WEDNESDAY 26th July
Sucre to Potosi
5am wake up.
6:15 transfer to bus station.
7:00 departure arriving 10:30 at Cerro Rico hotel, Potosi.
The highest city in the world by about 20m at 4060m (13,320ft). It beats El Alto the dormitory city next to La Paz where La Pat's airport is.
Cerro RICO is also the name of the dominant mountain overlooking Potosi. It is rich in silver ore and has been mined since the Spanish turned up 500 years ago.
An orientation walk followed check in to visit the main square, the markets and some eateries.
Lunch - Cherros and hot chocolate. The hot chocolate was amazing and the cherros came with a caramel sauce.
We then walked to the nearby San Franciscan church and for 20 Bob each were allowed up onto the roof.
A very cool thing to do and great views. It felt like being in Assassins Creed for those in the know.
That's the silver mine in the background.
Our guide organised for us to watch a documentary about child workers in the silver mine. The two boys in the documentary lost their father at an early age and along with their mother and sister moved to live in a tiny house at a mine entrance. The boys were 12 and 10.
When this documentary was filmed (2005) there were over 800 children working in the mine in terrible conditions. Due to the documentary there are half that number. The miners have a life expectancy of 35 to 40. They accept that they will die young in order to help support their families.
Dinner at a lovely wee one man restaurant and then off to bed in a nice warm hotel room, for a change.
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