So from Uyuni to Potosi ....a 4 to 5 hour public bus trip through amazing county-side; lots of canyons, cuttings and hills/ mountains all shades of reds,pinks and greens. Clear evidence of the minerals that abound in the lands!! Also lots of mining towns to take advantage of those minerals!!!!! And lots of llama grazing everywhere in between.
We arrived in Potosi about 2pm and our guide Marisol took us on an orientation walk with lunch being the priority!!!! The midday meal is the main Bolivian meal, and restaurants offer a cheap set menu of salad, soup, main and dessert. Often the local speciality is at least one of the courses.
Potosi is one of the highest cities in the world at 4067m asl. It is a UNESCO world heritage site due to its history and architecture. During the 1600's Potosi was larger and more important than London or Paris at that time.
The background to the city is dominated by a mountain known as the Cerro Rico (the rich mountain) . The mountain was discovered in 1545 to hold vast amounts of silver and it's still producing silver today along with tin and zinc. It is estimated the mountain produced 60% of all the silver mined in the latter half of the 16th century. The Spanish were behind the extraction of the huge amounts of silver which they processed (the mint) and sent back to Spain via llama, mule and to their waiting ships.
The mint (which is now a museum) opened in 1572 and was the way to process the silver for transportation. Thus the production of coins began from 1572 to 1940s.. The initial coins were the first actual currency produced in the world and took over from product bartering/trade. As technology improved the mint was added onto but the older parts left intact so makes for a fascinating tour.
Of course all this extraction and production of silver was not without human casualties ....which was mainly forced resident native populations...experts think up to 8 million people died during the Spanish occupation. Makes for a rather sad and dark history. It was interesting to find the $ sign is derived from the S and I of Potosi when overlapped.
Anyway all quite fascinating and a city still emerging as a, well justified, stop on the main tourist trail.
Some of the historic churches let you climb up their bell towers which makes for stunning birdseye views of the towns.
Dropping a bit
So after a 24 hour stay in Potosi we boarded another local bus to the town of Sucre (2810m asl). The 4 hour bus trip took us through more intensive farming areas; crops, quinoa, some sheep, goats and cows.
Sucre is the capital city of Bolivia, the 6th biggest city in the country. It is also a UNESCO city because of its Spanish history and the whitewashed colonial buildings that still abound. Sucre is also known as the White City and made for a pleasant 3 night stay.
So we've climbed church towers , walked to city viewpoints, visited the local cemetery and visited a dinosaur footprint park.
The Dinosaur park trip, included in our tour cost, seemed a little kitsch initially.... But was actually quite fascinating once we got past the plastic ones! Real dinosaur footprints in a clay cliff were discovered after a quarry was abandoned for limestone extraction (used in concrete production). The area was deemed unsuitable due to high contaminant levels. Over the following 20 years or so the rain washed off layers to expose a high number of quite distinct footprints.... seemingly going straight up the cliff.
Quite fascinating... apparently no dinosaur bones just their prints preserved in very wet, then rapidly dried, lakeside sand as they were taking a drink on the plains on their journey to Argentina. Subsequent huge earthquakes/uplift formed the mountains, folding the flat land up. And then the mountain dug out..
Our last night in Potosi saw us go along to a Bolivian dance show.... Quite fun apart from the fact I was dragged up on stage by one of the pretty senoritas to display how good I was at Dad Dancing, aka The Geriatric Shuffle!
Get on the plane
Leaving Sucre we flew back to La Paz for our final night of the Intrepid Tour, and spent the afternoon taking Caro on the Cable Car she had missed at the start of the tour, and wandering/browsing the markets. Back in our hotel room we could take in the view looking directly into the San Pedro prison.
Bolivia has been amazing, loved all the various aspects and made us realise there is more to the country that will have to wait... Jungles and Lowland areas sound fascinating as well. A fun group led by a wonderful local guide added to the experience.
The other thing about Bolivia is dogs.....dogs everywhere!!!! They are outside shops, parks, on roads or just in the middle of nowhere.... most seem fairly happy with their life ....quite often when we were wandering one would pick us up and wander with us for a while or for a whole town tour !!!!
And the other,other thing is Bolivians enjoy parades and brass bands.....seemingly any excuse and streets are closed down,traffic diverted and the band's and marchers come out ...the bigger the noise the better!!!!!
