Uyuni -> Potosi

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10:00AM bus to Potosi. We were told to expect locals sitting in the aisles, on the armrest and between your legs. Nothing like that happened, probably because the bus wasn’t full. It was a sad sight driving out of town seeing garbage strewn all over the place. Plastic has brought us convenience but it has also been a curse, as evidenced by the garbage around Uyuni.







We got into the old Potosi bus terminal around 3PM. The centre of the city is hilly and the streets are narrow, essentially with no traffic lights, making getting around in a vehicle a nightmare. I noticed that many of the local buses are probably retired/rejected old buses from Japan and China based on the writing on them.





Potosi (elevation 4070m) was founded in 1545 as soon as silver was discovered in Cerro Rico (Rich Mountain) and pretty soon the extracted silver was bankrolling the Spanish empire. During its boom years, Potosi became the largest and wealthiest city of the Americas, and supposedly in the 16^th century had a larger population (160K) than London England.

Interesting origin of the name of Potosi: in 1462 Incans were exploring Cerro Rico and heard a thunderous noise and when related to the Inca Emperor Huayna Capac they used the word Potojsi (thunder in their language) to describe the explosion. The name was later derived to the present day Potosi. Apparently when the explosion occurred a voice told the Incans to leave the metal alone, because it was intended for others. When a local Inca, Diego Huallpa, built a fire in 1544 at the base of the mountain, the fire grew so hot and shiny liquid oozed from the ground. Perhaps he remembered the Inca legend and told the Spanish about it. The rest, as they said, is history.

We got to the Casa Nacional de Moneda (National Mint) just in time for the last English tour of the day. This was actually the second mint of the city and has a good collection of historical treasures, including religious paintings, the most famous of which is the La Virgen del Cerro. There is also the original mule-driven wooden cogs that beat the silver to the width needed for coining and a number of old silver coins and a display of minerals. A mask of Bacchus hangs in the front courtyard, by Frenchman Eugenio Martin Moulon for reasons still unknown. Apparently the facial features are slightly different on the two sides of the face, one happy for the silver riches and one sad for the workers having to work in harsh conditions.

Later that night I had something called Silpancho for dinner, not knowing what to expect. It turned out to be a typical Bolivian dish. It consists of a base layer of rice, followed by a layer of boiled and sliced potatoes, followed by a thin schnitzel-style meat, followed by another layer of chopped tomato, onion and parsley mixed together and topped with either one fried egg. I was hungry but I could not finish the rice and potatoes. I don’t usually drink but I also tried some singani, a grape Brandy made in Bolivia, similar to pisco. I’ve probably had more alcohol so far this trip than the entire year prior to coming to Bolivia/Chile.

While we were having dinner two school marching bands came along the street, in preparation for Potosi’s anniversary on Nov 10. Later than night after drinking singani & Sprite and playing cards at a local drinking hole, our walk back to the hotel was temporarily stopped by the local military regimen practising, also in preparation for the anniversary, at 1:00 AM in the morning! In addition to display of discipline and various gun handling skills, a military marching band played what I presumed was the national anthem. Remembering the sign at the hotel in Uyuni, we stood still to avoid any potential problem with Bolivian law. After we were cleared to go we somehow found a karaoke bar and sang (some of us) and danced the rest of the night away, and more singani, of course!

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Photos

Casa Nacional de Moneda
mask of Bacchus