Home » Bolivia » Plains of Salt, Mountains of Silver and Meals of Bacteria

So we have finished our luxurious stage of our South American journey (Chile and Argentina) and now are heading into Bolivia. The plan - a three day trip across the volcanic landscape and largest salt flat in the world in South West Bolivia. After leaving the paved road behind in Chile we drove in 4 X 4 jeeps up to 4600 m to the Bolivian immigration control. After a dubious breakfast of bread, cheese and jam we continued with Juan our driver a couple from Belgium, a girl from Switzerland and another from Canada.

Plains of Salt, Mountains of Silver and Meals of Bacteria

James and Anne Walkington
2006-08-08 16:59:49

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the world. This has got to be one of the most chaotic bus stations in the world. Kids as young as 6 were used to throw heavy rucksacks onto the roof of the bus. A guy who was our driver only had one leg and there were babies sleeping on the dash board whilst he drove. The road was dirt all the way with some not so insignificant drops on either side of the bus. After around four hours the bus stopped for lunch and pee break. Little did we expect that we would find no toilet and that everyone just pees in the middle of the street!

Around 3 pm we arrived in Potosi. A huge hill behind the
town is reputedly made mainly of silver. The incas and pachamama people saw the hill as sacred and therefore didn't mine it. Unfortunately when the Spanish arrived they put the locals and black slaves to work in the mine and hundreds of thousands of people died (in particular many of the black slaves died from poor oxygenation due to sickle cell anaemia). Now it is still worked but on much smaller scale.

After the previous night in a freezing hotel (which incidentally cost only 3 pounds for a double room) we decided it was time for some upmarket luxury. We checked ourselves into a 4* hotel called the Libertador. Was very nice as well (cost 15 pounds a night)

That night we went for a meal in a cheap restaurant recommended by the Footprint Guide. Unfortunately it was to be James' last meal for a few days. James opted for the trout which subsequently put him in bed for the next 24 hours with gastroenteritis. James apparently isn't as indestructible as he thought!!

The following day James was well enough to visit the Casa de Moneda (the mint). This is supposed to be the best museum in Bolivia. It was full of artefacts from when it used to be a working Mint, with great lumps of silver and old coins dating back to the the mid 1500's. Fortunately we were able to get into an English speaking group. Interestingly there was also a French group but these required a security guard with them (presumably because the Mint thought that they might steal something - like they keep stealing our food).

The following morning - Anne with a migraine (she just fights through these things) we got a very old minibus up to Cerro Rico the enormous silver mine. First a trip to the market to buy plastic explosive and detonators (cost 70 pence) for presents for the miners. A demonstration by the guide into explosives was rather impressive - we were well away. With yellow overalls, lamps and helmets we stooped low into the mines. It is all hand worked, very dusty, cramped and noisy. You were also very conscious that the roof might fall in especially when they start blasting whilst you are in the mines. Apparently 50 miners every year die out of 10,000. They work in medieval conditions.

Finally we got the bus to La Paz - an 8
hour reasonably comfortable journey. Unfortunately our first two hotels were full but we settled for a slightly cheaper one which has excellent decor.

We are now going to spend a few days in La Paz and James has his eye on a few 6000 metre mountains he would like to climb.