Blogs from Potosi, Potosí Department, Bolivia, South America - page 35

Day 23 We arrived in Potosi midday and had a wander round. We are something like 3600 m above sea level so it's really hard to walk uphill as your heart is beating so fast due to the altitude! We had lunch and then went for a tour around the mint museum. Day 24 We were picked up in the morning for our trip to the mine. Basically Potosi is a mining town where the miners pay the government to work in the mine and whatever they find is theirs. The mine used to be rich in silver, but now it is other minerals they look for. We stopped off at the market to buy the miners some presents and headed to the mine. Firstly our tour guide showed us how the miners use dynamite to ... read more

Firstly, i would like to say, travelling is not always fun. Even when you have the magical company of Mr. Webb. Yesterday we finally completed the monstrous journey to Buenos Aires. We suffered 50 hours in the worst squashed seats at the back, with Rich sitting next to a baby, we endured flat tyres, running out of petrol, a 6 hour wait for a new gearbox, and endless bag searches. And all this a day after a previous 30 hour bus trip. nightmare. In fact in the last 8 nights we have spent 3 sleeping in a cold tent, 4 nights on a bus a one, yes ONE in a bed. But here we are in Buenos Aires, safe and sound and so nearly nearly back in the holy land of cider and caramel slices, but ... read more

The next day, I got a bus to the town of Potosí. This was actually my first “proper” bus in Bolivia and I had been dreading it as I had heard so many tales of people getting robbed. I can understand why a dirt-poor Bolivian would see my stuff and want to rob me, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want it to happen! I’m travelling by myself so would be particularly stuffed if something did go missing. As my bag is too big for me to have it with me on the bus, I thought I’d experiment and buy a cloth shopping bag (like everyone uses round here), put into it the stuff that I could replace relatively easily if it got nicked into it, and put that on the roof of the bus. This ... read more

Well, I was going to take the train to Bolivia, to Uyuni, as it was something a little different to what every one else was doing, but everyone kept on recommending to go via the Salar, so I gave in and followed the pack. And I am quite glad I did. I had heard it was cheaper to go to Bolivia and organize a trip from there, but now only Bolivian companies work the route, so it´s the same either way. So I left early Tuesday morning with a crew called Estrella de Sur, for Bolivia. There was a German, Two Israelis, and two English in the same jeep, for which I got translation duties. The trip took three days and went through some of the most spectacular vistas that I have ever seen. We left ... read more

Buenos dias amigos.......Como estas??? tak...a sme v Potosi....mestecko ktere lezi v 4070 m.n.m a ma kolem 140 tisic obyvatel nam dava celkem zabrat....moc kysliku v tehle vysce neni a tak se celkem spatne dycha...bude to chtit aklimatizaci.......dorazili sme po 3 hodinach jizdy v 16:00 a hned vzali taxi do hostelu......taxi je tady docela levne, stoji kolem 1 USD. Meli sme v planu jit se v nedeli podivat do stribrnych dolu, kde dela kolem 8000 lidi. V nedeli se tady ale nepracuje a navyse je ve meste fiesta, tak to musime odlozit na pondeli.... v nedeli sme sli zamluvit listky na bus do Uyuni na pondeli vecer a cely den sme se flakali po meste a uzivali si Fiestu..... V pondeli rano sme v 8:00 vyrazili s mistni cestovkou na 8 hodinovy vylet do stribrnych dolu....nejdriv sme ... read more