Volcanic Soup and Cerro Rico

We made our way along a highway four hours to Potosi. The drive itself was scenic with plenty of llama herds and even the wild guanacos (a llama cousin) were in sight. Reaching over 13,000 feet at times on the drive we arrived Potosi in time for lunch.

We tried a tasty, traditional soup called k’alapurka which is heated with a volcanic rock. Watching the hot stone make the soup immediately start to boil was definitely memorable—more engaging, honestly, than much of the sightseeing in the afternoon.

We spent part of the day at the Casa Nacional de la Moneda, which tells the story of the silver that once made this city one of the wealthiest in the world. While the history is significant, the experience itself felt a little heavy and slow-paced for us. We wandered through town afterward—interesting to see, but not somewhere we lingered long.Read more