Cogs

At the mint museum in Potosí: a two-floor network of cogs, driven by horses or donkeys, was used to flatten ingots of silver mixed with a little copper to make sheet metal from which the colonial coin blanks were cut. The whole cog mechanism was shipped from Spain and carried overland by donkey.

Bolivian sketches

May 20th 2007
Oruru took a bit of getting used to after the freedom and emptiness of the Altiplano roads: the narrow streets choked with vehicles and pedestrians; and footpaths that petered to nothing, or taken up by vendors with a blanket or table spread with goods for sale, forcing pedestrians to walk into the road to pass. Given how atrociously Bolivians drive, this is risky business! Many of the streets don ... read more

South America » Bolivia

Bolivia, named after independence fighter Simon BOLIVAR, broke away from Spanish rule in 1825; much of its subsequent history has consisted of a series of nearly 200 coups and counter-coups. Comparatively democratic civilian rule was established in 1... ... read more

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