Potosi and beyond

Day 1 After Uyuni we took a short bus ride to Potosi, potosi is apparently the highest city in the world and as such the high altitude was still weighing heavily, when we arrived we quickly found a nice hostel (mine and holdens had a fantastic view of the heavens and the city landscape at night) and did the usual thing of trying to find somewhere to go out to eat and drink. The city itself used to be one of the largest, wealthiest cities in the world because of the rich silver deposits nearby but since then it has been used and abused to the point of decay, however the centre was still beautiful with huge mansions and banks all over the place and a general feel that everything was peachy so long as you didn't step outside the bubble.

Day 2 Decided to set off early this morning on a tour of the local mines, we had been warned that it was both physically and mentally taxing but i looked good so we went for it, the first step was to go get kitted up in full mining gear; rubber trousers, coat, boots, miners hat and a torch. We then got offered the chance to buy some bandannas to put over our mouths which would hopefully prevent us inhaling great lung fulls of dirt, needless to say we all bought one, i was green, holden was yellow and chris was pink, we were like the power rangers. We were then taken around the town in full miners gear to go "shopping"

It was the best shopping trip ive ever been on, we were shown to a special miners shop on a special street where normal laws did not apply where we bought 3 sticks of dynamite each, some coca to help with the altitude (coca is a leaf used to make cocaine, however in the leaf form the effects are minimal, it is mainly used to give you energy, kill appetite, help with altitude and make you more resistant to temperature change, perfect for the miners and it really works, you basically ram a great wad of it into your cheek and suck on it for hours at a time, tastes a bit bitter but its worth it.) Some ammonium nitrate to help with the boom and some presents for the miners (some foul cigarettes and some fizzy drink). Next stop was the mine, we climbed in a minibus and began the winding ascent to the top, we stopped off briefly for a tour in one of the purification plants where all the ore from the mine (or completo in Spanish) was purified. it was brilliant, health and safety was 0 and we were led into rooms filled with all sorts of whirring spinning things and vats of nasty liquids that smell a bit funny, we were then led outside to present our gifts to some of the miners and enter the mine. The beginning of the shaft was ok but as we got deeper inside the air became hotter, the tunnels (which were built for small Bolivian types) became narrower and the floor became more uneven. the first stop was to a specially made museum detailing the ugly history of the mine and its workers, lots of deaths, lots of mistreatment and generally lots of nastiness. we were then lead out again and started to really navigate the mine. At this point the tour operator told us we were going to go alone and briefly described the route we had to take to a lower shaft, we slid down some steep slopes with barely enough grip to stop you tumbling right down, over some rickety ladders held together with wire and through some tunnels barely tall enough to crawl through, baring in mind the air down here was as thin as... stone soup (couldnt think of anything else to go here) and the suits made us hot and sweaty, even though it was only bout 7 minutes we were all knackered and needed to rest by the time we met with our guide again. fortunately at this point he showed us a statue of a devil the miners had made to give them good luck, the statues were called tios (uncles) and were either supposed to represent the white mine owners of old (who would have affairs with local women and then out of shame would make the resulting offspring call them uncle instead of dad so nobody would catch on) or because the original Spanish owners made the statues to serve as a warning to the native slaves, the idea was if the slaves didnt work hard enough the demons would punish them, the owners refered to these statues as gods (dios in spanish) but since the natives could not pronounce D sounds they called them "tios". Anyways the tios were always decorated in bright colours and given gifts like cigarettes or booze or porn to keep them happy. After the tios we moved further down to see some of the workers doing what they do, we found one guy who didnt mind us photographing him working in a tiny dig out with a chisel and hammer. On the way to see some other workers we heard a distant rumbling sound and our tour guide began to urge us on "come on faster faster!" we hurried forward all sweaty and panting into a little side corridor and 30 seconds later a mine cart full to the brim with rocks with 2 Pedro hanging off it came hurtling past at some ridiculous speed, close shave. The rest of the trip consisted of more climbing, sliding and coughing and eventually a return to the cool sweet air of the surface where we gathered our remaining dynamite and blew up some plants in the desert, the thing here is that the miners played some cruel trick on us, lighting the fuses of the bombs while we were still holding them and watching our reactions which were mostly, nothing. We just stood there blinking till they took them off us again and legged it out into the mountain. I'm sure Charles Darwin would have had a few choice words for that situation. After our mine fun we returned to the hostel for well deserved showers and some food out in town.

