potosi is the highest city in the world at 4100m and just walking up a hill can have you panting. we dropped in here to check out the silver mines which i was a bit dubious about being a bit claustrophobic and all. they turned out to be ok as most passageways i could walk down without stooping, and even did a bit of shovelling to help the miners out. we also made an offering to pachamama the earth god and gave her some coca leaves and 96% alcohol. a few hours was enough though, i cannot imagine working down there 12 hours a day 7 days a week for years and years. the conditions are terrible, there is no laws or standards or anything, you can just do what you want.
i remember how it was world news when those two miners in tassie got trapped last year, but i am sure the amount of accidents and deaths over here is huge, and no one ever hears anything about it.
probably my favourite thing in potosi was that afternoon when josie and i headed off for a look at some churches (potosi has heaps as it used to be one of the richest cities in the world when the mine was in full swing) and ended up being given a personal tour of the san francisco convent (still 9 monks there) including the crypt and up to the bell tower by a lovely old lady. we got some great view of the city and we were pretty lucky to see everything we did as it cost us about $2US each. spent the rest of the arvo checking out the different markets and street stalls.
the restaurants in potosi are another thing. our first night we had what was probably the worst waiter i have ever seen. he got half our orders wrong, was that hard to get hold of during the meal and then had to come around and ask us what we had order and count our drinks so that he could give us the bill. the food was edible but he was not a smart man.
the second night might have been chloes fault as she leant on a glass table with her huge 45kg frame and went straight through it. when our food came out georgies chicken was pink and the chef had decided that although chloe and i had both ordered a pizza, she would just cook one pizza and make half of it up for each of us. strange but turned out to be ok.
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