Bolivia was not one of my must-see countries during our service, but I wanted to meet my friend Matt during his travels in South America and Bolivia was what worked best. (In hindsight, it should have been on my list.) During the planning time two amazing Seattle friends, Brian and Chris, also showed interest in the trip and just like that we had a great crew of friends to travel with in Bolivia.
The trip began with an unexpected day in Santa Cruz for Jon and I after missing a flight to Sucre. Santa Cruz is the largest city in Bolivia, but yet it felt less city-like and much more spread out than La Paz. During our time there we lingered in the beautiful plaza, enjoyed a real breakfast (I am still trying to introduce the notion of breakfast in Paraguay), got to enjoy some frozen yogurt, and visited several museums.
Then we were off to Sucre. Sucre is known as la Cuidad Blanca, the White City, because the buildings in the historic center are all white with red tiled roofs. It is a very endearing town with its meandering streets, cute coffee shops, and amazing food. They are also known for their chocolate shops, so I of course had to stop and enjoy a couple truffles.