When the Spanish arrived, they soon discovered that you could literally pick the silver off the ground. In the 16th century Potosí was richer than London and bigger than Madrid. The money never stayed in Bolivia though, let alone Potosí. The wealth of the mines is long gone now and the town is poor with nothing but ornate colonial buildings to remember the past.
Despite the depleted amounts however, the mines still function, mostly in the control of co-operatives of miners. Wages are better than anything else in town but that is not saying much, and the health risks are high. You can tour the mines and though we were hesitant about them as a tourist destination we found a company staffed entirely by ex miners who seemed very down to earth, and decided to go for it.
It turned out very informative and the miners at work, like these guys pushing a trolley,
varied between being indifferent to our presence to laughing and joking as they accepted the juice and coca leaves* our tour bought as a present. We discussed politics for a long time with our guide, a big-hearted and interesting guy who had worked the mines for four years starting when he was just twelve. He was very pleased to hear about Margaret Thatcher. Hem. Don't think we need to add anything there.
We also met 'El Tio', the devil like creature the miners claim is in charge down under the mountain, as it doesn't seem like God could have anything to do with it.
Other than the mines there is not a lot in Potosí. We spent our other day at a volcanic hot pool (22 metres deep so safe for diving)
and then hitched out to Sucre, thumbing for about 20 seconds before some smiley guys in a pick up pulled up and tossed us in the back.
Sucre is beautiful but unless you are volunteering or studying Spanish there is not a lot to do there. We took a gorgeous hike out to some waterfalls and pools and swam
and found a cinema showing Latin American films with English subtitles. One was an interesting depiction of corruption in the Buenos Aires police, and the other a documentary about a boy working in the Potosí mines- The Devil's Miner. Though it was maybe a bit heavy on the sensationalist aspects of El Tio and a bit light on the economics of why there are kids trapped in these lives, we'd definitely strongly recommend it to anyone interested in finding out more who doesn't happen to be hitching through Bolivia.
After a museum visit and some strolling around the pretty streets, we were ready to leave Sucre. But we also collected a friend, the lovely M from Canada who we had met in La Paz and is now volunteering in Sucre. She was keen to take the weekend to visit the salt flats at Uyuni with us. We found hitch hiking just as smooth with three and made it back through Potosí and on south to Uyuni in a day.
The norm seems to be to get a tour to the salt flats, but M's friend had given us a tip on how to just get a local bus out to the edge and then hike around. We skipped some natural spots and could not go far, but even apart from the money saved we are really glad we took this option. The flats are the largest in the world, and in our mere dabble in the edge (we walked straight in for an hour and a half) the fact we were hiking really gave it a sense of scale. The distances are deceptive and shimmer before your eyes and the crystals and patterns are breathtaking.
Before we came to Bolivia a few people who had been here complained of the unfriendliness of the people. So far we have to say we had experienced no such thing, including easy hitching and helpful passers by. But suddenly in Uyuni we see what they mean. People ignore you or are flat out rude and refuse to serve us for being tourists. It doesn't feel nice. It's unlikely of course that people are just randomly nasty and prejudiced in this town, more likely tourists are obnoxious or the tours of the flats (which is the only reason people come) benefit only a few people in the area. But whatever the reasons, none of them inspire you to stay. Tomorrow we say goodbye to M and strike out for Chile.
*Coca is ubiquitous here. Yes cocaine derives from it but they are very different and coca is no more addictive than coffee. Miners use them to give them energy and supress hunger as it is not good to eat down in the mines and they also make a rather delicious tea.
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