Cal Orck'o is a fabulous repository of dinosaur footprints located in the centre of Bolivia, just a 20-minute ride from the colonial city of Sucre.

I am perched on the back of a flatbed truck converted into a people carrier with wooden benches and extra high siding. It is painted bright blue, green, yellow and red with cartoon dinosaurs and the words “DINO TRUCK” emblazoned on its back.

There are six of us: two French men, an Israeli couple and me and my boyfriend.

We're on a two-hour tour to see the world’s largest collection of dinosaur tracks (cost: 25 Bolivianos or $3). The tracks are a 20-minute ride from the center of Sucre, Bolivia’s judicial capital. It’s a white, wedding-cake colonial city with cobbled-stone paths and a large central market.

Our multi-lingual guide, Daniel, declares it’s time to go. The truck leaves three times daily from the cathedral in the main square.

As we rumble up and down through the narrow streets of Sucre, residents stop to wave at us. I feel like I'm on a parade float.

We’re headed to Cal Orck'o, the limestone quarry of the National Cement Factory. The site was discovered in 1994 after workers blasted through the cliff and uncovered a treasure trove of tracks.

DATING BACK 70 MILLION YEARS

We arrive at a giant dust bowl and see a myriad of pockmarks on the cliff side in the distance. Daniel makes us stand behind the tour company’s tiny office first. He takes out eight plastic dinosaurs and uses his helmet to explain the dawn of dino history to us.

The tracks are almost 70-million years old, from the Cretaceous era. There are herbivore and carnivore tracks and the largest prints are more than three feet in length.Daniel, an obvious dino-phile, is enthusiastic about history. His avid storytelling brings the imprints to life. Words like “Triassic,” “Plateosaurus” and “Ornithopods” spool off his tongue.

As we walk near the cliff side, I start to feel like an ant. The gray-rock cliff stands 325 feet tall at about a 70-degree angle. Plate tectonics have shifted the ancient ground to a cliff face.

We discover the longest stretch of tracks goes for a third of a mile and was probably laid down by a baby Tyrannosaurus rex dubbed Johnny Walker. Other species identified include the three-horned triceratops, the carnivorous alosaurus and the titannosaurus. I place my hand next to one of the largest footprints; it’s barely the size of a dinosaur toenail.

5,000 FOOTPRINTS UNCOVERED

Paleontologists estimate there are 5,000 impressions on the rock face from 150 different animals.

As we head back to the truck, we hear the roar of cement factory trucks. I ask about the closeness of the footprints to the factory.

Daniel says Cal Orck’o is an UNESCO site (UNESCO is an arm of the United Nations overseeing science and education) but that’s just paper protection. There is nothing to prevent the quarry next door from continuing to blast into the rock face.

“They say that it will help uncover even more tracks. They don’t understand. This site is in danger.”

There’s talk of establishing a “Cretaceous Park” to protect the tracks by preserving them with silicon injections into the rock face or moving them to an exhibition center.

My boyfriend and I are the last to be dropped off. I hand Daniel a tip. He expresses surprise. I tell him how much we appreciated his guiding today. The dinos and Daniel have left a deep impression.

TRAVEL INFO:

Getting there:

Sucre lies in the lower middle of Bolivia. Major airlines fly into the capital La Paz where you’ll have to change planes to a local airline (Aerosur, LAB, TAM) to fly one hour to Sucre (cost: about $60).

Sucre is compact city. Stay in the center and you can get around on foot. A taxi ride from the airport costs about $2. Several colonial mansions have been converted into hotels and cost anywhere from $20 to $50 a night.

What to eat:

Sucre is known for a Bolivian delicacy called saltenas. You can get them for 25- to 50-cents in the central market or go to a salteneria. Saltenas are pastry shells filled with a spicy, juicy stew of meat with vegetables, olives and a hard-boiled egg. They are usually eaten as a mid-morning snack. Two well-known saltenerias: El Patio at San Alberto 18 and Paso del Los Abuelos on Bustillos 216