Sunday in Sucre

Sunday in Sucre is quiet, like all Sundays in all South American cities. It's how it used to be in Poland: all public places and all stores are closed. Only restaurants are open (and then they are all closed on Mondays) and internet cafes. Families spend Sunday together, they walk in the parks and hang out in the family-run restaurants where owners-resteuranteurs sit together with their guests. I went to one of the parks in the morning and saw many people jogging (I pant even when I walk here so I couldn't believe they had the strength to be making all these loops around the park running) and dogs were playing and napping on the lawn. There's a huge section of the park just for kids with lots of aparatuses for climbing, all kinds of sea-saws, swings and sandboxes. I had a really good breakfast at Joy Ride Cafe, a Dutch-owned place (it seems many Dutch and Germans settled in Bolivia), walked extensively around the quiet town, enjoying all the bautiful houses and balconies, and it's mid-day so the internet cafe is my hiding place from the heat. I have the time to write about a big part of my life which is DOGS. This trip is mostly about observing and learning about different cultures, people, their customs, interactions between them, their corelation with nature, their believes, and about nature, architecture, history, politics, economy, art, food, traditional and non-traditional clothes, etc. And it is also about dogs. Because I always had a special relationship with dogs. I love all animals, big and small, but dogs are special to me. They have been domesticated so long ago that they always really want to be part of the human family and do everything to win man's love. They are man's best friend but man is not always best friend to them... I have been observing dog's life in all countries I visited. In general it it a good life because they are free - they are not tied to doghouses and not locked inside houses; they run around wherever they want. Sometimes I see them scratching the door of their houses at dusk when they come home tired and happy. There are no fast roads here and in many places there are speed bumps. Dogs also learn to avoid cars and to walk across roads and streets when it's safe to do it. I haven't seen any dogs killed on the road. They run around and when they get tired they just fall asleep wherever they drop, sometimes in the middle of the sidewalk, in parks, on the markets between the stalls. They are of all shapes, sizes and colors. They are usually mutts. Dogs are not fixed but males co-exist in peace. The hierarchy is established early and everyone obeys it: the younger submit to the older until the older get so old that they get out of the way of the younger. I have seen occasional fights but not to the point that they would rip each other apart. It's mostly to show dominance and it ends fast. Dogs know when to fight and when to submit. They are never agressive toward people. People are never afraid of dogs - they are their masters. I think all dogs' energy is spent running around so there's no agressive energy buildup. Some dogs are loners and stay away from other dogs, others travel in packs. They often play in the parks. I sometime see packs of wild dogs. They may not be in the greatest shape (sometimes they are skinny and sick) but they enjoy their freedom - I think freedom is everything to a dog (they want to belong to a man but without the freedom of running they are miserable). Then next comes the food. I can usually tell whether the city or a village is doing well or not by the shape it's dogs are in. If the city is doing well, the dogs are plump and clean. For some reason the places along the coast of Peru, Panama, and Mexico where the ones where dogs were really sick. Maybe it has to do with the climate and proximity to salt water. They often get skin diseases or fungus and it is then a sad sight to see them suffering... Everywhere else dogs were doing, I would say, fine. They look happy. Some of them come to me for patting. I have patted many many dogs. I will remember some of them for ever, the ones who come to me as if they had known me all their lives. In places I visit for the first time they are my first friends. Some of them come to get some food and I always have something to give to them. I also miss my dogs and I sometimes wonder if they would like to be doing this journey with me. I think Buffo likes comfort too much to be enjoying rough travelling such as this but Maksio would love it. He would love the running around, playing with the dogs, getting into fights, etc. Maybe when I go to Europe, and if I travel by car, I would take them with me. In Portugal I could do it because in Portugal all dogs are also running free and are welcomed everywhere. I will see where the wind takes me after this trip. Tomorrow I am going to take the "Dino Truck" to a site where petrified dinosaurs' tracks where found a few years ago and then I will take a train to Potosi. Then I am planning to go south to Tarija, a winery region close to the border with Argentina. I will cross the border and head south to Patagonia. That's the rough plan. And now I will go find some park and nap on the grass, surrounded by dogs...