Potosi, Bolivia
April 3-5, 2016
Potosi is one of the world's highest cities at an elevation of 4060 meters (13,500 feet). Its a colonial city with a lot of history and a Unesco world heritage site. In 1545 the Spanish discovered there was silver in the Cerro Rico mountain that looms over the city and it quickly became one of the richest and largest cities in the new world. The Spanish subjected the locals to grueling conditions to extract the silver and even brought over 30,000 African slaves to assist. The silver was depleted by the 1800's and even though other minerals continue to be extracted today, by the 1900's Potosi's economic decline began and is now one of the poorest cities in Bolivia. Today, the city's main and controversial tourist attraction is mining tours. We opted not to take a tour and instead wandered the colonial streets for a few days while on route to Sucre.
Our Accommodations - Eucalyptus Hostel
There's a lot of run down overpriced options in Potosi so it was difficult to find a decent place to stay. The Eucalyptus Hostel was comfortable place for a few days and located near the main heritage plaza.
The City of Potosi
Miners continue to go into the mountain every day even though there is no silver left. When the state run enterprise closed down in the late 80s because there wasn't enough profits, the miners were desperate to keep working and formed cooperatives that work for themselves and still extract enough minerals such as led, zinc and tin to make money off it. Apparently the mountain looks like swiss cheese on the inside now with hundreds of tunnels running through it which is why it is on the verge of collapse. Sooner or later all of these men will be out of work when there's nothing left in the mountain to extract. The conditions are appaling and the average life expectancy for a miner is 35-40 years old. Since the mines opened 500 years ago, over 8 million men have lost their lives. Though we didn't want to expose ourselves to the dangers and the claustrophobia of the tunnels by taking a tour, we read that GreenGo Tours is suppose to be a more responsible operator and doesn't "sensationalize" the experience.
Potosi is built up onto the surrounding hills so it was a bit difficult with the elevation and shortness of breath to wonder the streets in length. Generally the city is dusty and choked with exhaust but the nicest section is around the heritage quarters with lots of colonial buildings and small streets to explore.