Bolivia - Potosi
Immediately after our adventure in Uyuni, we boarded a bus to Potosi. At first we thought it would be only a 5-7 hour drive, putting us in Potosi around midnight to 2, but the bus company said we'd arrive at 3 am! We finally made it to Potosi at 5 am!
Lesson learned - be very careful travelling in Bolivia during the rainy season, and don't make travel plans that rely on tight timing - it's not like in the US!
Potosi used to be the most important city in South America. The Incas revered the mountain of silver and the Spaniards were astonished to find silver literally busting out of the mountain. Thereafter began centuries of mining and exporting of silver - I think it's impossible to calculate the $$ that came out of the mountain!
Today, Potosi is now a ghost of its former self. There is still substantial mining going on which pulls out miniscule amounts of minerals by hand. Most of the rock is now shipped out of the country for processing. Unfortunately mining seems to be one of the few professions in this high-altitude, mountain-desert town.
Some enterprising miners have given up their work to provide tours in the mine, which is one of the reasons we went to Potosi. We toured one of the coop mines, and even bought dynamite in the town's "miner" market to give to the miners as a gift! It's customary to bring drinks or coca leaves for the miners. It is really hard work in hot & dusty conditions; they are underground 8-10 hours a day, only coming out at the end of their shift. Our tour guide is a part-time miner now and even had us participate in the work a little bit to understand how hard the conditions are.
We also walked around town a little bit, to see the historical sights. We did the tour of the mint, Casa de Moneda, and saw the old coins that were made in Potosi. The mint is definitely worth seeing how they used to make old coins, the semi-precious stones mined in the area, and artifacts recovered from pre-Inca sites around the area - the child mummies are a little creepy!
Lesson learned - be very careful travelling in Bolivia during the rainy season, and don't make travel plans that rely on tight timing - it's not like in the US!
Potosi used to be the most important city in South America. The Incas revered the mountain of silver and the Spaniards were astonished to find silver literally busting out of the mountain. Thereafter began centuries of mining and exporting of silver - I think it's impossible to calculate the $$ that came out of the mountain!
Today, Potosi is now a ghost of its former self. There is still substantial mining going on which pulls out miniscule amounts of minerals by hand. Most of the rock is now shipped out of the country for processing. Unfortunately mining seems to be one of the few professions in this high-altitude, mountain-desert town.
Some enterprising miners have given up their work to provide tours in the mine, which is one of the reasons we went to Potosi. We toured one of the coop mines, and even bought dynamite in the town's "miner" market to give to the miners as a gift! It's customary to bring drinks or coca leaves for the miners. It is really hard work in hot & dusty conditions; they are underground 8-10 hours a day, only coming out at the end of their shift. Our tour guide is a part-time miner now and even had us participate in the work a little bit to understand how hard the conditions are.
We also walked around town a little bit, to see the historical sights. We did the tour of the mint, Casa de Moneda, and saw the old coins that were made in Potosi. The mint is definitely worth seeing how they used to make old coins, the semi-precious stones mined in the area, and artifacts recovered from pre-Inca sites around the area - the child mummies are a little creepy!
Labels: Bolivia, Casa de Moneda, honeymoon, mining, Potosi
posted by Xavier at 2:48 PM
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