Archive for the 'Potosi' Category

Aug
31

Adventure down the mines

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After being in Potosi for a couple of days visiting the lovely architecture, I decided to book on a tour to the mines, and where better than Potosi, where the number one attraction is the mine. I have never been to a mine before, so for me this was something really exciting. And after strolling around town I soon found the company that suited me and booked the tour for the afternoon.

When our tour began at 14:00 I was joined by two Bolivian girls, we took a short taxi ride to the “miners market” in town, together with our Spanish speaking guide. There was a selection of gifts that we could have chosen from, this is customary for tour groups to bring for the miners. This included dynamite and Coca Leaves. No worries there, we went for the safest option. Just in case we blew ourselves up before we got there! So we each bought a bag of coca leaves and large bottles of soft drinks for gifts. After buying our gifts and slipping into our finest mining gear of rubber boots, rain suits, helmets and a head-lamp we continued our tour to the Co-Operativa mine. This started with a walk through a tunnel that looked more like going into a black abyss. There were rail tracks below our feet, these were being used for the trolley’s to dump their loads outside, along with mud and puddles, there was also some wooden supports around us, some air compressor lines loosely strung above our head, and the air was thick and humid and there were drops of water/acid coming from everywhere. The actual tunnel was so low and cramped with cables, wooden gates that I had to keep a crouched walk for the entire tour as I kept bagging my head most of the time, not that I am that tall but these mines are built for Bolivians and they are not the tallest of people!
Continue reading ‘Adventure down the mines’

Published
by
sandyD
on Aug 31 2009
in Bolivia and Potosi
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Aug
28

Drinking with the old boys of Potosi

To escape the incessant cold I decided to go our for a drink. Sandra wanted to stay by the heater as she had a tiring day down the mines. So looking for a pub I stumbled across a non-descript bar with no name. I walked in and ordered a beer. At first the bar girl brought me a 2 liter bottle of beer and on seeing my surprise soon took it away and brought me a much smaller bottle of just the 1 liter! Beers meant for sharing here you see… I wasn’t too sure what to make of the bar. It had a massive picture of The Beatles on the main wall, bright red fluffy fur on the remaining walls that were also covered by mirrors. The bar was very cold and all staff wore big puffer type winter jackets. The clientele seemed to be a right mixture from a few couples having a quiet drink to groups of young people sharing a beer. Wanting to move on I asked the staff if they could recommend me another bar close by. Maybe it was my Spanish but they found it hard to suggest anywhere that wasn’t a night club so I was taken outside and a small boy was called over and given instructions to take me up the road to another bar.

Feeling a tad awkward we set off up the hill, with me trying to make certain that there was indeed a bar at the top. Anyway after a while an old man, who had been following, suddenly intervened and after a very disjointed conversation took over from the boy, who he told to go away, back down the hill. I gave the boy a Boliviano for his trouble and said goodbye. Now feeling very awkward I was split between telling the old boy not to bother and also intrigued as to where we would end up.

Eventually we stumbled across, and entered, ‘Sociedad de 15 Mayo‘, basically a working mans drinking club. As we walked up to the bar, everyone to a tea were following us with there eyes with an air of bemusement. The old boy had straightened his posture and, I noted, was almost proudly showing me off! We took our place up at the bar and ordered 2 drinks of Bolivian pisco with some added lemon soda… not too dissimilar to a pisco sour and not bad for 1 Boliviano!

Soon there was quite a gathering as some curious locals had joined us at the bar. We were all talking, them asking me where I was from and they were eager to know what I thought of Bolivia. I told them I was from London in the UK and that I liked Bolivia very much to which they all cheered, shook my hand and ordered the barman to pour more pisco! I asked them about the local football team and this brought more cheers as they happily told me Potosi had a very good football team [Real Potosi], infact one of the best in Bolivia and someone added in South America; with this remark it was quite obviously the Pisco taking it’s toll!

After about an hour of drinking with these old boys I said my goodbyes and had to shake everyones hand in the bar before I could make it outside. Some of them even followed me to the door and waved after me, cheering and smiling. It was such an enjoyable yet strange night. I guess it could have gone so wrong but it turned into one of the most enjoyable nights out I’ve had in South America so far. And it’s just brought it home how friendly, welcoming and curious the Bolivians are to visitors of their country!

I stumbled along my way, back down the hill and into the old hostel. Sandra was asleep and it wasn’t long before I joined her…

Published
by
lion
on Aug 28 2009
in Bolivia and Potosi
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Aug
28

Journey across Bolivia

After departing La Paz we started on a journey that would take us through several towns including Oruro, the capital Sucre, Potosi an old mining town and eventually Uyuni, where we would take a tour through the Salar de Uyuni; the worlds largest salt flats.

So, our first stop was Oruro where we stayed overnight. It was a really cold and a fairly windy town. It was laid out in a large grid and within the center it was extremely busy with both people and traffic. The best thing about the town was a bakery we found that served up delicious cakes and hot chocolate!

We left Oruro the next day towards Sucre, the constitutional Capital of Bolivia. Being at a much lower altitude, 2700m, it was much warmer and as such we decided to stay put for a while. We found the lovely Pachamama Guest House and for around 100 Bolivianos we had a double ensuite room with ‘hot’ water (that really was hot!) and the use of a shared kitchen along with a rather nice grass covered court yard to relax in. The owners were really friendly and helpful.

Sucre was a lovely town to walk around in. It had an impressive market in the center where you could buy everything you needed from fresh fruit and veg, meat to kitchen utensils and appliances. On the upper floor was a selection of food stalls where you could eat a filling, tasty meal for around 10 Bolivianos. On the lower floor, around a court yard, there was loads of fruit juice sellers that would mix you up a healthy concoction of fruit. My favourite being the ‘Super Vitamino’ that literally had every fruit you could imagine in. What was good was that you didn’t just get a tall glass of fresh juice, but when you’d finished they refilled your glass with the remaining juice from the blender! I think these juice stalls where similar to our pubs. Everyone, of all ages, seemed to stop by at lunch and after work for a quick drink and a chat before heading on their way. Great invention!

At Pachmama we met a great couple from Austria, Claus and Ursula. They are also doing a round the world trip and started just before us in November. We had a couple of good nights in the kitchen exchanging travel stories and the different destinations we had all been to. Our ‘other’ list is growing all the time!

Eventually it was time to move on and we caught a bus to the old mining town of Potosi. Set at just over an altitude of 4000m it is one of the highest cities in the world and got very cold at night. We stayed at the Hostel Maria and the room was equipped with hot water, heating and some extremely thick blankets that were certainly very welcome at night! I spent most of the days walking around the city which I found quite interesting, in particular sitting in the Main square and doing a fair bit of people watching. Sandra went off to explore the mines, which I decided to steer clear of for fear of claustrophobia. Having read lots of blogs and reviews in travel books it seemed the best idea. They are very hazardous places to visit with extreme enclosed spaces. They are actually ‘working’ mines, so you get to meet the miners in action. Over to Sandra…

[...miners visit will appear here...]

Next up Sandra decided to go to Tupiza to do a bit of horse riding, while I decided to go straight to Uyuni for the salt flat tour. Now I really would have to use my ‘pigeon’ Spanish…!

Published
by
lion
on Aug 28 2009
in Bolivia, Potosi and Sucre
. 0 Comments