Today did not start quite as we hd planned. We set the alarms for fairly early so we’d have plenty of time to wander around the city before our trip to see dinosaur footprints in the afternoon. However, it was literally lashing down with rain. We had a leisurely breakfast and then with raincoats on we went to collect out laundry - all ready clean, dry (smelling sweet!) and folded. We continued to brave the rain and I gave in and bought a ‘sombrilla’ (umbrella) from the local market which then meant the rain started to ease off. It was a great excuse to stop for a hot drink which is when I discovered ‘submarinos’. This is absolutely delicious. It comprises of lumps of excellent chocolate put in a glass with very hot milk poured over it and then you sit and stir it all together with a spoon and hey presto - a superb hot chocolate. It is probably the best I have ever had.
In the afternoon the rain stopped and our guide turned up in his brothers rather elderly car to take us to see the famous dinosaur footprints. I had been looking forward to seeing them but I must admit the experience was not quite what I expected. We drove for half an hour or so out of downtown Sucre past dogs and pigs wandering in the road towards an incredibly ugly cement factory. It dominated the landscape and we noticed that the quarrying work of the limestone had scarred the mountains to the extent that it had actually removed the entire side of a mountain. During this work which has been going on for over 50 years dinosaur footprints were discovered on a near vertical rock face. Originally in the Cretaceous period this has been a shallow lake where a number of different species of dinosaur came to drink/feed. Over millions of years the tectonic plate action has forced the horizontal to vertical. The area has been made into a Jurassic Park style theme park complete with life-size dinosaur models along with compulsory guides whose knowledge was a little questionable. The sight of the footprints were pretty impressive though and I had hoped to use one of these images for my photo of the day. However, it is an example of when it is better to see them for real as photographs simply cannot capture the scale of the prints and they really do not look like much close up.
On our way back down we stopped at a girls covent school that our guide managed to get opened for us. It was another of the lovely spanish colonial style building which has been built around a church. We climbed up many many stairs until we reached the roof and the vista of the city spread out below us. We were actually walking on the roof of the church looking towards a massive bell that had seen better days and so is not in use. I love this style of architecture although the Spanish were not at all kind when they in effect invaded South America.
A big day tomorrow when we travel to the highest city in the world and then start our 4-day expedition across the Uyuni slat flats and into the Atacama desert.
@shazzym@padlock@tristansmum thank you all. The footprints were incredibly impressive but even with a long lens (@padlock - that'll be the slow DO!) they did no look much!
October 10th, 2015
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