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Published: January 14th 2010
Potosi, Bolivia
The Silver Mines.Our flight ended up departing Rurrenabaque on the night of the 6th at 6pm putting us back in La Paz by around 7pm. We ended up staying a couple more nights in the city at the same hostal only this time we were disappointed that it was full of people - much nicer and quieter when you are the only 2 in the building. We also managed to get a couple good meals in at ¨Alexander´s Coffee¨and ¨Oliver´s Travels.¨ As stated before, they are hard to come by in this country.
We left La Paz on the morning of the 8th and headed to Uyuni. We arrived following a 3 hour bus ride and 6 hour train only to find out that the town had been over-run by tourists and there wasn´t a hostel with beds to be found. We almost had to sleep in the train station (it was already 11pm) until a nice guy told us of a hostel that had a couple dorm beds open - not nice but better than a dirty bench. We weren´t allowed to use the shower as it was too late so we went to bed dirty and hungry (our breakfast of
Potosi, Bolivia
Cerro de Potosí sometimes referred to as the Cerro Rico ("rich mountain") a mountain popularly conceived of as being "made of" silver ore, which has always dominated the city. The Cerro Rico is the reason for Potosi's historical importance, since it was the major supply of silver for the Spanish Empire. Cerro de Potosí's peak is 4,824 meters (15,827 feet) above sea level. Doritos and lunch of Pringles and M&Ms didn´t really hit the spot). We thought we might have the room to ourselves until 2:45am when a couple of girls flipped on the light and made themselves at home. (I do not care for shared dorms - way too old for that!). Things got even worse when we woke up the next morning to find out that the town had run out of water so we couldn´t shower again (disgusting - buses, trains, dirty hostel - we stunk so bad!). Also, when we tried to book a tour out to the Salt Flats (the only reason to come to this town), we once again got bitch-slapped by high tourist season as all the tours were booked. Angrily we got a bus ticket out of Uyuri without having seen anything and wasting 2 of the remaining days we had left on our Bolivian Visa.
The bus ride was a nightmare! It was a local bus and we got stuck in the back seat which meant being cramped in with 3 other people in seats that didn´t recline at all. Even with the windows open, the smells of people (including us - we
Potosi, Bolivia
The entrance to the Silver Mines. hadn´t showered in almost 4 days by this time) were horrible and the man sitting next to me kept falling asleep and laying his body weight against me. (Don´t worry, a few elbows to the ribs and he got the point). We finally arrived in Potosi and checked into the ¨La Casona¨ hostal - fortunately we made a reservation prior to arriving as this city is full of tourists as well. I guess from now on we´ll just have to accept the fact that it is high season and we won´t be able to just move about freely and on a whim anymore.
Potosi is a nice little city and is noted to be the highest city in the world at 4090m (13,420 ft). Of course we arrived on a Sunday which meant that pretty much everything was closed so our first day was spent doing not much of anything. While we were only in the city for a quick few days, we did manage to tour the ´Silver Mines of Potosi´ as well as the ´Museo de la Casa de la Moneda´. The mines were very interesting but quite hot, cramped and dusty making it impossible to breathe
Potosi, Bolivia
Silver Mines of Potosi. in certain areas, especially the further down we went (we reached level 3 of 5). I can´t believe men work in those conditions on a daily basis! We bought presents for the miners (dynamite, coca leaves, drinks) and managed to get some pretty good pictures despite the rough conditions. One of the highlights came at the end when we blew up 2 sticks of dynamite - I couldn´t believe how calm our guides were lighting it, handing it around for everyone to get pictures, then walking it down into the field were it detonated shortly after. They definitely have their timing down (can´t say I was that calm holding it). Prior to entering the mines, we also toured the Miner´s Market and the refinery which were both quite interesting.
As for the museum, it was also very interesting. Unfortunately, we missed the English tour and ended up having to move with the Spanish version as they do not let people wonder around on their own (the guide spoke way too quickly so we couldn´t really understand what she was saying). I was really glad I paid the extra money to be able to take pictures as they have a
Potosi, Bolivia
Liquid silver at the refinery. lot of interesting things including religious paintings, mummified children and old coins - yes, it is a very diverse museum.
Next stop is Sucre in which we will probably run out our Visas (we only have a week left before having to be out of the country). Fortunately it sounds like there is quite a few things to see and do. From there, we haven´t decided yet - Paraguay or Argentina - guess we´ll just have to see when we get there 😊
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