August 2, 2016
doing a tourist thing
I have been to see dinosaur foot-prints made 68 million years ago.
Back then the continents as we know them today had been taking shape for millions of years before, after a breakup of one super-continent. The fragmented landmass pieces of which, spread out, drifting upon tectonic plates deep underground; until, the continent now known as South America came into being. In the process, two tectonic plates met, crashing into each other, causing the ground above to lift up on end, creating the Andes mountain range.
The upheaval was of such magnitude, there were continuous volcanic eruptions with a thick layer of poisonous carbon monoxide gases lingering close to the ground, which eventually led to suffocation and extinction of the dinosaurs.
The dinosaurs lived around lakeshores, because the climate was tropic, therefore needed huge amounts of drinking water and a place to bathe in to cool down. However, as they died out, their foot-prints eventually became covered over with dust, causing sedimentation, which turned to mud during the rainy-season, then in the proceeding dry-season baked hard. Layer upon layer of sedimentation built up on top of each other over a long period of time, each layer pressing down on the next, creating rock strata with the dinosaur foot-prints preserved underneath; and simultaneously, the former lakeshore area became part of the upheaval, caused by the tectonic plates crashing, which formed the Andes.
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One of the big visitor attractions Sucre has to offer, are dinosaur foot-prints discovered in the 1980s in a magnesium mine, magnesium the powdery mineral in concrete used in a large cement factory on the northern edge of the city by route 5, the road for Santa Cruz and Cochabamba.
I decided to go and have a look. A useful daytrip, because route 5 is my planned way out of the city, when I continue further. So as I sat on the tourist-bus looking out the window while it drove up to the dinosaur park as it's called, was a reconnaissance of the route, so I'd know the way.
I wrote "up to the dinosaur park" Yes, it's all uphill from the city centre, through the more ugly part of the city on narrow uphill street with dilapidated car-part workshops to the side, stalls run by indigenes women selling everything, broken down breeze-block houses, and of course, smoky pollution from thirty-year old vehicles.
By the way the standard of driving in Bolivia is deplorable. There's absolutely no respect for cyclists or pedestrians. For instance, they drive along narrow streets in Sucre too fast, blaring the horn at groups of school children that happen to be crossing the street to get out of the way, rather than slow down. It's really silly behaviour, as less than a hundred metres on, the traffic-lights are at red and they'll have to stop and wait anyway. Another selfish disregard for others is, often at traffic lights, the lead car will have stopped on the pedestrian-crossing, so people have to detour round them. But be careful when you walk in front of a stopped car at a traffic-light, because when the lights begin to turn from green to amber on the intersecting street, the car will start moving forward, in effect jumping the red light, rather than wait a few seconds for their own lights to go green. They will plough into you if you happen to be in front of them crossing at that moment.
The drivers here make drivers in Argentina look sane. At any rate when cycling in the southern neighbour-land, cars, mostly but not always, slow and give you sufficient space when passing.
Anyway, with the steep ascend, the pollution and dangerous driving, leaving Sucre on route 5, will be far from pleasant.
While I'm prepare to endure this unpleasantness, the road (5) ahead turns very rough, according to Crazy Guy author Jeff Kruys, at one point there's a long section of rough uneven cobblestones, increasing the chance of wheel breakage, or even breaking the bike-frame, while bumping over the rough surface. Though, it was 2009, over seven years ago when Jeff cycled this road, and the cobblestone section could've been rebuilt with a sealed surface in the meantime.
I'm having second thoughts on leaving the city via route 5, therefore. There is an alternative for the general direction I want to go: east, out of the city via route 6, the way I went in 2010. A steeper climb from the city-centre, initially, though short in comparison to the northern road out, furthermore without the ugly city sprawl as it passes through the city's posher neighbourhood, and it wasn't long until I's out in open countryside.
Anyhow, I'm here in Sucre's historic city-centre for a few days more.
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