This is a castle in Sucre of an old, wealthy, mining family.  Both families were very well to do.  The grounds were in disrepair, but would have been beautiful in the days that they were taken care of.  The family didn't have any children and used a lot of their money to sponsor orphanages and a home for old people in the area.  The rooms were all very different.  The floors were parque and the ceilings were all inlaid wood with lots of carvings.

The right side of the home was a stable for horses and carriages.  The tall tower in the middle is where we climbed to view the valley.  We were amazed at all the doors in each room.  Many had at least 4 or 5 and some had more.  The doors opened to the outside as well as to the next room and the hallway.

The house included a chapel on the one side of the structure.  That side of the house represented the heavens and the religious part and the other side of the house represented the underworld or of Satan.  This division of the mansions was not uncommon in the 1800's and early 1900's.

This is from that tall tower in the middle of the castle.  There is a military base on the other side of the river.

Looking down from the tower to "Big Ben" in front of the chapel.

These are the stairs going down from the tower.  They were really steep and "skinny".

Because the wife didn't have any children, she collected dolls.  This is the house on the grounds where she would keep her dolls and play house. 

This is how you buy cakes at the market.  There were lots of flies, but the cakes looked pretty good.

In the park. We decided to each take a picture on the lion. 

More Sucre picturesWe

We spent a rainy morning at the Museum de Libertad.  They had several pieces that were all inlaid wood.  They were very beautiful and had some secret compartments.  This is also where the little harpsichord was.  I sneaked a picture of the harpsichord.  We had to pay extra to take pictures and John took pictures here and sent them to us.  Fun furniture.

This is in one of the big halls with the flags of Bolivia over the years.  The statue is carved out of a single piece of wood and is Simon Bolivar.

We are in the council room where the declaration of independence was signed.  John and Chris Norman (2nd counselor in the temple presidency and a young man who wanted his picture taken with us.)

The choir loft in the great hall.  Yes, the loft is gold inlay.

Chris Norman and Linda surrounding a copy of their Declaration of Independence signed in the year 1809.  Independence for Bolivia did not come until 1825, the last of the countries controlled by Spain in South America to gain independence.

We are sitting on some of the chairs in the hall.  They are wood and straight backs - very uncomfortable.  These were for the more common people.  The important men sat in chair that were soft, red, and more comfortable.

Chris and Linda standing by a "box" they used to carry dead officials through the street.

The fountain in the plaza.

At the front door to the Musea de Libertad.

We are in front of our bed and breakfast "the Casa Verde".  The breakfast was really good  - the rooms were not so good.

The different kinds of wool are put into this large machine which mixes them all together before moving on to the machines that will make the wool into cone shapes that will become hats.

The name of the place is Sombreros Sucre (Sucre Hats).  The process was really interesting to see.  There was wool in the air all throughout the process and the workers had to wear masks over nose and mouth to keep from damaging their lungs.  If OSHA were to make a visit to this place, it would immediately be shut down.  There was possible injury and health hazards at every step.

For some reason, we can't get the pictures in order.  We are at the hat factory in Sucre, which was really fascinating.  This picture shows the big rollers that make the wool into a very thin sheet.  This is done after many of the other processes.

The first process is cleaning the wool, which is done in this large vat.  Many different kinds of wool is used, some from Bolivia, Argentina, and other countries.  Some of the wool used has been rejected for use in finer fabrics.

The wool comes off those big rollers in a previous picture and these ladies guide the wool onto these forms which make the wool into cone shapes.  They know by feel just how much wool to use for the hats.

These are the cone shaped pieces of wool which will be made into different types of hats after going through some other processing.  The man in the picture is the one giving us the tour.

Some hats that have been formed by using water, heat, and shaping by hand.  They are hung on this rack by color and size.

As mentioned, these pictures are out of order.  This man is taking the cone shaped pieces of wool, soaks them with water inside and out and then, puts them on that hot ironing machine behind him to make the them very thin and flat.

