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Potosi...visiting the mine at Cerro Rico, Bolivia

Route: Copacabana - La Paz - Potosi

Copacabana - La Paz We left Copacabana at 5PM towards la Paz. From there we only knew that we would not like to spend the night and had as options Sucre, Potosi and Uyuni depending on when the bus would reach La Paz we would just book a bus on the spot.


TIP: ...take good care where they drop you in La Paz as by night the outskirts look absolutely horrible.

We paid 23 bolivianos, but you could get it for 17 if you negotiate with the driver directly and not via an "agency". At some point you need to cross the river, so you have to get off the bus and move on a small boat. The bus crosses as in the picture. You need to pay 2 bolivianos for the boat ticket.

TIP: trust no one, especially from the locals, the nicest grandpa might already have a plan on how to get your money, we had some travellers we met on the way who were robbed La Paz - Potosi The bus dropped us 2 streets away from the bus terminal, surroundings looked more or less safe, so we walked (5 min) At the Bus station we could catch the bus to Potosi, we got the ticket for 50 bolivianos for a semicama seat. Of course no Wi-Fi and the safety in the bus was not very convincing.

TIP: take your sleeping bag in the buses as it can be cold.

We left around 9PM and we were supposed to arrive in Potosi 10h later. One hour away from the city we had a flat tire ... not a surprise in Bolivia though as they usually try to epand the life of a tire as much as possible by replacing the damaged one with the inside ones. They did arrange a second bus that picked us up and brought us to the bus station in the city.

Potosi with it's 4090m is one of the highest cities in the world. The city was one of the most important ones in the past because of the very high resources of silver. The story and the mine are IMPRESSIVE it is quite hard to see the working conditions of the people in the mines. Below a video I managed to find on the internet just to give an idea...

We were extremely lucky that we found Helen, a lovely, full of energy guide working for the travel agency Amigos de Bolivia. Calle Ayacucho Nº 20, Potosí, Bolivia. She brought us to the mine and explained us the whole story of the place. She advised us to buy some small gifts for the miners, so we got them some bottles of juice but you can get them anything you want.


It is hard seeing these people also on TV but seeing them face to face is even harder and kind of marks you in a way. If in Bolivia, make the time to pass by, you need half day and you are left with so many new feelings.


you can read more about Potosi in the book Las venas abiertas de America Latine by the uruguayen author Eduardo Galeano

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