City Scenes

Rooftops of Sucre (More City Scenes!)

Geology - Sucre

Sucre is located within a belt of numerous folds, including synclines containing Cretaceous and Tertiary strata. We visited Upper Cretaceous dinosaur tracks in nearly vertical beds of the El Molino Formation. The main dinosaur prints in this concrete quarry were from sauropods (long-necked dinos), therapods (3-toed meat eaters), and hadrosaurs (duck billed dinos).

Situated in an arid part of the Eastern Cordillera, Sucre is surrounded by the 10 my old, undeformed San Juan del Oro surface. This geomorphic surface continues to intrigue geologists since it has survived relatively intact during what is considered the period of most rapid uplift and deformation in the central Andes.

Dino Tracks

As close to Jurassic Park as we might get, our last day in Sucre took our group to the FANCESA cement quarry where an astonishing number of dinosaur tracks are beautifully exposed in the quarry walls. Some of the longest continuous dinosaur tracks in the world are exposed in the approximately 200 m high and 500 m long quarry walls. An array of dinosaur species are recorded. There were pairs of footprints side-by-side as well as individual footprints, which criss-crossed each other across the walls. None of us had ever seen such an impressive display of dinosaur activity and none of us will ever forget the footprints. Although we were amazed by the dinosaur tracks, an exciting aspect of this excursion was our ride to the quarry. The company that shuttles tourists from Sucre to the quarry has modified a cattle truck, built some benches in the truck bed, painted the side panels yellow with cartoons of dinosaurs and rainbows, and named it "The Dino Truck". As tourists aboard the Dino Truck, we definitely stood out from the crowd. The truck chugged its way uphill out of Sucre to the quarry slower than most people walk. The comedy of riding on the truck far outweighed any embarrassment we may have felt riding in our mobile tourist corral.

Once we arrived at the cement quarry, we were supplied with orange hard hats and introduced to our Dino-footprints guide. She spoke English and gave us an excellent lesson about how dinosaurs lived in the Sucre area. Using plastic toy dinosaurs in a sand pit, she demonstrated how the footprints were generated. Most of the facts the guide presented were interesting and accurate; however, we were all a little skeptical when our guide presented the notion that sinuous tracks were from "drunken dinosaurs".

Dino Tracks

Riding on the Dino Truck (More Dinos!)

Culture

Locals parading down the street (More Culture!)

Culture - Sucre

Sucre, located in central Bolivia in Eastern Cordillera, is the judicial capital of Bolivia! Although most government offices are in La Paz, Sucre was the original capital and remains the cultural center of the country.

"Sucre is a town apart in Bolivia. Whereas any other town in the country has unmistakable Incan influence, Sucre has a decidedly Spanish flavor. The Spanish white colonial architecture is a stark contrast to the austere appearance of typical Bolivian settlements." - Bobby Gillis

"The old buildings were quite grand with their fancy ornamentation and white paint." - Mary Kairouz

Sucre maintains traditional Bolivian markets, but has more shops and nice restaurants than other cities. Within the town square, tapestries, rugs, jewelry, and clothing line the sidewalks along with the eager merchants, willing to sell their goods away for very little cash. Many of us found that we bartered away more of our money then we actually thought - when everything costs so little, it seems we have a tendency to buy more. This is completely justifiable though - where else can you get a "Spaniards versus Incas" chess set? Children serve as the majority of vendors, selling everything from postcards to chocolate bars. Five-year-olds insist on shining your shoes. As geologists, we were quite the attraction to them. We had the dirtiest shoes in town.

"One boy was only six years old, and he was covered head to toe in dirt. I asked him where his mother was, and he just giggled. Maybe my Spanish did not make sense." - Kristen Ebert

Traditional Bolivian (Quechuan) attire is worn around Sucre, though you will find many of the residents have moved into the jeans and t-shirts era. The Virgin of Guadalupe was celebrated while we were in town, and as a result, the town square was covered with people, parades, and brightly decorated cars. The cars were covered from trunk to hood in dolls, blankets, flowers, or any other random object you could imagine. The windshield was completely covered - leading us to believe that visibility wasn't too high. Watch out shoeshine boys. Pedestrians don't have the right of way in this city. But parades do. In celebration for the Virgin of Guadalupe, the town square was temporarily blocked off as a wave of Bolivian teenagers and children came dancing and jumping down the street, living it up Bolivian style. This was an incredible scene, as hundreds of dancers came uniformly down the street, performing the same moves in sync. Like modern cities today, bands and other entertainment come into the city to perform. We had the good fortune to witness MOLOTOV! - A Spanish-speaking "Mexican Beastie Boys" version of modern rock that made any gringo sit uneasy in their chair. Our main activity during our stay in Sucre was a ride on the Dino-Truck, to see the Upper Cretaceous dinosaur tracks. This was probably our best opportunity to witness the culture throughout the city. We passed traditional to non-traditional homes, markets, discotecas, brightly colored murals, and the like. Eyes followed us in the Dino-truck as the drivers paraded us around the town for all the people to see.

City Scenes

Plaza 25 de Mayo (More City Scenes!)

Night Life

Lettin' loose in Sucre (More Night Life!)

Group Shots

Relaxing on the hotel roof (More Group Shots!)