Monday, 20 November 2006

Sucre, here to stay (for a few weeks)

Hola,

The next day we emailed our travel agent to ask what to do about our insurance claim.  She gave us a toll free (yeah, not in Sucre apparently) number to call for assistance.  We called and they told us that to make a claim we would need to send them original documents etc... we explained that we would like to know if our police report was sufficient before we sent it away just in case we needed more information from the police etc.  They said we could fax it for confirmation, and so the first saga began...

First off we couldnīt get a fax to send, we tried 6 times all up.  Each time it would connect and then fail giving an out of paper at the other end type error.  We called them back, they had paper, we tried some more...

We had no luck that first night and decided to try again the next morning.  We tried and failed once more before being directed to the main telephone office and they sent me over the road to a small place where it was finally sent.

However, the police report was not very dark and the fax wasnīt legible enough at the other end, and so began the second saga...

We hunted around for a photocopy place which could darken the report, however it appeared either that they had no idea what they were doing or the machines were not good enough.  We asked around for the "best" place to go and got directions, it was, however, closed for the weekend.

At an empasse we decided to book a ticket to Tarabuco for some retail therapy.  It is a place 64kms from Sucre known for its weavings.

The locals wear all manner of interesting gear, these clothes are not costumes they actually wear this stuff every day, no joke.

The stalls were all much alike, with hats, bags, weavings, and clothes made from Alpaca etc.

Our purchases, note our new hats.

Upon returning to Sucre we decided to go hunting for a place to learn spanish.  It being our main goal here.  We hunted around and found many schools and a few private teachers.  We settled on Patricia a private tutor with many good books and resources to draw from (apparently, the schools donīt have any books, crazy!).

On monday the saga continued... The photocopy place finally opened for business and they were able to make a copy.  However the fax place was out of order and the main office over the road failed to send!  We gave up on it for an hour or so then returned to the original place (no longer out of order) and finally managed to send the report.

All this effort and we still do not know whether we need more information from the police here... we now have a claim form and then weīll have to send all the original documents home to make a claim.  Fingers crossed they arrive!

Assuming our claim is accepted we still have the problem of replacing the items.  Items cannot be sent here (the Leatherman is a knife and the PDA a communication device, both these things are prohibited).  Itīs also unlikely we can find the same items in Bolivia, perhaps duty-free or in a more developed country, but not here.

We have been taking lessons for a week now, 4 hours a day, 5 days a week.  As part of the lessons we went on a little field trip to the hills outside of town.  With us went another student "Remo" and two past students now working here in Sucre.  Itīs fair to say we understood less than 50% of what was said on the trip, and I didnīt say much (partly because I had nothing to say, and partly because I didnīt know how to say it).

The locals use the native trees to dry/store food for their animals in the months where there is less to eat.  It looks rather odd.

This is our spanish teacher next to an oven for baking bread.

This is a local house we visited.  The owner went on for some length about religion among other things, he was most passionate.

His son.

The local home owner and our spanish teacher.

The chicken coop.

 

On another day we did our own little city/park tour and photographed this local obelisk/monument.  It was paid for with money taken from local bakers who were misrepresenting the weight of their bread.

Well, thatīs everything... weīre finally up to date on our blog.  Woohoo!

Duncan Bayne:

Fucking hell :-( That's bad news about your bag being stolen ... why on earth are you prohibited from having communications devices or knives shipped to you? Is it Govt. policy for Bolivia to remain in the 3rd world?

According to the Leatherman website there are no (official) Leatherman stores in Bolivia either ... hmmmm.

Are you passing through Brazil anytime in the future? I know someone there who'd probably be happy for me to send him stuff, & pass it on to you when you arrive. Let me know if you're keen (he's ex-Royal Marines, so knives etc. would be fine with him).

(11/20/06)

sue: What a saga! Not exactly restful, how grumpy did you get?! What sort of rainfall do they get where you are, it looks very dry, do they have water problems? Amazing chookhouse, looks as good as the house.. (11/21/06)

Regan: Sue: Erin got a little grumpy about the whole cannot send the damn fax saga. They donīt get much rain here, it has rained maybe twice in the 2.5 weeks we have been here, and those times only lightly. Yes, water problems but not as bad as in Nazca, Peru. (11/25/06)

Rochelle: God your mother asks lots of questions Erin! What a pain but at least they didn't steal all of your stuff or your camera. I bet you will hold on tight to youor bags now! Thanks for the updates I am really loving reading what you have been upto. Take Care. Your favourite cousin. (11/22/06)

ross: and that is why you should read all the posts first... bummer, we hate sagas (except urza's... am i even allowed magic jokes on your site?) anyho the hats look good replacements (but no flappy things for covering regans enormous ears!) (11/28/06)