Bolivia: Arrival at the Salt Flats

By the end of Day 7, we arrived at the salt flats. Before setting out, however, we drove from the Hacienda into Potosí, to sample a bowl of kalapurca, a rich soup heated by hot volcanic rocks placed directly into the soup bowl.

We then walked around Potosí for an hour or so, looking at the picturesque doorways, walls, street views, and courtyards. For a photographic aficionado of colorful urban scenes, it doesn't get much better than this.

 A last view of Cerro Rico before we headed out of town.

Bolivia: Converting Silver into Money

A guide well-trained in the dramatic arts took us through a history of machines for extracting silver and pressing it into round, suitably-stamped coins. The machines are genuine; the workers are sculptures, portraying the hardships and dangers of the work.

Bolivia: Virgins in the Mint

Potosí's Casa de Moneda, or Mint, has been converted into a very interesting museum. In addition to a historical perspective on how silver was stamped into coins (in tomorrow's post), it has a remarkable collection of paintings of the Virgin by indigenous artists.

Ironically, one first encounters this face of Bacchus overlooking the courtyard of the Mint.

Bolivia: Potosí Street Scenes

Potosí is a colorful city, with the sun and strong shadows emphasizing the painted facades, vendors, and pedestrians.

Bolivia: Potosí Mines

On Day 6 in Bolivia, we explored Potosi, in some ways the most consequential city in Bolivia. To quote from the Wilderness Travel summary: "Founded in 1545, Potosí (13, 315') was once the epicenter of Spanish colonial presence in the southern Bolivian highlands. On Cerro Rico, the stark red hill that dominates the city, the Spanish mined enough silver to help finance the extravagant ventures of its monarchy for almost three centuries. By the end of the 18th century, Potosí was the richest city in Latin America."

The photos below show Cerro Rico (Rich Mountain), the grubby and dangerous environment of the remaining mining operations, and - at the end - the devil Tio, to whom the miners make offerings of drinks, cigarettes, and coca.

Bolivia: Hacienda de Cayara

Scenes of the Hacienda de Cayara, a historic 16th C hacienda that is still functioning as a dairy farm, hostel, and museum. It generates its own electricity from a waterfall passing through old 19th C machines imported from Europe.

After dinner, a concert of Bolivian panpipe music