So all is well, more or less. A few of us, ignoring all warnings have been out sampling the joys of Bolivian street food; The Bum Bible has been well and truly christened, and with 1 week down and another 11 to go, one can only imagine how full it will be, a novel of epic proportions!. This week began with what our leaders described as a mini trek… the villians. The entire team scaled an enormous hill in order to view the sun set over Sucre only to be greeted by an imminent storm and a large bull at the summit. We spent a total of 13 and a half minutes at the top before it became necessary to climb all the way down again, this time avoiding the enormous Inca stops that anyone smaller that 7ft 2 would have found extremely difficult climbing. It was a baptismo de fuego. Of course the Americans suffered none of the problems our European contingent did, sprinting topless more or less the entire way; however what they have in stamina they lack in razor sharp wit and good looks (this may or may not be true, I cannot say).
After our first adventure our leaders decided it was necessary to reward us with a weekend at a Bolivian Haçienda. The Haçienda itself was beautiful, but the journey there was somewhat tricky.
It was our first Quest(ie) Birthday and so we were in no mind to just kick back and enjoy the sun slash rain slash sun slash rain. It started with a water fight which the boys apparently won, however (and not because I am a girl) I am dubious as to the validity of their victory. Where the girls honorably stuck to water balloons the boys fought back with large receptacles filled with water, which were obviously more effective. The Birthday boy Ross had a brilliant time!
The highlight of the Haçienda absolutely has to be our second mini trek´´ – a total of 4 hours – so hardly a walk in the proverbial park. Our mission – to find 7 beautiful waterfalls hidden within the flesh of Sucre´s countryside, and whilst it was surprisingly difficult it was exceptionally rewarding. The Questies had to consolidate all our rambling, scrambling and depth assesing skills and whilst we managed to find five Cascadas, we decided it was necessary to stop before we got too big for our enormous and embarassingly unweathered walking boots. Still the site of Rory clinging like a limpet come starfish to the rock is one that somewhat lessens the blow of not reaching the last two! It was an awesome Hike.
Adios Para Ahora,
Team. X
Pictures to follow, watch this space…