Potosi Mines

You'd think after 4 days of rough travel on the jeep and 3 nights of uncomfortable, cold sleep, I'd want to stay put for a while. Yes, it definitely crossed my mind. But after seeing the town of Uyuni, I bought the next bus ticket out.

Seriously, Uyuni itself is a CRAP town. Very depressing. People only come here as a departure point for the salar. Once you've done the tour, you're immediately out!

It so happens that I did have an option to NOT purchase a bus ticket. Because Michael offered a ride on the jeep. Let me explain.
When we got to Uyuni and all of us were ready to go our separate ways, Michael decided to see if the driver & cook would take him to Potosi. Being the crazy person that he is, Fernando did not want to give the ride. His quote was a ridiculous amount, somewhere in the vicinity of $100. Remember, the whole 4 day tour was around $175; the ride to Potosi wouldn't take more than 6 hours. But Michael is Michael. Loaded (I assume). Without even trying to negotiate, he agreed to Fernando's price. Wow… Then, since he knew that both Nicole and I would be heading towards Potosi, he asked if we wanted to join, "You no pay. Me pay." Thanks for the offer…but I will take the 30BOB (about $4) bus. Even though the next bus didn't leave for several hours.

Killed time on the internet, sitting & reading on the bench, having coffee, lemonade, french fries, and pizza.I thought the bus to Tupiza was awful. Amazingly, it got 100x worse this time around! We were all literally jumping up and down in our seats. Nicole, being tall, hit her head a couple of times on the ceiling.
And we got stuck in sand. I ain't kidding. It wasn't the weather or anything. Just construction - laying down a lot of soft sand on the only available road. So, we got stuck. Makes sense, right?! There was a concerted effort by all the men on the bus to somehow get it moving. This involved physically pushing the bus and laying grass around the tires. Not just us…the bus behind us was stuck in sand as well. This went on for a while.
On a positive note, it made for a good, natural toilet stop.

By the time we finally arrived in Potosi, it was around 2am. We weren't really sure if it was Potosi in the first place, because there weren't any signs and the bus driver didn't say much. Basically, we went with the flow with the other gringos - since they got off, so did we.
Good thing we booked a hostel during down time in Uyuni. I wouldn't want to be wandering around at this time of the night. Not in Bolivia. Every single door was closed shut - we had to bang, bang, bang on the door to wake up the night receptionist (guard?) and be let in.
Anyways, Potosi is a mining town located up at 4,000m in altitude. It's cold and dry. But it was the first big town…civilization, we'd seen in a few days so we were glad to be here. Especially since we found great food!!! Like the hearty breakfast and dinners at the Dutch-ish (I think) cafe, as well as the comfort desserts and of course, the necessary coffee.

Aside from the food, we did the usual mining thing. Yeah, like taking a tour into the mines. Really freaky. Not recommended for anyone who is claustrophobic or afraid of the dark. Once you're in there, you better pray that the lights don't burn out or that there aren't any earthquakes!
We stopped at the market before heading into the mines to buy the miners some presents. Sort of "forced to" in a way…so I wouldn't consider them as sincere gifts. Gifts like coca leaves (helps in high altitude), soda, and dynamite.

The mountain/mine in the background:Here's me getting ready to go in!Inside, the guide led us through tiny pathways and up narrow tunnels to see various areas of the mine. Which wasn't much since the guide sucked - all he did was chatted with his mining friends rather than take us deeper and deeper inwards. But I guess that wasn't such a bad thing. I'm not sure if I would've enjoyed going waaaaay deep inside the mines where it is sweltering hot and more claustrophobic. Plus, some people in the group weren't feeling all too well in there.
Felt good to get out and under the sunlight again in a couple of hours. It's such a luxury, when you consider that most of the male inhabitants of Potosi are miners who spend more than 10 hours in the mines since their teenage years. Must be horrible to their health.

The other big thing to do in Potosi is the Casa Nacional de Moneda, a former mint now a museum housing minting equipment, various coins, and some religious artwork. You need to take a guided tour (20BOB). I think it's more famous for what's on the outside - the huge smiling face of someone in the right photo. At least I enjoyed it more than the relics inside...

Think Nicole and I will travel through the rest of Bolivia together. For now, that includes Sucre (next stop) and La Paz. I had initially intended to head east towards Santa Cruz to do some volunteering at the popular Inti Warra Yassi animal refuge for about a week. But there seems to be some Dengue fever outbreaks in that area, so I think I'll pass this time. Dengue can be worse than malaria, no preventive medication. Not that I'm taking anti-malarials right now. Totally forgot about them. Oops.

One of the great things about having a travel buddy is that we can rent a ROOM, rather than a dorm bed. Works out cheaper that way. Toilet, shower, and most importantly, the cable TV in the room : )

XOXO!!!