

Just like in The Netherlands, the Bolivian government isn’t seated in the country’s capital. The government is seated in La Paz (like The Hague in The Netherlands), but the country’s capital is Sucre (like Amsterdam in The Netherlands).

Sucre is a very beautiful and nice city. Many beautiful (white) buildings and churches and pretty streets. The market is great, we’ve never seen so many fruits and vegetables of such good quality. It’s fruit- and veggie-heaven! There even is a supermarket over here, the first one we’ve seen in over a month. But it’s much nicer (and cheaper) to go to the market.

After a few days of relaxing and not doing much in Sucre, it’s time to go on. Tomorrow we head further north, to Cochabamba (6 days of cycling) and then continue to La Paz. When we get there, we’re very close to the border of Peru.