The people here have been much friendlier than Chile (although a pastor did spend 2 hours on a bus trip trying to convert me), the towns and cities have been a lot less run down than I expected and even the food has been much better than I imagined.
While in the country I have tried llama (very deer like, although a little on the chewy side it was very tasty) and several of the national specialities such as pincho de macho which is a pile of chips, steak, sausage, boiled eggs, tomatoes, lots of onion served in a beer based gravy and topped with cheese and jalapeño peppers and salteñas which are empanada like but with a different pastry.
Our first stop was Tupiza, where we ate like cowboys and I even went horse riding, which was fitting for a town which is heavily linked with the real Butch Cassidy and the sundance kid. The town was kind of how I imagined the Wild West to be, lots of horses and dust (as well as a load of pickup trucks). The food was mainly meat based, lots of beef, which was usually grilled on a barbecue (and which tastes excellent) with chicken and some sausage available as well. In Tupiza the steak was always excellent and cost very little, the one piece of advice I would offer is steer clear of the touristy pizza places, they are double the price of the more Bolivian restaurants. If there are no Bolivians eating in the restaurant you have chosen give it a miss!
Next stop was Potosi, which used to be a rich mining town blessed with abundant silver (apparently it bank rolled spain for 200 years!). Nowerdays the silver has dried up but the mining for other minerals continues around this growing city set 4000m above sea level. We got to Potosi just in time for Carnival in Bolivia. This entails lots of people (kids, adults, women and men) having massive water fights. Tourists are in no way exempt (in fact we found that, lugging our bags) we were good target practice. The mainly problem we had is that this far above sea level running away is difficult, and the other slight issue is that this water bombing starts at the end of January and runs through most of February.
Potosi is not really a tourist city, although there are several hostels in the centre, the main attractions are the mines, mainly to marvel at the third world conditions the people work in to this day. There is also mountain biking and horse riding but we were simply passing through and none of these really fitted our time table, so instead we looked around the old Spanish architecture in the centre and had a meal at a cafe which claimed to be 4060 metres above sea level. The food we found to be almost as good as the Bolivian was the Mexican, there were tacos, quesadillas and nachos all with a Bolivian twist, definitely preferable to the South American take on pasta which has, without fail, been served in a watery tomato sauce.
Our final stop on this leg was Sucre, this was different again from the workman like Potosi, boasting a centre full of beautiful buildings courtesy of the Spanish. Sucre was the former capital (now judicial capital) of Bolivia. It certainly had a more affluent feel in the centre with several up market shops and cafes.
To satisfy my inner science geek we went to Sucre's Dino park where we saw some dinosaur tracks dating back millions of years (not for everyone, I know), they are on a cliff face which they discovered while mining for cement.
Food wise the Belgian run cafe in the main square (whose name shamefully escapes me) was a good source of tasty nourishment and information (and wifi), perfect for a breakfast or lunch before exploring the city.
Although it was a little out of our way I have to say that sucre was well worth the trip, the only downside being the 12 hour overnight bus to La Paz (via Potosi) which followed.
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