Day 3-9 (we didn't do too much here so im going to condense it) Decided to leave today to somewhere with more of an agreeable climate for a few days of proper rest and relaxation, we decided to go to the nearby city of sucre which apparently was quite sunny and had some nice white buildings. Needless to say we werent disappointed the plaza was like some beautiful green oasis,music was playing in the streets and the sun was shining, wandering around the centre was one of those times when i really felt happy and relaxed and glad to be in good ol SA instead of of the Shire. One thing i noticed though was the amount of beggars and street children about, apparently there was no old age pension available so a lot of old women would end up on the street, they would reach out their hands to you and make a whining noise, i might have had more sympathy but i feel annunciation is very important so tended not to give them anything unless they spoke properly (oooh you heartless bastard!). The street kids were better they spoke properly and once you got over the fact that they would try and shine anything for 2Bs they were quite good fun to talk to, i made semi friends with one called Edwin who was quite sharp and had been teaching himself several languages to better harass the tourists, i gave him a bit of money but then he insisted i buy him and his friend a meal so i told him to bugger off, i was actually going to buy him a pizza on the last day but i couldn't find him, oh well, pizza was delicious.
The city was quite a strange place with loads of restaurants and tourist agencies but also loads and loads of Pharmacies (Valium is legal here so we bought some for the long bus rides, and possibly to drug graham with) and phone/internet shops, you literally couldn't go 1 block without seeing at least 1 of each. The markets here were also great and sold everything you could want, walking down one was fun enough with all the colors and sellers and jugglers wondering about, bartering was pretty good too as i got way with what i thought was great deals on everything from loo roll to a digital watch but in all probability i was being laughed at and called stupid gringo.
Day 4 ish i met a Canadian girl called Celeste in a bar called Joyride (great bar by the way, its owned by 2 Dutch people with a great sense of humor) she had a laptop and was looking at some geeky stuff so i went over to say hello, turned out she liked bikes and drums and geekery (she was also quite into politics but i forgave her for that) so we got on quite well, shed been living in the city for 5 months doing some charity work so knew the place quite well which was really handy for showing me and holden good bars and places to go. I also met up with her and her friends a few times for food and drinks and other bits and bobs (they all spoke english french and spanish fluently so when they were all together their conversations were all over the place, quite surreal at times). During one of our outings she took me old holden on a whirlwind tour of a few of the cities bars where we drank out of glasses shaped like a womans torso, had drinks called screaming and multiple orgasm respectively, had another fiery drink called a flaming doctor pepper (which im bringing home) and sang our repertoire of songs for an appreciative audience (who were in fact upstairs so may not have been able to hear us, but they made a lot of clapping noises and stamping of feet so we assume they loved us). The night did culminate in an armed robbery where me and holden were stripped of our stuff (and celeste 20Bs) but they didn't get away with much so im still calling it a good night.
Day 5ish felt a bit funny this morning but dismissed it as nothing so went out for a quick meal with holden, ordered the biggest pile of meat on the menu called el pico del macho, i hadn't had more than a bite of it before i felt another funny feeling, i needed to fart but there was something a bit sinister lurking just out of sight, so i went to the toilet and that was it, CHOCKS AWAY! i had the squits. Decided to politely ask if we could have our food put in a doggy bag and went back to the hostel, the rest of the day was spent in relative comfort except for the occasional need for a half hour toilet visit, by the end of the day i was fed up so decided to chug a load of antibiotics and be done with it, worked like a charm!
Last day, after having spent 5 days doing more or less nothing we decided to finally get on and be constructive, so we decided to join a horse riding group and go on an excursion to some waterfalls, it turned out that me and holden were the only ones in our group and the guide didn't speak english but it was still ok, never having ridden a horse before i found it quite a strange experience so decided the best thing to do was treat it like a bike. I kept trying to steer the horse around small rocks and up pavements much to its annoyance, i even contemplated taking it off a ramp but that wouldn't have ended well, it pretty much worked as planned except bikes never wonder off to nibble at some bushes or pee in front of a corner shop. after an hour and a half ish we dismounted and made a small hike to some waterfalls in the hills, the water was freezing and the sun was out so we decided not to go in in the end. After riding back for another hour and a half or so we hopped into a taxi and went back to our pub for drink and a steak. After our little tour i have decided to reassess my viewpoint on horses, i no longer hate them, i just think they're boring and stupid. We then went back to the hostel to pack and hopped on a bus to La Paz La Paz!

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