At the end of my evening in Sucre, I left the peña and walked back to the hotel, happily whistling some of the tunes that I had heard. Until now, my main experience of Andean folk music has been the evocative background music to a natural history series on British TV, called Flight of the Condor.
I got up early, and after a shower during which I bathed my eyes (which had bothered me in Cochabamba) I decided to try my contact lenses again. In doing so I discovered that the tops of the lens case (labelled “L” and “R”) had been swapped, and the reason that my eyes had been sore was simply that I’d put the lenses the wrong eyes! In the excitement of having figured this out, I almost left my towel behind at the hotel and had to go back for it before finally reaching the bus terminal.
I deliberated for a while, since my next destination was Potosí, which I could easily reach in one day if I wanted. However the following day was Sunday, and my book informed me that on Sundays there is a photogenic market in the town of Betanzos between Sucre and Potosí. I eventually decided therefore to break the journey in Betanzos, and bought a ticket to there.
It was a dusty trip along a reasonably good dirt road, which became more and more scenic after lunch. Arriving in Betanzos mid afternoon I discovered that the town was little more than a village. I found the “hotel” that I’d been led to believe I could stay in, and it was rudimentary and appeared to be in a state of semi construction.
With plenty of daylight left I decided to go for a wander up over the pleasant hills nearby, on the west side of the town. They were rough rocky sandstone hills with opportunities for scrambling. I took my radio and headphones with me for this hike and it suddenly seemed surreal to be on a remote hilltop the highlands of southern Bolivia, listening live to someone talking in a studio in Bush House, London.
I had some food on the way back through the village in a tiny cafeteria, from a pleasant young lady who was clearly bemused that she had a foreigner to serve. I got my diary up to date and had an early night.
que lugar tan desolado y rudimentario… en medio de la nada, Que espíritu aventurero el tuyo!! y que manera de viajar!!! y como siempre excelente manera de contarlo.