Silver lining

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Another dodgy bus journey (6hrs timetabled, 7.5hrs actual, 3 breakdowns - thankfully not the brakes) took us from sleepy Uyuni to the city of Potosi.

Potosi is apparently the highest city (of its size) in the world - at some 4km - , and when we turned the last bend on the bus and the city appeared it was quite a sight. Nestled at the foot of Cerro Rico, the source of the city´s historical wealth, the city looks lovely.



We´d been briefed in advance about hassle at the bus station, so we grabbed our bags close to us and shuffled away as fast as we could..not actually knowing where we were heading. We had a hostel in mind but the map we had was somewhat vague. The altitude, the sun and the steep hills soon knackered us, but a quick bit of the old espanol with some locals sorted us out and we arrived at the place just in time to get the last double room available.

Potosi was once the richest city around due to the great wealth found in the mines of Cerro Rico, though much of this wealth was hoovered up by the Spanish and more recently by international companies out to milk the place. Despite this, the city still retains much colonial beauty with lots of windy streets, cute houses and a real buzz. Thankfully, our hostel was right in the centre so wandering around at night was no hassle. The restaurants were spot on - local fare (llama, corn, spicy soups) mixed with western delicacies like spaghetti and pizza (SAmerica has a thing for Italian food, it seems).

Having spent much of the last month taking photos and sitting in buses looking at wonderful scenery, it was great to just enjoy relaxing for a bit. A childhood claustrophobia prevented me from wanting to go down the mines on the "must do" tour..especially the thought of carrying dynamite bought on the street as a present for the miners (!) caused me some concern...regardless of the fact that I´m from N Ireland.

Instead we opted for a visit to the Casa de Moneda (the mint)..where they used to make coins for Spain and much of S America. I even got the chance to stamp my own coin with a sledgehammer (see photos later).

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