To Potosí, the Highest City in the World

Yup, it really is the highest.  What defines a “city” exactly, I’m not sure.  But Potosí was really important in the colonial time.  Silver from Potosí supplied Europe for hundreds of years, and basically enabled it to develop the way it has.  Now Potosí is definitely NOT a booming city; there’s a lot of poverty and a lot of people still have to work in the mines just to survive.

On our way to Potosí (in a bus) we stopped at Tarapaya hot springs.  We all swam in a big 90-ish degree pool.  We had to stay around the edges because in the center is a volcano, which sometimes makes whirlpools that suck people in.  We put mud on our faces and all over our bodies—all natural spa treatment!  The only problem was that when I washed it off I also washed off all my sunscreen…so my shoulders are a little burned.  Luckily I have some aloe vera!  

Emily, Me, Melissa--sorry, I don't have the mud pictures!

So we were supposed to get to Potosí and eat lunch at 1pm, but we were a few hours late so we didn’t finish lunch until 4pm-ish.  I went with some friends to a Convent/Museum.  It was established in 1685 and wealthy families would raise their second daughter to join the convent when she turned 15.  Once she joined, she stayed there without outside contact until she died.  Only 21 nuns lived there, so one had to die before a new girl would join.  The convent had a lot of bloody crosses—different than what I usually see.  There are still nuns living there now, though only 12.  They make candies that you can buy in the gift shop.

Then we walked around the central plaza, which was really close to the hotel.  (Fun Fact: There also weren’t very good sidewalks—about 2-3 feet wide, but sometimes going around a corner the sidewalks disappeared.  Shows how old the city is!  WAY before cars.)

For dinner, we went back to the hotel.  A group of traditional musicians played music while we ate.  It was a 3 course meal, which is not at all typical for Bolivian dinners.  It was good, though so I ate a lot, and then SUFFERED when we started dancing.  My belly was not pleased.  But I had fun!  And on a happy note, not one bit of altitude sickness! (For perspective, the front seat of our bus had 2 oxygen tanks, so that was a bit unnerving.)