HI-Hotel Jerusalem Potosi

6th June 2009

Up at 7am for breakfast and to finish the last of our packing before
leaving for Potosi at 9am by private bus. Potosi is the highest city
of its size on earth at 4070m and was declared a UNESCO World
Heritage site in 1987 in recognition of its tragic history as a
silver mining centre. Potosi provided a large share of the silver
mined and shipped back to Spain until the early 1800s, when both the
supply of silver and world market prices began to decline; ...

We took a bus from Sucre to Potosi, a few hours away. On the way we were provided a fantastic light show, being so high up we could see huge thunder and lightning storms happening miles and miles away. It was amazing. On the road we would also find many dogs, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, there is a huge amount of them in the cities too but it is interesting to find so many in the arid mountainside. Every so often you would see people walking along the road too, heading from one village...

I know it´s been ages but it´s hard finding a fast internet, or at least a keyboard where all the buttons work. After Cusco i got picked up and met the two who did the Lares trek. We spent the night in Aguas Calientes. The hot springs were nowhere near as good as the ones in Colca Canyon. The following morning we got up at 5am and ghot the bus to Machu Picchu to meet the others. Machu Picchu was cool. I don´t know what possessed me but i climbed to the top of Waynapicchu. I barely managed it....

Ze Sucre jsme prejeli soukromym autobusem do Potosi maleho mesta na jihu Bolivie. Potosi je zname svym dulnim prumyslem. Je to vlastne jedna velka hora, ktera je provrtana skrz na skrz. V minulosti byly doly velmi bohate, ale dnes jiz nezbyva mnoho nerostu. V dolech pracuji vsichni obyvatele potosi nepomijeje deti od dvanacti let. Tahle zastavka byla dost smutna, ale setkali jsme se z realitou v Bolivii. Po prijezdu jsme prozkoumali mesto a druhy den rano jsme sli farat do dolu. Cast penez ze...

Hola buddies! Oh Potosi Potosi, all this way for Potosi... Why? I think this city is actually only famous for the silver mines (which I didnt see).That and the fact that it IS the highest city in the world and I have never noticed the altitude more than when I came back to my room and Leah was on the phone to her boyf. I thought I would give her some privacy for 5 mins and what a better way to kill 5 minutes than having a sneeky cigarette outside (I had stopped smoking for the last year but o...

The highest city in the world, Potosi is a hilly, busy, dirty and smelly place. Our hostel was equally dirty and smelly and **** too so we did not feel like staying too long. We went to the silvermines that the city is known for and that made it one of the wealthiest cities in south America at one stage. We went on a tour that started out in the miners market where you (anyone over 10) can buy your dynamite, coca leaves, and 96% alcoholic drink for the mines. We tried a capful of the alcohol ...

We took a taxi from Sucre to Potosi and checked into the Hotel. Potosi is pretty small and the main activity is to visit the mines. I really didn`t fancy this, as they are dangerous and you have to sign a disclaimer before visiting! So we opted for a nice walk around the town and a far safer visit to the Mint Museum, where they previously made all of the Bolivian coins. The most interesting part was the mint machine itself which was huge... it consisted of three huge wheels powered by donkey....