Day 83 - Potosi, Potosi, Potosi
February 6 - Potosi, Bolivia
Woke up and had really good breakfast at hostel Reina del Salar, bread, eggs, jam, yogurt, fresh fruit, and a local cereal, homemade sort and sort of like Smacks.
We packed and caught 10am bus to Potosi using bus line emperador. There is a single street with all of the bus companies, and the workers stand outside yelling out the destination of the buses. We had to laugh because the woman who sold us our tickets used a different voice to bellow "POTOSI, POTOSI, POTOSIIIIII......"
Fantastic bus and beautiful drive!
Got to Potosi and got help from old woman to hail a taxi to get to the hostel. Taxi was super confused where the hostel was even when I was showing him a map. Maybe maps aren't a thing here.
Got to hostal koala den and it was great. We dropped or stuff and went out looking for lunch. Vegetarian place was closed for siesta by the time we got there so we ended up getting a sandwich and salad at a cafe on the plaza.
Potosi is one of the highest cities in the world, at 13,420 feet (4,000 meters). It used to be the "richest" city in the world, as a major supplier of silver. Because of it's richness, the city has many beautiful churches. It is also home of the national mint. There are still active mines and the conditions are better than they were but still horrible. The history of the mines is really ugly.
In town, we paid to go up Mirador Torre de la Compania de Jesus and get view of the city. Very beautiful view!
We then took a tour of a really old church templo de San Lorenzo. The woman that welcomed us showed us around and had a lot of knowledge (and memorization of knowledge) about the history. At the time silver mining was taking off, the Spanish were also working to convert indigenous people to Catholicism. Apparently Bolivia has become an interesting place of religious mash-ups. For example, a priest during a mass will include rituals from the indigenous beliefs as well.
We walked around more then went back to the hostel before going out for dinner.
For dinner, we walked a bit and ate at a place called El Tenedor. The food was really great. Evan had pique macho which is the same meat on peppers and fried potatoes but a lot better. Chelsea had a spicy soup and quinoa salad.
Walked back to hostel. All of the churches were beautiful lit - pleasant evening!
(Evan)
Woke up and had really good breakfast at hostel Reina del Salar, bread, eggs, jam, yogurt, fresh fruit, and a local cereal, homemade sort and sort of like Smacks.
We packed and caught 10am bus to Potosi using bus line emperador. There is a single street with all of the bus companies, and the workers stand outside yelling out the destination of the buses. We had to laugh because the woman who sold us our tickets used a different voice to bellow "POTOSI, POTOSI, POTOSIIIIII......"
Fantastic bus and beautiful drive!
Got to Potosi and got help from old woman to hail a taxi to get to the hostel. Taxi was super confused where the hostel was even when I was showing him a map. Maybe maps aren't a thing here.
Got to hostal koala den and it was great. We dropped or stuff and went out looking for lunch. Vegetarian place was closed for siesta by the time we got there so we ended up getting a sandwich and salad at a cafe on the plaza.
Potosi is one of the highest cities in the world, at 13,420 feet (4,000 meters). It used to be the "richest" city in the world, as a major supplier of silver. Because of it's richness, the city has many beautiful churches. It is also home of the national mint. There are still active mines and the conditions are better than they were but still horrible. The history of the mines is really ugly.
In town, we paid to go up Mirador Torre de la Compania de Jesus and get view of the city. Very beautiful view!
We walked around more then went back to the hostel before going out for dinner.
For dinner, we walked a bit and ate at a place called El Tenedor. The food was really great. Evan had pique macho which is the same meat on peppers and fried potatoes but a lot better. Chelsea had a spicy soup and quinoa salad.
Walked back to hostel. All of the churches were beautiful lit - pleasant evening!
(Evan)
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