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Our second day (or first complete day) in Sucre – most of the group joined the half day organized city tour; John, David and myself decided to do a city tour on our own. Our plan was to catch the … Continue reading
We left Santa Cruz in the late morning; by bus we made it to Viru Viru International Airport (VVI) to get our plane (an aging 727) to Cochabamba. In Cochabamba we had about two hours until we boarded the next (even older) 727 to Sucre.
We arrived at our hotel in Sucre at about 16:00 after a quick transfer from the airport (the smallest airport I have ever seen – with just one arrival and one departure gate).
After a short time to get settled, we met again for an orientation walk through town (laundry, cambios, activities, etc.) and ended up having dinner in the Joyride Cafe.
Often La Paz is referred to as the capital of Bolivia – however this is not true, the official capital of Bolivia is indeed Sucre. In the end power is shared between both cities (with the legislative and executive body being in La Paz and the prime/constitutional court being in Sucre) – Sucre though remains the constitutional capital of the Republic of Bolivia.
After a night on the Death Train we arrived at our Santa Cruz hotel at about 09am. Most of us took some time off to get some rest, a shower or to enjoy the hotel pool. Around 11am David and myself left the hotel to get some water and to have a look around town – our plan was also to get some food sooner or later (only food we had that day so far consisted of the small breakfast served aboard the train).
Santa Cruz is the economical center of Bolivia – and its richest and most populated city. Main industries include oil, gas and agriculture. Santa Cruz also hosts Bolivia’s main gateway to the world – Viru Viru International Airport. However from a tourist perspective there is not too much to do and see in Santa Cruz.
After our short city tour we met with John and Wayne and had some food (burgers). I went to bed afterwards as I did not feel well; I woke up 4 hours later totally wet from my own sweat, still feeling weak, but better than before. At least I felt fit enough to join in for group dinner at a pseudo-Mexican restaurant (the food was rather tasteless compared to real Mexico and my favorite Mexican restaurant back home).
We left the Pantanal and we left Brazil. The border crossing was more than obvious, the paved street suddenly became a dirt road and the buildings on the Bolivian side looked run-down compared to Brazil. After the border formalities we got continued to the train station of Corumba. Ultimately it turned out, we were at the wrong train station (the booking agent got everything wrong, they quoted the wrong time and the wrong station) – consequently we needed a quick transfer to the correct station and ended up with five persons in a taxi (plus according number of backpacks…) for an interesting 20 minute taxi ride. The train was actually waiting for us at this station (we made up about two thirds of the first class car); we boarded quickly and the train journey started.
While we did not use the actual Death Train, our train at least used the same tracks on our 14 hours journey. The seats and seat arrangement were rather nice, however the ride itself rather bumpy and uncomfortable – I’d rather have a Chinese hard sleeper train…
