First stop: Potosí

early morning view from the bus

We left Santa Cruz by bus in the early afternoon. It was a shame that we took the night bus because the views as we made our way up and down winding roads on the mountain side would have been amazing. The road, of course, was not all that direct and on top of that, was less of a road and more of a dirt and rocky path, barely fitting one car in each direction. There was also no sort of railing to keep the bus from falling off a precipice had it moved over even a couple inches. Being one of the only passengers awake at 3 AM I felt obligated several times to sneak a quick prayer in every time I looked out the window and saw no road, just the steep incline down the side of the mountain. But, after 2 very uncomfortable and smelly buses and 20 long hours, we finally arrived at our first destination, Potosí, the highest city in the world, situated at about 14,000 feet about sea level.

one of the many villages we passed

Our first day in Potosí wasn't too exciting. We found a couple cathedrals around the city and then ate a good dinner at a local restaurant, San Carlos, where we shared a couple plates of llama!

a cathedral and Cerro Rico

The second day was a lot more eventful. First we went on a tour of the Cooperative Mines. In el Cerro Rico (the name of the mountain by which the city is built), silver was discovered in the mountain in the 19th century, the reason why the city was founded. Still today, about 10,000 miners work to extract minerals, working in groups or individually. Their income is based on the luck they have inside the mine finding these minerals. According to our tour guide, a petite lady about 4'8", these mines were much safer than the one that collapsed in Chile because of the lack of water inside and the mountain was made up of volcanic rocks, but then again, you have to be careful with what you believe. Nonetheless we all decided to continue with our tour into the mines, maybe a little more paranoid than before. Inside, it seemed as though the tunnels could collapse at any moment, especially having very minimal support. While the main tunnels were pretty cool, when we got into the tunnels where the miners actually worked, the temperature got close to 90 F. The heat was almost unbearable, especially with the ridiculous plastic yellow suits we had on. It was an eye-opening experience; I can't even imagine working from 9-6 every day in those conditions.

the three of us in our very attractive yellow suits

view of Potosí from the entrance of the mine

Our guide also showed us the God of the miners, whom they called George. They make offerings to him every Friday (the signature offerings being cigarettes, liquor, and llama fetus). This tradition started in the colonial period when the Spanish had the indigenous people enslaved and working 6 month shifts inside the mine without exiting.

George

In the afternoon we visited La Casa Nacional de Moneda, a building that was built in 1572 and served as the place to make coins, but now is used as a museum and archive. After that, our days in Potosí came to an end as we ran to the bus terminal to get on another nightbus, this time to the city of Uyuni.