Potosí

Potosí is mainly famous for its “Cerro Rico”, a mountain next to the city with lots of minerals, mainly silver. During colonisation, the Spanish would exploit this mountain, force Indigenous people to work for them and Potosí became one of the richest cities with the second highest population right after London. Until today, there is still several active mines in which mainly male workers extract minerals in order to sell them and sustain themselves. The working conditions in those mines are absurd and even young boys at the age of 14 start working there. As part of a guided tour we could eventually enter the mines and get to know their rich culture inside the mines and even watch them working. The tour is not made for people with claustrophobia or asthma since you’re walking, crawling and climbing in those dark mines on almost 4.300m over see level. Nevertheless it has been one of the most impressive experiences on this trip. It is expected that in 20-30 years there will be no more minerals left which ends an era of more than 470 years of mineral extraction. Other than that the city of Potosí has a nice city centre which is pretty small but I found it cute. One day we went to a thermal lagoon called “Ojo del Inca” and on the way discovered a small festival of apples where they sold every possible product containing apples and we even met some Belgians selling Belgium waffles with apple marmelade topping!Baca lagi