Feeling a little dizzy in Potosi, Bolivia

We took the learnings from the previous horror bus ride and applied them to our trip from Tupiza to Potosi, and it worked. We had a much nicer and more comfortable bus with legroom, hallelujah! Unfortunately due to bus strikes, (by 2020 the government has ruled that there are to be no vehicles on the road that are older than 20 years and the bus companies are not too happy about this, particularly given that most of them are from the 1950's!) we couldn't leave for a few days so we spent a bit of time catching up on some much needed R&R. This travelling mallarky is exhausting!

The bus ride was relatively uneventful, except for the amount of cross country driving that we did - we were constantly diverted onto very bumpy dirt roads, when there was a perfectly good and new paved road alongside it - very bizarre. We also had some fun with the locals - we opened the window and then they closed it, we did this about 50 times! I think that Bolivians must be cold blooded because the bus was soooo hot and they were covered in blankets and 10 layers of clothing. We passed the last few hours of the journey watching in awe as a Bolivian lady put 200 or so coca leaves into her mouth - her cheek was bulging, resembling that of a chipmunk (!) and she was still putting them away when we arrived into Potosi. These guys are seriously addicted to this stuff.



We hadn't planned on staying in the world's highest altitude city, as at 4100m above sea level you don't feel great and sleeping is restless. However, we arrived late and really couldn't be bothered to work out how to get to Sucre so decided to stay a few nights. Potosi really surprised us. It's a city surrounded by mountains, it has a Spanish feel - with beautiful old buildings, narrow laneways and cobblestones.

Checking out the local produce at the market, and we were told that there was no fresh fruit and veggies in Bolivia...it's all lies!




In Bolivia no part of the animal goes to waste. They consume the whole animal, cow face and all!

Potosi is most famous for its silver mines and as the major supplier to Spain during the period of the New Spanish Empire. In the 1500's this city was one of richest in the world. In fact we were told by a local that during this time there was enough silver to build a bridge from the city to Spain, and enough bones from the people who died in the mines to build another one back. The life expectancy is only 15 years from first entering the mines and an astonishing 6-8 million people died over a 100 year period after having worked there.


View of the Cerro de Potosi and the famous mines



Next stop Sucre for some much needed Spanish lessons!