SUCRE

Wed 3rd December

Well, the dodgey stomach isnt much better Im afraid - starting to get a bit worried that Im losing too much fluid as everything's going straight through me.

On the plus side though, I've hardly eaten for two days so the weight has to be coming off.

I did the visit to the Casa de la Libertad (House of Liberty) this morning ; a museum celebrating Bolivia's hard won independence in the 1820's, but felt quite sick through most of it. Alessandro stood in for the guide we shouldve gotten and did a half decent job - although I thought he didnt know as much as he was trying to make on. Funniest moment - when Chris noticed that the portrait of the main woman who fought for Bolivia's independence in the early 1800's bore a striking resemblance to Catherine Zeta Jones during her "Zorro" phase - quiet uncanny !!!

Went into the Cathedral after this to see a jewel encrusted painting of the Virgin Guadalupe, painted in 1601 (actually I thought it was very tacky - and copies of it are everywhere in Bolivia. There were far better paintings by Bernardo Bitto in the little museum next door - although they were a bit creepy,and had some very dubious subject matter ( one depicted a poor boy being circumcised !!) Right next door were the remains of a shroud , which if it was real was pretty amazing - could see the whole outline of a body on it, though I couldnt figure out who's it was and everything in Spanish. Obviously someone important though LOL !!!!

Joined the group for a coffee in a very trendy bar called Joyride ( definitely a cool place to hang out in Sucre) before retiring to bed feeling sorry for myself around lunchtime.

Went out for dinner to a very good French Restaurant, which I cant remember the name of and managed to eat okay, although I had a pretty sleepless night as a result of it - running to the toilet every hour on the hour. Also wasnt helped by the fact that the person or persons who moved in next door to me insisted on playing James Blunt's"You're Beautiful" repeatedly til way late !!! Came closer to knocking on their door I tell you.

This hotel is definitely the best we've stayed in so far though - so not looking forward to returning to the altitude and the noise of La Paz tomorrow.