The Best of Both Worlds

The typical landscape of Bolivia is the Altiplano, the high plateau that exists between the two extensions of the Andes running through the country.  It is barren and rocky, but normally has bright blue skies, and there is a crispness in the air that is refreshing.  Well Potosi, the city I am at right now is a perfect example of a city on the Altiplano.  When we arrived yesterday, it was Sunday, and the streets were deserted which gave the place an old west kind of feel.  The streets are lined with beautiful colonial architecture, and there are a great number of ornate churches.  The reason that a town like Potosi, the tallest city in the world (along with Lhasa in Tibet) at 13,343 feet, should have so much to see is that it was once one of the important cities in the world, supplying Spain with nearly all of its silver.  Behind the city you can see the tall, orange colored hill that was the site of the silver mines.  From this mine came the source of Spanish power throughout the world for nearly a century.

So of course the first thing we had to do was to visit the old silver mint in town. From here silver was separated from its impurities, melted down into ingots, and pressed into coins.  This was a place devoted to nothing but money, and it lead to much suffering for the native population.  Because working in the mines was so dangerous, the Spanish had to force the locals into working.  People were brought from all over the empire to this cold, barren landscape to work themselves to death.  It isn’t any wonder that some of the clergy called the entrance to the mine, “the mouth of hell”.  

Our guide was great, and explained the whole process.  To me it all seemed pretty simple, actually.  The silver went through the varying processes of refinement; was packed in a box that was no different from a treasure chest you would find in a pirate movie (with hidden key holes to make it difficult to open); was sent up the coast to Panama; then to Havana; and finally to Spain where it funded the empire.

Before leaving, I bought a flattened piece of copper, placed it on one of the molds, and hammered out my own personal souvenir of Potosi. 

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The rest of the day me and Victoria wandered the streets of town.  She was leaving at night, so we wouldn’t have any more time together.  But that’s the nature of us travelers– we are constantly on the move, with no time set aside to plan for the future.  I had no idea I would be coming to Potosi, Bolivia when I arrived in Peru last month, but here I am.  Now I have to move on to Chile to get back home, as much as I would like to follow her to Argentina.  It cant happen now though.  It just wasn’t meant to go on any farther for us right now…as tough as that is to write.