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From Uyuni we took the early (6pm) bus to Potosi.....its was your typical South American Bus....no suspension, hot and crowded, but it was only 7 hours so we figured what the heck! When the bus finally arrived in Potosi in the early wee hours, there were a number of very tired backpackers who hadn´t manged to get much sleep not just because of the suspension, but because of the very loud music that was blared out of the buses speaker system......welcome to Bolivia.
At the bus stop we did the thing that all the guide books tell you not to do......get a hostel from a taxi tout. Given that is was 1 in the morning, the 9 of us who had travelled hadn´t bothered to arrange accomodation, the suggested option and 5 Boliviano taxi fare seemed reasonable.....lessons learnt. The hostel the taxi drivers took us too was full , but luckily there was a cheaper option across the road which had 3 triples available....job done!
Potosi is the highest city in the world sitting at around 4000m and its one of Bolivia´s wealthiest cities, largely due to the vast amout of silver mined from Cerro Rico, the mountain whcih
overlooks the city. The mountain is full of mines, now mined as co-operative venturs, but in the Spanish Colonial days the mines were hellish places where indigenous workers (slaves??) were forced to spend 18 months underground! No suprise then that the maion tourist attraction in Potosi is a mine tour to see how these mines now work.
To describe the tour as enjoyable is not correct, eyeopening though it certainly is. First task before descending is to go shopping to buy presents for the miners.....generally this is coca leaves, cigarettes, special whiskey and of course dynamite kits.....mmmmm.....maybe that one is really for the tourists! Second task is to get kitted out. If you´re heading down a mine you need miners equipment.....hard hat, light, coveralls and gum boots (wellington´s). Once kitted its down the mines.
The mines alternate between damp and dusty, hot and cold. At times you have to crawl on your belly to get through small openings and at other times you are wadng through water whcih had flooded parts of the mines. Through this all though there is a human element.....people who actually do work in the mines, spending time chiseling away at the rock, searching
Wirking in the Mines
The real tragedy of this picture is that the miner is a boy aged 13 years. He has been taken out of school and made to work in the mines to help support the family.for minute amounts of silver, which due to the fall in metal prices are worth less than they were 12 months ago. One such worker was a 13 year old boy whose parents could not afford for him to stay in school. The cost of hiring alternative labour and paying for school books and fees meant that an economic decision was taken to put him to work with his father in the mines. Putting it simply, I´m never complaining about my job again!
The final part of the tour is the detonation of our dynamite! The dynamite stick is wrapped in Amonium Nitrate and a detonator and fuse attached. The fuse is lit and we wait 3 minutes for the blast......cheap thrills considering the cost is GBP 1.50!
We had planned to spedn only the day in Potosi and then head to Sucre. However we became acquainted with another Bolivian activity......protests and strikes! The day we wanted to leave Potosi there was a regionwide strike/blockade with no transport in or out of the Potosi region or in the city iteself. Not only that everything (aside from restaurants and internet cafe´s) were closed so there was no chance to
see some of the Potosi sites! We got through the day by having coffee and cakes. There were more rumours that the strike/blockade was going to continue into a second day.....at this point we were a little concerned. Spending a day bumming around is cool, but 2 was starting to be a drag. Given that all 9 of us wanted to get to Sucre was got our hostel to arrange 3 taxis to do the 2 hour trip.....at GBP 4.5 each it was a bargain. The thing was though the taxi´s had to leave the Potosi area before the blockade began at 8am, so it meant a very early start! Oh, and what was the blockade about......apparently Mr Morales had promised a new road for the region and hadn´t delivered......Well, the 2nd day blockade never eventuated and we made it out of Potosi ok and had a realtively uneventful drive to Sucre on a paved road...amazing!
So Sucre.....a UNESCO city where all the buildings are painted white! Sucre is actually the constitutional capital of Bolivia.....not La Paz. It also sits at around 2700m so it makes a pleasant change from the loft heights which we had become accustomed to.......the
ability to walk from one end of the main square and not lose your breath was a welcome relief! In Sucre we visited the indigenous Culture museum and saw the different weaving styles of different groups, we walked up to the mirador and had lunch overlooking the city. It was nice to relax. We also did the total tourist thing in Sucre and visit the dinosaour park, much to Marion´s dismay.....the park was created to allow visitors to view a massive wall on whcih there are dinosaur footprints! The prints were originally on the ground, but tectonic uplift now has them at a 90 degree angle!
We didn´t just relax though. Given that our Inca Trail walk was fast approaching we decided that something resembling physical actvuty was necessary so on Good Friday we signed up to do the downhill Inca trail trek to the small village of Potolo. The trek and villiage visit took the whole day. The walk down was about 3 hours on the remnants of an Inca Trail whcih joined Sucre and Potosi (yes there are actually more than just one Inca Trail). The trail had been restored, but still contained much of the original
Worshiping the Miners God
Typically this involves lighting a him a Cigarette, draping him in streamers and of course giving him a few drops of 95% Alcohal....they call it whiskey, but its more like metho! paving. Our guides, Lily and Harry (yes very Bolivian names) provided a wealth of knowldege. Once down the bottom we visited a traditonal village where we saw traditional weaving and did the obligatory touristy thing and bought some things that they had made....every tour has one of these!
In Sucre we met up with Esther and Bianca again ( who we had bumped into unexpectedly in Potosi) and spent our last day there relaxing and again having lunch from the Mirador. As luck would have it they were on the same overnight bus with us to La Paz.
Well La Paz is a big city and the 2 days that we had there we didn´t get close to doing it justice. Arriving on Easter Sunday there wasn´t a huge amout open, though we managed to visit the witches market complete with dried llama foetuses, jaguar skins and all sorts of concotions which would have an animal rights activist foaming at the mouth. We did manage to find a traditional British Indian Curry house though and indulge in some curry.......I (Gordon) even managed to get a t-shirt for eating a whole bowl of the world´s most dangeroud vindaloo......I can
honestly say its not something I will repeat and if you want the blow by blow account you´ll have to ask or a private explanation because this is a PG rated blog!
Our last day in La Paz was actually spent out of La Paz on the famous (infamous) Death Road. For those not familiar with the Deah Road, is a down hill bike ride on a partly paved and mostly gravel road which winds down from La Paz into the low lands. You start at about 4000m and end up at around 2000m. It takes about 5 hours. Its called the Death Road because of the high number of fatalities whcih occur on it. Bolivian (and apparently israeli´s) are not the best drivers in the world! Luckily though the gravel part of the ride is on a road whcih is now largely disused...it kind of makes it a little more safe.....ie you don´t have to worry too much about cars, just the corners, slippery conditions and other bikers!
We opted to go with Vertigo Biking and have to say that they can be thoroughly recommended. Their bikes were awesome, safety gear first rate and their guides were
sensational riders. The scenery (when it was possible to take your eyes off the road) was awesome. The corners were fraught with danger in some cases having drops of around 400m. That said though it was a sensational adrenaline rush and we got t-shirts to boot!
Well from La Paz its off to Lake Titicaca and then Peru......more on that later!
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