190 CultureShock! Bolivia
Uyuni, went through most of his childhood without knowing
what it was like to touch a tree. His boundless imagination
may have been nurtured by so much emptiness.HIGH VALLEY CITIES
Many millions of years ago, Bolivian dinosaurs made a clever
decision to bypass both cold Altiplano and steamy lowlands
and instead hang out in the year-round spring climates of
the high valleys. Dinosaur fossil footprints have been found
precisely in areas near Bolivia’s three main high valley cities:
Sucre, Cochabamba and Tarija.Sucre
If aesthetic surroundings are your primary motivation in
choosing an ideal place, this ‘city of four names’ is arguably
the prettiest city site in Bolivia. At last, we have descended
to the eternal spring altitude, where the breathing is easier,
at 2,790 m (9,150 ft).
Sucre is a city of only 150,000 inhabitants, but in name
it is the capital of Bolivia, hosting an annual symbolicFolk group, Raza Milenaria, singing in a Sucre peña.