Sucre, Bolívia

By far the nicest city I've been to since I left Brazil.

It's so comfortable. It's clean. It has a balance between urban and rural Bolivians. It's safe. It's extremely easy to navigate, majority of places are accessible by walking. It has a huge park "25 de Mayo" that is well kept and it's always filled with people, young or old and nasty pigeons. Haha. On one of the corners, my favorite coffee shop "Metro" can be found. Laundry places everywhere. 

Today was parade day, and I didn't know what to expect.

 I went for lunch at my regular place 7Lunares: the chorizo place at the main market. A double chorizo sandwich for 11Bs ($1.77), kinda like the "Mc Value" meal... 

Today she didn't hear me when I specified "no onions", I'm kinda sad about that...

Then I walked to Bolivar park. It's a nice park with a mini Eiffel Tower. Haha... Seriously.

I hung out there and read my book. I decided to go back by the parallel road that leads to my hostel. I strolled as I saw people preparing for the parade. That's where I noticed that there are spots for sale, it's pretty serious!!

By the time I reached the end of this road, the parade had begun. 

The parade was very colorful, and contained extremely dangerous fire works activity... Most floats had a band and that was fun! 

My favorite kind of float was the "miner's" float. (Really upset my pictures aren't clear!!)

Basically kids and teens dressed up as miners. They wore boots, hard hats with headlamps, carried the hammer and big nail. They carried bags of coca leaves (chewed coca leaves!) and some hung bottles of absinthe from their belts. 

I liked this float because it was very representative of Bolivia. Mining here is a reality. I liked that they are aware of it. (I missed taking a picture but there was also a big boss in the float with a suitcase full of money. ) They know this is going on. It's a huge part of their culture...

Tomorrow I hope to find a better spot and take clearer photos. It's the adult's parade! :D