13th-16th September: Potosi and Sucre

We had a slow start after our late arrival in Potosi the night before.  Potosi is dominated, visually, economically, as so far as we could tell emotionally by Cerro Rico, "Rich Hill", the (former) largest silver mine in the world. It is also called the "Mountain that eats men", having devoured more than 8 million souls in its appalling conditions (mostly under Spanish rule, but things don't seem to have improved much).  We decided to skip the principal reason why Posoti is a stop on the Gringo Trail (more about that later), so instead went for a wander around the centre of the city, the highest in the world at more than 4000 metres above sea level.  We were charmed by the colonial houses with oriel balconies, by the rich stone-carved ornaments and facades, and by the locals in traditional dress.

Women on the main square in the center of Potosi

We had an interesting visit of the cathedral, which was undergoing major renovation works.  You can see the safety standards in the photo below.  From the bell tower, we had a great view over the city and Cerro Ricco.

View of Cerro Rico from the Cathedral bell tower

We went for lunch with Adam and Donna, whom we had met on the Uyuni tour, and then resumed our tour around the city by a visit of the Casa de la Moneda, a beautiful museum located in a huge former colonial building that had previously housed the Potosi mint.  It displayed an exhibit of the minting machines used from the 16th century (under Spanish rule) to the beginning of the 20th century, when Bolivia started importing its coins.

Symbol of the city of Potosi - made by a French engraver

The museum also possessed an impressive collection of silver objects from the colonial era. Interestingly, we spotted some other reproductions of arquebusier angels.  It was clear from this exhibition that it had not occurred to them that the mine could eventually run out.

This is another interesting exhibit of the museum:  the "Virgen del Cerro Rico", by an anonymous author during the 18th century.  Representations of the catholic religion, as well as Inca gods and indigenous legends are mixed.  This painting represents the crowning of the Virgen in Cerro Rico (the woman figure could also be Pachamama, Andean goddess of Earth and Creation).  The Trinity is present on top of the painting, surrounded by the Archangels San Michael (left) and Gabriel holding a flaming heart (right).  Inca gods (the sun and the moon) are also present. The history of Cerro Rico is depicted on the mountain, notably the legend of the discovery of silver in the mine (an indigenous had followed one of his llamas to the mountain, lit a fire, and discovered some silver that had melted), the exploitation of indigenous people and African slaves by the Spanish, the Inca emperor Huayna Capac's visit to Cerro Rico giving the city its name.  The city of Potosi is painted in the middle of the blue sphere representing the world, symbolising that Potosi was the economical center of the world.  The Pope and the King are represented at the bottom of the painting, thankful for the wealth generated for Europe.

We then went to see the 18th century carved-portal of San Lorenzo church, which we were eager to see after our visit of the PAJCHA museum (in Salta).  This portal made by indigenous craftsmen is another good example of syncretism between the catholic religion and indigenous beliefs, or barroco mestizo: an armed Archangel is surrounded by two mermaids playing the charango, as well as the sun, the moon and stars - representations of Andean gods.  Look also for the bare-breasted women on each side of the door.  Click here for more information.

We made it back in time to the hostel to watch the Devil's Miner, a movie about a child working in Cerro Rico under incredibly harsh conditions.  In the evening, we went to a restaurant and ate llama meat for the first time.  Although it was well-prepared, we were not convinced.

Before our 1pm bus to Sucre, we went to Voces libres, which we had been told was a foundation for miners of the Cerro Rico.  Instead of visiting the mine, we had decided to give the money that a tour would have cost to a foundation for miners.  We thought that we would not be comfortable in the tunnels and we did not like the idea of "misery tourism".  We later realised that Voces Libres is an international organisation supporting children and women of the Cerro Rico and that our donation must have been minuscule.  In any event, it was nice to meet with them.  Unfortunately, we could not meet the children as they were at school.

It took only 3 hours to Sucre, on an asphalt road, which was more enjoyable than the unpaved road from Uyuni.  Less so was the sight of the ravines at the side of the road. Thankfully the driver was not going too fast.  We dropped our bags at the hostel and went for a tour of the city, going through various markets (campesino market and mercado central).

The next day, we had some really nice empañadas for breakfast at "El Paso de los Abuelos", probably the best we have had so far.  At the Casa de la Libertad, a colonial building which used to be the leading university in South America, we had a very interesting guided tour taking us through the major events of Bolivian history (focusing on its independence from Spain).

View of the former church of the university, which held the first Bolivian Congress after the Independence

Slightly less cultural but nonetheless diverting, we later headed to the Dino Park. Thousands of footprints of dinosaurs from the cretaceous period have been found on a hill, which was formerly excavated by the cement company Fancesa. The explanations of the guide on dinosaurs in South America were interesting.  Unfortunately, it was not possible to get closer to the footprints as parts of the hill have collapsed due to erosion and it is too dangerous.

We had lunch at the restaurant of the Grand Hotel: a pollo piquante and chorizos currasqueños, typical Bolivian dishes.

We knocked on the door of a school and were allowed to go up to the bell tower of the Convent of San Felipe Neri, from which we had a great view over the white building and terracotta-tiled roofs of the city.


We were impressed by the collection of silver objects of the Museo Eclesiastico de la Cathedral, and surprised by the following painting, I had never seen JC in a dress.

          

Altar made in silver, and Virgin of Guadalupe covered by silver and semi-precious stones

The next day we went to the Museo de la Recoleta.  This beautiful building had a rich history, having been used first as a convent and converted to a military base at the beginning of the 19th century.  It was given back to the Franciscan order after the murder of the second Bolivian president on the premises. It had a beautiful collection of indigenous and local paintings from the 16th-18th centuries.

The evening was quite eventful. We managed to catch the bus to La Paz, after some minor stress as we had forgotten to change our voucher for bus tickets and we needed to get stickers for our bags. We quickly realised that our driver was not the most careful ever.  He was driving very fast and the thought of falling down the ravine was terrifying.  We made it safe to Potosi, where the bus driver changed to our relief.  The rest of the journey went ok, except for a few stops to "deal with the motor". We even managed to get a few hours sleep.