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Published: October 24th 2011
Managed to find a really nice hostel in Sucre, Hostel Escondida, so nice we decided to stay for around a week.
One of the first things we did was to book into a Spanish Language school for a three day course. The lessons were enjoyable and we definitely learnt some useful stuff, including the odd naughty word!
We took advantage of the hostel kitchen and the food market opposite us and were able to make a low salt lunch and dinner for ourselves (they love salty food in South America). We also managed to have poached eggs!
On Thursday Morning we went to see some dinosaur footprints and meteorite craters. The span of the triceratops footprints was massive.
In the evening we went to a dance show where we were treated to some traditional dances from around Bolivia. The costumes were very entertaining and Stuart and Adam even spotted some nice shoes with bells on that they wanted.
Our next destination was Potosi, where we visited the mines. There used a lot of pure silver, however they now mine mostly minerals. The mines are owned by co-operatives, each will get plot and only if they find
a good 'vein' of minerals will they hire people to help, otherwise they work on their area by themselves.
Some miners work up to 24 hour shifts, chewing on coca leaves and drinking 96% alcohol. On a Friday the miners give offerings to Tio, their god, for good luck when mining. They have a 300 year old statue that they decorate and restore each year. The offerings they give are cigarettes, the 96% alcohol, coca leaves and llama foetus. They also give some alcohol to Pacha Mama.
The next day we got to experience Bolivia on election day, which meant nothing was open and it was hard to buy alcohol!
Our next destination is Uyuni and the Salt Flats. Will tell you about that soon!
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