From Sucre, we took a day trip three-hours round trip to Tarabuco, which is a village best known as the home of the tradition-keeping Yampara culture and for its weekly Sunday market. Unfortunately we missed our opportunity to go on a Sunday (because we had been having too much fun with toilet activities the last week) so we saw it for the reality that it is otherwise, a sleepy, rustic village in need of a facelift, but still emitting a bit of charm on its winding, cobbled streets. In this image, it looks a bit like rural Portugal.

But the main square is far from that. It is surrounded by a white church fringed with chipped orange paint, and several tiendas that carry nothing but processed carbs and chicken eggs.

Other things in the central square which made it a bit, uh…not Europe: This blood thirsty lad, who seemingly stepped out of the Temple of Doom, was probably the most interesting, and horrifying, part of the town. If you zoom in a bit, you’ll see why. Yes, that’s indeed a human heart this indigenous Sunqu Miku warrior is holding. Evidently, he just ripped it out of the guy he’s stepping on, who would be a “Green” person…aka a Spaniard. Granted, the Spaniard probably deserved it, but according to the plaque this was gruesomely a historically accurate event in 1816 after one of the bloodiest battles in Bolivian history where the Spaniards were obviously defeated. The natives removed the hearts of the Spanish, and as a sign of victory, they ate it, demonstrating the fury of revenge and freedom. Oh my😬

March 12 was the date of that heart feasting battle, hence, the flashy, also misplaced, sign.

The streets of the village. People come from far and wide to sell at the Sunday market. 

There was truly not a lot going on and we were definitely the only gringoes in town. Despite this, we had several locals come up to welcome us, including two town drunks, who in completely indecipherable Spanish got a little clutchy when shaking Mandy’s hand. 🤣

Other than the roving drunk guys, the streets were eerily empty, other than this little supermodel. 

We found the only open restaurant in town, at the only hostel in town. Naturally, there was only one option on the menu as well, so we had no choice but to settle for it…Coconut chicken a la carbs. It cost $1.50 each and all we cared was that it was cooked. 

An artisanal clothing shop near the main square

Every single thing in the village seemed to feature a blanket of dust. But, the charm was never lost.

Their houses were jigsawed together using stone and mud.

And on the mountainside, a giant “welcome to Tarabuco” sign flashed its beacon.

In addition to the plethora of street dogs, there were very odorific street pigs.

Did we mention that Bolivia seems to be the India of South America in more ways than one?! Yet there was undoubtedly so much potential everywhere we looked. 

To get there, we took a mini bus from the intersection of Mendoza and Avenida de las Americas in Sucre. It cost 20 Bolivianos each round trip, or about $2.75. It may have been our cheapest day trip…ever. The buses are much more regular on Sundays, evidently. Overall, we were glad we went but wish we could have experienced it on that day of the week.