Potosi - The silver city

We went from Uyuni to Potosi with a bus ride from hell. The bus was probably the crappiest we´ve had so far and the road was not paved, but a very bumpy and windy mud/stone road and on top of that the driver drove much too fast. The bus ride lastet 6 hours and on the way we had to change a tyre since we had a puncture.

Glad to be alive we arrived in Potosi, the highest city in the world at just over 4,000m. It is a nice colonial town and the main attraction is "Cerro Rico", the silver mountain, where the mining of silver has been taking place since the 15th century. We visited the mine and experienced horrendous working conditions, heavy physical work, lots of bending down, dirt and dusty air. Some of the minors have been working there for 25 yearsor more but they earn good money and that´s why they have been doing the dirty job for generations. After they retire most of their lungs are partially or completely black.
Some photos to prove that we also got dirty with it...


cerro rico

is it b´cos I is black?