Sucre > La Paz?

As we spent the weekend traveling through Bolivia, I have to say out of everywhere I’ve been in Bolivia thus far (which isn’t very many places) I was extremely impressed by the city of Sucre. Throughout my stay in La Paz I have been greatly concerned with its lack of environmental awareness or promotion of sustainability. La Paz, the capital of Bolivia, is obviously extremely large therefore you can only imagine the amount of garbage produced by its inhabitants. Yet, I’ve not once passed a recycling container along its long avenues, streets, or within any of its communities.

Upon my first daytime stroll through Sucre, the numerous recycling containers lining its avenues and streets immediately struck me. There was not just a single recycling container, but rather three large circular tins individually labeled. Painted there own color, the green container read  “organicos,” the yellow “papeles,” and the black “metales.” It was as if I saw Santa Clause. I was so excited, I ran to my professor saying, “Wow, I’m so impressed by these recycling tins! This is amazing- I’ve never seen anything like this in La Paz.” His response, “Yeah, this is Sucre.”

His response kept me thinking. What did he mean? Sucre is the constitutional capital of Bolivia, only housing the Supreme Court. If we’re talking about what city is more important in the means of governmental standards, obviously it’s La Paz the presidential capital of Bolivia- home of numerous governmental officials. History wise, yes Sucre is a very important city, but so is La Paz. Maybe La Paz should learn from Sucre who illustrated throughout its city the importance of sustainability. For me, I believe this issue clearly lies much deeper, bringing us back to considering the influential role of the government in La Paz and the evermore question of its intention.