November 12, 2005
Day 45
Last night was very difficult for me. I'll spare you the details, but my condition didn't allow for much sleep. I wasn't sure how much longer my illness would continue, so I broke down and started taking the antibiotics I had brought from home. They took about three hours to kick in, but afterwards I felt as good as new.
In the afternoon, I went to the House of Liberty, which is an important historical building on the city's central square. For several centuries, Sucre was the capital of Bolivia, but over time, most of the government got moved to La Paz. Although it no longer has the power it once had, a pride factor still exists here. The House of Liberty gives a detailed history of the country, its founders, and its presidents. There is a large room that contains a biography of each president of Bolivia. The house is also where Bolivia's Declaration of Independence is. It was interesting to see how many presidents the country has had that only lasted a year or less, and how many weren't elected in a general election.
The other major attraction I had heard about in Sucre was the cemetery, so I walked there next. 90% of Bolivia is catholic, so the cemetery wasn't anything out of the ordinary for me. There were a large number of mourners walking around with flowers, though, so it felt kind of weird being a tourist. I walked past several family tombs and countless graves, decided that I had had enough, and walked back to my hostel.
Tonight I borrowed a guide book for all of South America from my hostel's owner to try to figure out where to go next. As long as I feel better, tomorrow I will go to Tarabuco, a small town nearby, to see the Sunday market. The next day, I'll head to Potosí to see the infamous silver mines.
The photo album for this entry is located here.
Dan, Why did they paint the bottoms of the trees white in the cemetary? Was there some religious significance?
I think it's just so small animals don't eat the bark and kill the trees, but I may be wrong. I doubt that there is any religious significance because it is a Catholic cemetery and I'm not aware of any such traditions in the Catholic faith.