Although Jake and I had been looking forward to getting out into the country and taking a quad bike for a spin the night before we were both struck with our first touch of Bolivian Belly. After a rough night all we wanted to do was stay in bed and recover. Unfortunately for us we also had to change hostels for the night as the La Dolce Vita was fully booked out in advance and we had only got our rooms previously by chance and strictly for three nights only. We were able to check in again the following day when some more people were leaving but until then we needed to find somewhere we could lie down and recover. Leaving our big bags at La Dolce Vita we went in search for a hostel nearby. A block away we went to the hostel our friends, Tom and Manjari had previously stayed in, this took most of our energy just walking here. There was no way we were going to be able to drive a quad bike around that afternoon. I was not as sickly feeling as Jake (which we think is because I only had a couple of sips of his juice from the market which we think was the cause of our illness) so it was up to me to reorganise the quadding. It was only another two blocks away but it was the hardest two blocks I have walked in a while. The tour company was happy to reschedule us in for the following day for a small fee of course. For the rest of the day we stayed in bed watching movies and feeling sorry for ourselves, hoping that the next day we would come right for quadding.
We both woke up after an uninterrupted nights sleeps feeling a bit better but pretty weak owing to not eating anything for over 24 hours. Wohoo! Bug was on its way out and after fuelling on a lot of liquids and some barley sugars we had enough energy to check back into our new room La Paz at La Dolce Vita before heading out for our activity for the day.
Rocking up the required ten minutes before we left we found out we were the only ones actually doing the tour. Two university guys picked us up and after chatting for ten minutes we were out of the city and into the hilly suburbs of Sucre. When bussing into Sucre we had seen a bit of the suburbs and a lot of rubbish. This time we were able to see a lot more of the dry, hilly countryside, kids playing football and I kid you not a little boy was running down the street with a wheel and a stick like the old days. I wish I had my camera out to snap a quick picture.
The truck we were driving in was struggling up some of these hills and I was hoping this wasn’t a sign of the quality of our bikes to come. At the top of a pretty steep hill which the truck went up in first the whole way we were greeted by another guy and two bikes. We had decided to just hire one with me on the back as I wasn’t interested in driving much and
would probably slow us down if I was driving. I was happy to let Jake do all of the driving although he did insist I have a go. All geared up in our too big helmets and flimsy plastic guards we were ready to ride. A quick safety briefing pretty much consisting of stay behind the guide and we were off.
The guide drove slowly for the first few minutes as to make sure Jake could actually drive the quad bike and to pass the last remaining houses before he revved up his engine and began to fly. The road was hot, dusty and dry and I was glad my helmets shield provided some shelter from the dirt flying off our guides’ bike. Jake was not so lucky and by the end of the trip his face was covered in a thick layer of brown dust.
The truck we were driving in was struggling up some of these hills and I was hoping this wasn’t a sign of the quality of our bikes to come. At the top of a pretty steep hill which the truck went up in first the whole way we were greeted by another guy and two bikes. We had decided to just hire one with me on the back as I wasn’t interested in driving much and
would probably slow us down if I was driving. I was happy to let Jake do all of the driving although he did insist I have a go. All geared up in our too big helmets and flimsy plastic guards we were ready to ride. A quick safety briefing pretty much consisting of stay behind the guide and we were off.
The guide drove slowly for the first few minutes as to make sure Jake could actually drive the quad bike and to pass the last remaining houses before he revved up his engine and began to fly. The road was hot, dusty and dry and I was glad my helmets shield provided some shelter from the dirt flying off our guides’ bike. Jake was not so lucky and by the end of the trip his face was covered in a thick layer of brown dust.
There was little traffic and Jake got a quick handle on the bike and was having a great time although I was not so keen on how close we were getting to the edge of the roads. I am sure if I hadn’t been on the back and we didn’t have to stay behind the guide Jake would have taken off like a mad man. We passed by a few derelict villages to a river which has been heavily mined for quarry materials to use on the roads in Sucre. After some photo opportunities and a quick spin on the flats for me with Jake pretty much yelling the whole time to stop, turn, slow down it was time to head back. Although Jake kept asking if I wanted another go I think he was secretly glad I let him take over as he seemed pretty scared on the back of the bike with me not that I even went over 20kms or changed out of third gear. The ride back up the hill was not as fun as it seemed like the bumps in the road grew taller and the ditches grew wider. Our still queasy tummies were not enjoying being rattled all over the places and by the time we finally got back to where we started I was glad to be on flat ground to settle our bellies.
Three and a half hours after starting we were back in the main plaza of Sucre. The ride was really fun and was great having the open road to ourselves and definitely got our hearts pumping again after a sedate week. I think we might have enjoyed the last hour a bit more if we weren’t still recovering but quadding was a nice way to explore a bit more of the countryside around Sucre.
Excited for our next stop- Hong Kong That night one of the other hostels/bar had a local band and dancing group advertised so we went to check it out. The hostel was advertising it for seven so we arrived a bit earlier and had a few glasses to celebrate my older brother finally asking his long-time GF to marry him! An hour later no band and it didn’t look like any was showing up and with our tummies grumbling it was time to see if they could handle a full meal. We found a busy place called New Hong Kong offering Asian dishes and decided to give it a try. It was a bid grimy but the food coming out to other tables looked fresh and smelt amazingly good (which is saying something as a lot of smells and foods that we passed earlier today made us feel queasy).
After a wee wait our food came out, Jakes chicken soup was full of flavour and perhaps what we had needed the day before. The sweet and sour was not like the ones from back home which was also probably a good thing as all the flavour may not have sat well with our recovering tummies. The subtle sauce and crispy chicken (no pork here) was beautiful however. I was really looking forward to Asian style noodles and had this picture in my head of a beautiful Pad Thai or Singapore noodles dish – unfortunately my noodles were spaghetti noodles with a whole heap of cabbage and not much else. Needless to say I helped myself to Jakes plate.
Being at the restaurant we started to get excited for our destination after South America. Although we still have two more weeks and we have some incredible things planned for these last days, we got to talking about plans for Hong Kong where we will be stopping for a short visit before heading to Italy. We are pretty blessed and thankful to have had such a great trip so far but I am glad it’s not over yet and can’t wait to see what else the world has in store for us.
After a wee wait our food came out, Jakes chicken soup was full of flavour and perhaps what we had needed the day before. The sweet and sour was not like the ones from back home which was also probably a good thing as all the flavour may not have sat well with our recovering tummies. The subtle sauce and crispy chicken (no pork here) was beautiful however. I was really looking forward to Asian style noodles and had this picture in my head of a beautiful Pad Thai or Singapore noodles dish – unfortunately my noodles were spaghetti noodles with a whole heap of cabbage and not much else. Needless to say I helped myself to Jakes plate.
Being at the restaurant we started to get excited for our destination after South America. Although we still have two more weeks and we have some incredible things planned for these last days, we got to talking about plans for Hong Kong where we will be stopping for a short visit before heading to Italy. We are pretty blessed and thankful to have had such a great trip so far but I am glad it’s not over yet and can’t wait to see what else the world has in store for us.
Next stop: Entering Tios mine in the highest city in the world- Potosi