Potosi
Potosi was a gruelling-winding 4 hours bus ride away from
Uyuni. I have done longer bus ride bus before but somehow this one was just
edging on my nerved and I could not wait to get out of the bus when we reached
Potosi. Arriving at night in Bolivia is not a good idea I realized as bus stops
are usually out of the way a few miles outside the city and with most cities in
Bolivia leaning on slopes getting lost and just wandering around is not very pleasant
and can be quite exhausting.
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| Potosi |
Taxi was hard to spot at night as well since only a small
sign or sticker on the front window marks the cars as a taxi. I manage to get
one after nearly half an hour blundering about and gestured him to the
preselected hostel Koala Den.
Other than the silver mines there is nothing much to do in
Potosi and I was not keen on entering the mines for one bit. There are tours
where they first bring tourist to the miners market and nice tourist will be
obliged to buy coca leaves, equipment’s or even dynamite to be given as gifts
to the miners while visiting the mines to show sincerity. Working in
underground construction sites before I wish some nice tourist would come visit
my workplace and bring me goodies but hell I work down there for the money and
was pretty sure mining silver was the same thing. Call me inconsiderate but
everyone does things by free will … there is no such thing as no choice …
I did however tried to locate the miner’s market by foot which
I did and the market which was not a market but really just shops along a
street selling construction gear. I would say it was like a hardware shop along
a street. Potosi did feel a little more dangerous for some reason. I walked
everywhere to places I guess I should not have walked, got looks and stares and
felt really unsafe outside the main square when I was wondering further and
further away to unknown places and at many times I almost just turned back but
somehow kept going. Nothing happened but I could not shake that feeling away.
Without much to do I left after two nights of rest to Sucre
….
Sucre
The most interesting sign I have ever came across during the
travels so far and also the most enlightening one was at the bus station in
Sucre about the taxi’s in Bolivia
What great notice signpost. The first time that I have an
inclination of how much a taxi should cost thou it made no difference as the
Taxi drivers will never give a foreigner a local price tag so I settled for 5
Bolivianos instead which was still cheap.
Sucre is known as the most beautiful city in South America.
I can’t say much to that for it seems true with all the nice neo-classical
building which seems to outshine any other city I have visited so far in South
America. Still it was nowhere near the beauty of the cities in Europe.
The place is known for tours to see the dinosaur tracks
imprinted on a Clift but that’s about it. I could not be bothered …. Passing by
remember but good to know it’s there I guess.
The other mission I had was to find a memento for Bolivia.
While researching about the border town of Pueto Quijarro they mention about a
mine and about a stone called Bolivianita or the actual term Amtrine.
Apparently the only mine that produce this kind of stone was in Bolivia where
it is a mix of two type of crystals in colours of purple and yellow. No other
mines in the world have its kind of property so I was set on a hunt to find it.
Almost could not find any bolivianita and I had to resort to
scouring the internet for places to buy bolivianita in Sucre. It was still not
easy even than for there was no central big souvenir market that sells it, so
looking at the shop name and address I went on a hunt. Once I found the first
shop that sells bolivianita, I then know what I was supposed to look for,
jewellery shop the expensive kind but as small as 16 m2. So from
show to shop I hunted the gemstone, and compared prices and look at the shapes
and eventually bought more than I should.
Santa Cruz
If I was passing by Potosi and Sucre I was more or less just
stopping for a piss break in Santa Cruz. Got off the bus just to find the
cheapest hostel there is before I headed back to the train station to get a
ticket the next day on the famous Death Train to Puerto Quijarro.
I was in Santa Cruz on a Sunday …. Everything was close
I did had a quick glimpse of the city which was set in rings
of circle. Circle upon circle and although flat it felt worse than La Paz. Santa
Cruz was warm climate and after traveling through all the high altitude, cool
climate of Bolivia, suddenly you get tired just from the heat and humidity.
Out the next morning on the 18 hours journey on the Death
Train to border town Puerto Quijarro.
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