The people of Potosi

I wanted to call this post 'The people of Potosi' because Robyn took a number of really nice photos of some of the local people here but Robyn's pics haven't been uploaded yet so we'll just have to settle for mine, which don't include many pics of the array of colourful people here.

Potosi was one of the first opportunities for us to view a town close-up and really experience it. This is why we travel after all isn't it? Not to swing from a zipline, or raft down a river - to be exposed to other cultures. To the untrained eye this town is not pretty, sitting at 4100m above sea-level and offically the world's highest inhabited city, it is incredibly dusty and dirty, but if you're prepared to look a little closer there is a lot more to it than its harsh exterior.

Potosi was once the greatest silver-mining city in the world, but those days are long gone now and the massive, conically shaped Cerro Rico mountain that looms over the city bears testiment to that, it's slopes irreparably scarred by the miners who've plundered it and moved on. Nowadays it's a relatively poor city, only making money on the export of minerals here and there and tourism.

As luck would have it, while we were there the President of Bolivia was doing his rounds and there were parades all over the show and the town was seemingly in a state of celebration. Great for Potosians(?)but kak for tourists, as most of the sights were closed for a few days and every now and then you'd turn down a street only to be greeted by a bunch of locals marching towards you beating drums, blowing flutes and generally clattering anything together to make a sound.

We pretty much walked all over the town and explored the many different alley-ways and streets which ooze character. Paint peeling off semi-collapsed walls, stray dogs all over the show, traditional Aymara women and street peddlars jostling to sell you a bangle, Potosi's own hi-ace buses doing their best to run you over at every opportunity, when not trying to suffocate you with carbon-monoxide poisening from their exhausts. All at 4100m above sea-level, so high that even getting up and going to the toilet at night will have you stopping halfway there to catch your breath! Awesome!