Potosi, Bolivia

We had a little sleep in that morning, then got up to go to the market to stock up on fruit and find something for lunch. We had a 5 hour bus ride ahead of us, so we bought some tomatoes, and a huge avacado, mayo and fresh bread to make a little picnic. The fruits and Veggies here are AMAZING!!! Almost everywhere you walk in the streets there are people selling Orange Juice that is freshly squeezed right there. Breakfast has been included in all of our hotels and most all of them serve freshly squeezed juice....OJ, Papaya....amazing. AND the best part is...all of the produce here is completely organic!!!!! The markets are a rougher version of Granville Island of course...but the concept is similar with brightly colored fruits and veggies piled up and waiting for you to eat.



The bus ride was comfortable enough, as we approached a lovely town called Potosi...which is actually the worlds highest city! It was really adorable...and decorated for Christmas which was nice to see finally! Here we went on a tour of the Casa Real de la Moneda (the Royal Mint)....not before snacking on a fresh donut that a little old lady was selling on the street..yum! The tour was very interesting.....we learned that this town was made very rich by the discovery of silver in their big mountain. We learned how they made the silver into coins....which was kind of sad, because the machine they built was powered by mules who would be harnesed in and forced to walk in a circle all day long hauling the big machine. 5,000 of them would die per year due to the physical exhaustion...and then apparently (we heard from our GAP guide)when the donkeys died they would often use humans instead....which in turn makes the entire building haunted as many of them would die as well. The night guards only last a maximum of 6 months as they can hear the haunting cries filled with pain.

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner that evening, and tested yet another local dish...not sure what it was called or what was in it, but the soup came to the table bubbling hot...because they place a large hot stone in the middle....quite the presentation, and delicious! Ivan had dried lama meat and rice which was also beautiful..along with the locally made house wine.

The next day Ivan went on a tour of the mines, which he said was awesome. I opted to relax that morning. Children start working in the mines as young as 12, and their life expectancy is only 45yrs old, due to many deaths from explosions, and breathing in poor air....very sad, but they choose to do this to support their families.

That afternoon we hopped back on a bus-destination Sucre!