September 29th to October 1st
Sucre is a town I’ve been hearing about for a long time, often described as a little slice of paradise I’ve been warned over and over again by tourists who got trapped and spent way longer than expected in Bolivia’s famous white city, which unlike Peru’s Arequipa is actually largely white. Knowing this I arrive with high expectations despite the fatigue stemming from a very uncomfortable 12 hour night bus from Samaipata.
Now it’s not that Sucre isn’t a nice place, it is. A lovely small city high in the Andes full of hostels, restaurants and Spanish schools, and I end up thoroughly enjoying my nearly 3 days here, but I do leave unsure why people love it so much. Sucre is pleasant, perfectly enjoyable, but very touristy and I didn’t feel the need to get trapped there, a good thing since I need to accelerate my travel pace anyway.
Our first day we spend relaxing and exploring the town a bit, walking through the colourful market, around several main squares, and through some of Sucre’s countless parks, including one which holds mini version’s of some of Paris’ most famous monuments like the Eiffel Tower and The Arc de Triomphe.
We also try to pay a visit to the local cemetery which from the outside looks quite impressive, sadly we picked the wrong time since it closes in the early afternoon, still alongside the park full of Parisian monuments we find the highlight of the day in the form of a park meant for children, where all the playgrounds, signs and water fountains are based around dinosaurs. Sara and I seem out of place climbing the giant Brontosaurus slide and squealing with glee as we slide down, but we’re too happy to care.
We spend a comfortable night in & Patas hostel near the centre (8 bed Dorm 43Bolivianos). One thing to know about Sucre is that reliable wifi is very hard to find, and this hostel is no exception.
We alter our plans for the next day based on the forecast, pushing back our visit to one of the most impressive dinosaur fossil and footprint sites in south america and spending a day between watching Manchester United and visiting some museums. The most impressive museum and the only one that allowed photos is ________ very close to the Plaza De Armas. It pairs with an art gallery and is stuffed full of pottery, relics of Pre Incan cultures, and lots and lots of skulls, making waking through it’s empty halls a little creepy.
After another pleasant if dull night at the hostel we wake up, pack our bags, stick them in storage and head out into the city to find the local bus out to the dinosaur site at the edge of town, and the main reason we’ve come to Sucre. We climb aboard the number 4 bus and ride it right out to the end, which takes almost an hour as it winds through Sucre’s narrow crowded streets, past markets and all manner of local life, often moving more slowly than walking pace.
We climb off at the last stop just outside the Parque Cretacico complex and climb up the small hill to get to the entrance gate. Just for the record if the public bus J or 4, J being more direct (1.50 Bs each) is too much of an adventure for you, you can also take a taxi to the park for about 7 dollars round trip or board the dino shuttle bus at the plaza de armas which departs daily at 9:30am, 12pm and 2.30pm for 15 Bs per person. Still, if you have the time and patience I recommend the bus, it provides a great free tour of the outskirts of Sucre.
The best time to arrive at the Dino Park is between 12 and 2 pm because of the angles of the sun on the massive cliff covered in foot prints and because of the times for the guided tours, the ones including the wall run at noon and 1 all days except Sunday and are included in the 30 BS (5.50 CAD) cost of admission.
Climbing up to the entrance of the park we pass by lush beautiful flowers and turn back for some stunning views of Sucre below us, as well as some distant views of the famous cliff face covered in more than 12,000 dinosaur footprints.
We get in just in time for the 12 o’clock tour where we meet our friendly guide who could not look or act more like a stereotypical nerdy paleontologist, that said he’s charming and knowledgeable in his own quiet way.
The tour begins winding through the museum and park aspect of the place where we gaze up in awe at the giant fully realized models of countless different dinosaurs. We move fast though, promised we’ll get more time later, and soon enough we’re learning about how the shape of South America changed over the last few hundred million years, you know, just a little blip in time.
We learn that where we are now used to be an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, which then became a closed off sea, before becoming fresher flatter land. The dinosaurs roamed this area then, when it was flat and wet, leaving footprints in the muddy earth, then the Andes came about which explains the cliff face before us, so to answer your question, no dinosaurs did not used to walk vertically up walls. It was flat, now thanks to tectonic plates, it’s not.
As we are issued our hard hats starting the long walk down to the base of the cliff our guide explains just how lucky they were to discover this site. Mining companies were using the mountain to quarry limestone and other things and ended up stopping their operations with the cliff peeled down to the layer just above the footprints. Had they continued just a little longer this incredible site would have been lost forever.
The path is slow going and steep down, leaving me a little worried about climbing up. (A note to bring close toed shoes otherwise you won’t be allowed down.) Still we make it down and learn that there are footprints of countless different species here, including some of the truly giant dinosaurs. They also boast the single longest continuous trail of footprints in the entire world.
We’re able to get very close to the wall, but sadly the road that runs right beside it is washed out, keeping us at least a few meters from the wall. All in all this might be a good thing since it eliminates the temptation to touch and possibly damage the footprints.
Eventually our time is up and we climb back up the trail as our guide points out some ancient fossilized coral on the path up. The tour ends and we’re given time to explore the park of models in our time, Sara, mature soul that she is, quickly focuses in on the dinosaur butt holes, which may or may not be anatomically correct.
As we wander towards the exit of the park we even spot some living and humping dinosaur descendants perched on one of the aquatic models.
Later that night we board our night bus to Uyuni, a place I can;t wait to go back to, if only to get back out onto the stunning Salt Flats and mountain lakes of South Western Bolivia. My first visits is undoubtedly one of the highlights of my time in South America so far, and you can read about it here, here and here.
