POTOSI

28. June – 30. June 2011


It was cold and windy in Potosi when we arrived by bus in the morning from Sucre. After a few days at lower altitudes in Cochabamba and Sucre. We were back at 4000 m. Potosi is one of the highest cities in the world. The city was founded at the foot of Cerro de Potosi, a mountain extremely reach in minerals, especially silver. Most of the mined silver went to Spain but still, in the 16th century Potosi was one of the biggest and richest cities in the world. Nowadays there is not that much silver left in the mountain but there are many beautiful old churches and building in Potosi.
We took it easy the first day in Potosi, walked around town and ate delicious Salteñas (pastries filled with chicken, egg, veggies and an olive).
The next day we organized a trip to the mines and went to meet my friend Varinia's family. Varinia used to live for a year with my family in Germany. Now I was going to meet her family. Unfortunately I didn't meet Varinia since she is living in the US now. Her mum took us to a nice museum inside an old monastery. A beautiful building with little plazas and small rooms and a church. Afterward we were invited to coffee before going for dinner with Ariel, Varinia's brother. We also drank hot wine. Great in a cold city like Potosi.
After a visit to the mines the next morning we went back to Varinia's family for typical Bolivian food for lunch. MUCHAS GRACIAS a familia Taboada por todo!!
In the afternoon we went to buy warm jackets because everyone told us that it would be even colder in Uyuni (where we were going next) and we were already wearing all our clothes and still didn't feel warm.