There’s not too much to say about the cities that made up our last week in Bolivia but we did enjoy a few unique sights. Our first city, Potosi, was world-famous about a century ago for the lucrative silver mine found there. In true colonization fashion, the Spanish exploited the people and natural resources generating enormous wealth alongside enormous human toll, and while the wealth left Bolivithe shadow of 9 million deaths still stands over Potosi and the still-functioning mine, Cerro Rico. Here we visited the old mint, another area of human exploitation but now a museum that walks through the phases of the coin creation process and upgrades throughout the centuries. It also houses a coin collection, extensive good collection, and art collection. The most interesting piece was understanding how indigenous religion presents in Christian art,there are many symbols that were retained which is surprising considering the forced conversions brought by the Spanish conquistadors.
The best part of the whole city was the “volcano soup”, a local dish made with corn and other local ingredients into which they drop a hot stone, making it bubble and boil when served and keeping it hot while you eat it.
Potosi is close to 4,000 meters so we were glad to leave and descend to the considerably warmer and more beautiful Sucre, known as the “White City”. This is where the wealthy mine owners would live, with a delightful climate at 2,300 meters. The Spanish architecture made us feel quite like we were back in Europe and we enjoyed a walking tour to learn more about the place. Another highlight was visiting the fossilized dinosaur footprints, an archeological site that had been a lake thousands of years ago but due to plate tectonics, is now a wall. Though the site is unimpressively situated behind a cement factory, the history captured is unique. Or final excursion was to the nearby town of Tarabuco for their Sunday market, famous throughout the region. We weren’t able to enjoy all the wares in an effort to avoid food poisoning, but it was cool to enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells of this regionally significant place.
Our final stop was Santa Cruz, one of the largest and least exciting cities of Bolivia. Unlike our mountain experiences it was hot there, so we took it slow and enjoyed a shaded zoo in the city center. The other highlight (for Becky at least) was buying some jewelry that uses the Bolivianito stone, a semi-precious stone that combines purple and yellow into 1 geode with a glass-like effect. If you read this Sunny, thanks again for my Valentines Day gift :)
0 Comments