The entrance

The Mines of Potosi

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October 11th 2007
Potosi is quite a nice little town, dominated by Cerro Rico, 'the rich mountain', which has been mined since 1546 when silver was first discovered. It is still beeing mined today, and the tour of the mines was very interesting, though I was glad to see daylight again. We had to crawl through several narrow tunnels, at high altitude (4200m) and with very dusty air. General Life expectancy for t ... read more

South America » Bolivia » Potosí Department » Potosi

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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