Potosi is somewhere in between La Paz and Sucre - not as chaotic or packed as La Paz, but not quite as elegant Sucre. Potosi sits at 4070m above sea level and apparently is the highest city of its size on earth and is a UNESCO heritage site in recognition of its tragic history of silver mining during the time of Spanish colonization. Potosi is where a great deal of silver was mined and shipped back to Spain until the early 1800's.
The working conditions for miners back then were extremely appaling and many of the indigenous
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You can see the infamous silver mountain where the Bolivians have been mining...
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On the way to the roof of Cafe El Mirador, a place we instantly fell in love...
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El gruppo
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You can also watch beautiful sunsets from the top as well.
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Fiesta!
We were lucky to run into a huge parade and crowd in celebration of St. Bart,...
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There was a market entirely dedicated for desserts .... yum!
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A fun restaurant where you can sign your name and thoughts on the wall...
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Estamos listas para la mina.
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los regalos
As gifts for the miners, we bought them juice, water, cookies, cigarettes and...
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When you arrive, you can already sense the hard, dark work of a miner. It was...
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The mountain is actually quite beautiful, and for a moment, you forget...
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wheeling up rocks and minerals
These two young boys were 15 and 18. It was really sad to see them working...
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Drilling a hole to make an explosion
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It is dark and dusty in the caves. I can't even imagine what it...
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The work is very labour intensive. I tried myself to just pick up a bag of...
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Pachamama - mother Earth
A small shrine the miners made to Pachamama, their mother earth to continue...
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Tio - the devil
* This is the more important shrine the miners made in the mountain -...
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If you're extremely claustrophobic, then maybe the mines...
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When you're walking and crawling around the mines, you can...
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Although it seemed bleak to me, the job of a miner is actually regarded as a...
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Although the mountain doesn't have much silver anymore, there is...
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At the end of the tour, we were able to do our own explosions, using...
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You pack up the ammonium nitrate into a ball - seems like play-doh.
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Kaboom!
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article published 09/28/2007
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South America
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