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The South American Odyssey
  • The Craze for Travelling
  • The Craze for Travelling

The South American Odyssey

A 147-day adventure by The Craze for Travelling Read more
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  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    The steep road up to Recoleta
    The church at the Recoleta Square

    Sucre Recoleta Square

    October 5, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    The road outside the hostal was a steep climb up to the Recoleta square. Its a beautiful square with a very typical Spanish feel. There were kids playing football in the square. People were sitting around enjoying the views. It was bright and sunny and 28C but the breeze was quite cool making it much easier to walk around.Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    2Market path through a narrow street
    Our lunch menuPeanut soup with pasta2The main course with eggs, rice and salad2The sweet jelly

    Fantastic local lunch

    October 5, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    From the Recoleta, we found a narrow path with street markets and ended up at a nice local area where they had a few restaurants for the locals. We went in and had an awesome meal. It was a 3 course meal of soup, main dish and dessert all for 30 b$ (for the 2 of us). The vegetarian courses included peanut soup with pasta as the 1st course, rice eggs and salad as the main meal and a jelly as the dessert.Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    Santa Teresa Alley
    Santa Teresa Church2The rotating window in the church courtyard

    Santa Teresa Alley

    October 5, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ 🌙 11 °C

    This is one of the most traditional places in the town, full of legends dating back to the middle colonial period. These legends have persisted with the passing of the years and even now, the locals used to bury bones of cows to ward off evil spirits that still pass through the place.
    We tried to enter the place but were told by a local lady that it was an active cloister for nuns and men are not allowed inside. Even the women don't interact with them. The only way to have your prayers said is to use the rotating window in the corner of the courtyard where you can talk to the nuns without seeing them. You tell them what you want to pray for and put the money envelope on the rotating window for them to take. This she proceeded to demonstrate as she was there to ask for a prayer.
    All the above discussion happened in Spanish so we might have got some things wrong but we actually did see everything we were told so most probably we did get it right.    Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    2

    Plasa 25 de Mayo

    October 5, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ 🌙 11 °C

    During the evening we spent some time at the Plaza 25 de Mayo, the main square. We also shopped around to check the different packages and prices for the tours to the Salar de Uyuni. We also visited the Biz Car Rentals to check out the self drive option. At the main square, we also tried a sweet savory. We couldn't get the name or what it was made of. But it was goooood 😁Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling

    Plaza 25 de Mayo by night

    October 5, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    The main square was well lit in the night with all the lovely buildings around beautifully highlighted. There were many locals sitting around chatting and enjoying the evening. After having a vegetarian dinner at El Germen, we went back to our hostel and slept early so we could have our much needed sleep. We planned to wake up early, have our breakfast and walk to the main square to take the 9:30 am bus to the dinosaur park. We also decided to take the self drive option to the Salar, after much calculations on the costs involved.Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    3Fruit section at Central Mercado
    Chirimoya (Custard Apple)12

    Central Mercado Sucre

    October 6, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    As planned, we were up early and left the hostel by 8:15 am. The plan was to go to the main square and catch the 9:30 am bus to the dinosaur park. If there was a charge for the bus, we planned to take the local micro instead since they would be cheaper and were going to the park every 5 min.
    As we were reaching the main square, we decided to go to the Biz Car Rental to book our vehicle before going to the square. After doing the booking, we got late and couldn't have our breakfast. We reached the main square 10 min before the bus timing. We asked a travel shop nearby and were informed that the bus would charge 15 b$ while the local bus would be 1.50 b$. So, we decided to go by the micro and since they were leaving every 5 min, we decided to go to the Central Mercado (the main market) for some food.
    What an assault to the senses it was.. So much variety of fruits, foods, meats, spices, juices... It was a food heaven.    Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    Chirimoya
    2Tojori, Buñuelos and Empanadas

    Breakfast at Central Marcado

    October 6, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ 🌙 20 °C

    In the central market, we tried Chirimoya (Custard Apple). It was extremely sweet and very very tasty. The size of these was almost double the size one compared to the ones in India. Also, the outer shell had concave indents rather than the convex indents in the Indian custard apples.
    After that we had our breakfast of Tojori (a traditional drink made from mashed white corn, sugar and cinnamon), Buñuelos (a donut sort of local savory to be eaten with a syrup) and empanadas (many varieties exits, ours was a hollow pastry sprinkled with castor sugar).    Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    The micro no. 4 to Dino Park
    Colored gelatin was quite commonSelling cornJiuces with fruits inside2Selling cheese. Seems like steamed in leaves

    Way to the Dino park (Parque Cretacico)

    October 6, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    We finished our breakfast by 10 and went back to the square where we could catch the micro to the dino park. Bus no. 4 and H leave every 5 min so we didn't have a problem finding and catching one. There is no ticket in these buses. You should know the price and the price is the same irrespective where you get on or off. But this all, we found out later. We were told the ticket price was 1.50 b$ per person but when we entered the bus, we asked the driver about the price and he said 2 b$ so we paid.
    On the way, we passed the Farmer's Market just outside Sucre. An interesting place with a lot of variety of food stuff and other household items.    Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    2

    Footprints from the past

    October 6, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    We saw many tracks from 4 different species of dinosaurs all over the raised wall. The biggest one was 1 mt across. The whole place was a crisscross of tracks from different eras belonging to both the herbivores and carnivores dinosaurs.Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    3Banana vendor
    In traditional dresses2Kid transport 😃Papaya vendorA chuski vendor??

