We thought we were so smart the day before, getting a hotel close to the bus station. However, it turned out that there were 2 bus stations in Potosi, and that the one with buses to Sucre was over half an hour away from our hotel, with a taxi there costing about as much as 25% of getting a taxi straight to Sucre. As bizarre as the idea of getting a 2-hour taxi was, we decided to go for it after having a brief wander around the historical district of Potosi.
What even is this scary face in this courtyard?! (Lovely archway tho)
We encountered the friendliest white tigers ever. They helped old ladies cross the road and everything.
In one spot in the street, a bunch of people stand around yelling the name of the destination they are going to, and you basically just ask a couple of them to make sure the price is consistent and go for it. We went with one lady who quoted us about $10AUD per person for the 2 hour ride (crazy!), and she quickly bundled us into the car of an accomplice. Apparently the trick to doing this is to eye up cars beforehand to see if other passengers are already in it, as cars don’t leave until they’re full. As we got into the taxi, 2 random Bolivians suddenly appeared from nowhere and jumped into the car with us - they must have been waiting until a taxi was just about to leave before they go on. Within about 2 seconds, we were off. This ended up being the most terrifying taxi ride of my life. The driver sped across the highway at about 120km an hour, which would not have been so scary if the highway wasn’t perched on cliffs and sides of mountains the whole way. He overtook pretty much everyone else on the road, overtaking via the other lane even when the markings on the road clearly indicated that overtaking wasn’t allowed. Speaking to others who had done the same trip later in Sucre, ours was not a unique experience. I guess the only thing that can now be said is that we did not fall off a cliff and die.
We arrived in Sucre right on time for our Airbnb check in, where a smiling Bolivian man was waiting for us on the street (which confusingly was not on any of our map aps) outside the apartment. This was to be our home for the next fortnight, and what a home it was. Apart from the hot water situation being a bit crazy (turned out the heater was broken, and the hosts showed up and fixed it promptly), it was awesome. It was a 2 bedroom apartment in which the kitchen and living area was supposed to be shared with the guests in the other bedroom, but apart from our first and last nights, no one else was staying in the other room so we had a huge apartment all to ourselves. It cost about a third of our rent in Sydney (and was probably on the expensive side for Bolivia!)
Our nice bedroom. Not shown: the walk-in closet and ensuite
Jeremy cooked up some epic breakfasts in this huuuuuge kitchen. For some reason, the decor heavily featured apricots
Lovely (but freezing) living and dining area which we hardly used because we mostly just hung out in the sunny kitchen
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