At the end of the tour, we went through that little door in the background into a room where you could try on hats and buy what you liked.  Elder Dibb hit the top of his head really hard on that door and now has a bump and a big scab as a momento of the visit.  This is the hat Sister Dibb bought.  Pretty cool hat!

Elder Dibb bought this one.  Both of the hats we bought are leather, which they make here as well, but with a totally different process.  This company makes thousands of the wool hats each week for shipment all over North and South America.  85% of the hats they make are not shaped and finished here, that is done by the companies who purchase the shell of the hat.  This shell is not completely shaped but is dyed to specified colors for the buyers.

This 11 year old boy goes to school in Sucre during the week and then walks a half a day to his home for the week ends.  He shines shoes in the main plaza.  He was trying to convince us to have him polish our gym shoes to make them look like new.  We had a long conversation with him about school and and his family.

In front of the door to the Libertad.  It is the museum of the history of the revolution in the early 1800's, with freedom from the Spaniards coming in 1825, the last of the countries under Spanish rule to gain independence.

The Casa Verde is a Bed and Breakfast where we stayed for 3 nights in Sucre.  The breakfast was great, but the rooms left a little to be desired.  We stayed in the "superior" room, which had a little loft and a TV - of course, there was nothing to watch.  We had hot water in the shower, but not in the sink and the stairs were concrete and went up in the bathroom so Elder Dibb bumped his head often when backing away from the sink.  It was "an experience".

In one of the museums we went to there was this harpsicord that was made in the 15th century.  Sister Dibb was fascinated with the keys.  They were made with 2 separate pieces.  It still plays.

This is the side view.  It was very interesting.

There was a beautiful plaza in the middle of Sucre.  We walked around and through this plaza many times during our 5 day stay in Sucre.  We ate at a great restaurant across the street on the balcony 3 different times.  Loved this.

In a textile museum, there was a movie with the men wearing these shoes While dancing.  They have to be careful that they don't rip their legs apart as they make the moves.

It is fascinating to watch her weave.  The ladies still do their weaving this way.  She uses her left hand to lift the warp to help create the pattern in the finished product.  It takes about 3 months to finish a piece this size.

We got to put on a couple of the native hats in the museum.  Neat, huh?  But not much sun shade for Elder Dibb.

Here is Elder Dibb with the guide in his native costume.  Loved learning more about the history of Bolivia and the people.

First day in Sucre

The temple is closed for maintenance for two weeks.  Some of the missionaries went to Machu Picchu and Cuzco.  We had already been there with Andrew, so we decided to go to Sucre with President John and Sister Chris Norman.  We flew from Cochabamba to Sucre.  We were in the air for 25 minutes - my kind of flight.  After we got into our "Bed and Breakfast" (Casa Verde) we walked down to main plaza.  This is the principal and largest of the 26 cathedrals in Sucre.  We went to a Thursday morning mass with the Arch Bishop giving a special address on the day the Pope retired.  It was very interesting to say the least.

We are on the sidewalk looking toward the cathedral again and a government building.  On the right is the very edge of the big plaza.  It was beautiful.

President and Sister Norman and Elder Dibb on the street across from the plaza.  We enjoyed a nice lunch on a balcony overlooking the park and then visited a famous home just to the right of Elder Dibb.

Our first stop was the Recoleta on a hill above the city.  It is an old convent that has been converted into a museum and a Catholic Church remains on the sight.  This is a picture of Sucre from the Recoleta.

Across from the Recoleta is a large plaza with a fountain and people selling their woven purses, bracelets, etc.  This little mother has her daughter and you can see her son just walking out of the picture.  She is weaving a bracelet.

This is the wishing tree.  It is hundreds of years old.  If you go around it 3 times to the left, your wishes have to do with matrimony.  If you go to the right, you can wish for anything else.  Since we are already married, we all went around it to the right and made wishes. 

These are beautiful, carved seats in the church.  They represent the 26 Jesuit priests that were killed in the 1500's in Japan.  The Jesuit priests had a strong presence in Bolivia.  The seats are very beautiful, but would be very uncomfortable to sit on for very long.

This is the chapel at the Recoleta.