    Farmer's Market outside Sucre

    October 6, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    By about 1:30 we had finished the tour of the dinosaur park. We walked out to the main road. The bus no. 4 was waiting to go to town. This time we didn't ask the price but just handed over 3 b$ to the driver, which he readily accepted.
    On the way, we were crossing the Farmer's market where we had seen some interesting roadside vendors. We were in a double mind whether to get off or not since Sucre is still 3 kms away and it would have taken us about 45 min to walk back. The bus slowed down due to the crowd on the road and also to pick up people that's when I saw what I thought we call Chuski or Gola in India. Its finely crushed ice covered with colored sweet syrups of different flavors. Nowadays, its become an almost extinct item in India. I started telling Hristo about it. He had never seen or heard about it so we decided at the spur of the moment to get off and try it and also explore the rest of the market and maybe even have our lunch here.    Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    Still not sure if its a chuski vendor
    2Got off the micro and saw it from the other side. It was chuski3Happy faces. Fully satisfied 😁Shikashika (Chuski or Gola in India)Trying the tamarind juice1Colorful yogurts in huge cans

    Trying the food stuff at Farmers Market

    October 6, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    When we got off the micro, we found out that it in fact was a gola vendor. The machine was exactly as they used to have in India, the colors, the preparation method, everything was exactly the same. We tried one gola each (its called Shikashika in Bolivia). As we were walking in the market, we saw a vendor selling tamarind juice. We decided to try that as well.Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    Cheese and eggs
    2Fruit juice vendors2Some fruits and their labels2Tried Tumbo and MaracuyaPotato varieties

    Farmer's Market - Fruits and food

    October 6, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ 🌧 12 °C

    More fruits and vegetables in the market. There were quite a variety of eggs and cheese as well. Fresh fruits and juices. We tried Maracuya (passion fruit) and Tumbo (banana passion fruit).

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    Place where we had our lunch
    The vegetarian chicken soup :)4My lunch plate

    Farmer's Market - Another local lunch

    October 6, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    By the time we had walked around the farmer's market, it was near about 4. All the food stalls had closed except one where we had our lunch. Unfortunately, they didn't have anything vegetarian but the lady running the stall was kind enough to show how by putting aside the chicken pieces in the chicken soup, it becomes vegetarian😂😂
    Eventually, I had to make do with rice, pasta, salad and potatoes.
    After the lunch we took the micro back to Sucre and got off at the Central Mercado.    Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    An Indian shop in Sucre
    Potato varieties in Bolivia2Tried durazno (peach) juice with fruit2List of juices availableTried zumo (fruit juice with added water or milk)2More cakes

    Mercado Central - More food

    October 6, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    After reaching Sucre, we 1st went and booked our vehicle for the Uyuni trip. After that, we were back at the Central Mercado to try out different juices and food stuff.
    In the town, we also saw a shop selling Indian stuff like clothes, incense sticks and furniture. A unique selling opportunity for them.Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    3

    Live music at a church

    October 6, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    After eating and walking around, we decided to head back to the hostel at around 8:15 pm. On the way back, we heard some music coming from one of the streets. We went to check it out and saw live music being played outside a church for some marriage. We enjoyed the music for a while and then we were back for a good night's sleep in the hostel.
    Before we slept, we had to wash our shoes to remove the dust they had picked up at the dino park.    Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    The Toyota Hilux 2018
    Happy peopleFood court4I had a vegetarian pizza

    Salar roadtrip begins

    October 7, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    We picked up our vehicle in the morning. It was a new Toyota Hilux driven only 160 kms. Biz car rental charged us 758 USD for days with all insurances, 65 L of extra gasoline and 80 L gasoline in the tank. All tools and equipment were also included, as was the cleaning charges of $45.
    Previous day when we had gone to book the vehicle, we were told that there was 4% extra charge if the payment was made by card. So we had gone a mall nearby to withdraw cash. It had 4 ATM machines but still, it took us about 45 min to withdraw the required cash. None of the 4 ATMs had a limit high enough to cover the amount we needed and they didn't disclose the highest amount that could be withdrawn. So we juggled around the ATMs and tried reducing the amount in steps till finally one of them dispensed 3000 b$. We used that one a couple of times to get the required amount.
    When we went to pick the vehicle, we were told that we'll need to pay 50 b$ for the salt cleaning every time we exited from the salt plains. This of course was not fair at all since we were paying $45 for cleaning. But, anyway we took the vehicle knowing very well we won't get it cleaned. To hell with their smartness.
    After picking up the vehicle we went for grocery shopping and food in a nearby mall. We stocked up for 7 days of water and food provisions.    Read more

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