Bolivia - the colonial city of Potosí

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Potosí is a colonial city founded by the Spaniards below Cerro Rico mountain (a rich mountain) in the 16th century. Silver was mined there. In the golden days (well rather silver days) Potosí was the richest city in Americas. Around 200 thousand people live there. The number of its inhabitants and the altitude at which the city is located make it the highest situated city of over 100 000 inhabitants. It is situated at 4000 meters above sea level. It doesn't seem anything special when we walk around the city we are quite catching our breath. As for the weather – it is also warm at this altitude. The sun is quite warm high in the mountains. However, once its below the horizon it starts to get very very cold.

Plaza 10 de Noviembre consists the center of the city. A statue which stands on this square reminds the Statue of Liberty in New York. There is a stone cathedral (Iglesia de la Merced). The ocnstruction was commenced in 1564 already and finished in 1600. There are other colonnial buildings around the cathedral mostly banks or government bodies. There is one more, smaller square above this one (Plaza 6 del Agosto). A university is situated in fron of it. Below Plaza 10 de Noviembere, there is Potosí's most famous building Casa Nacional de la Moneda. It operates amuseum today displaying everything related to minting and machines for working silver. It was a colonnial mint in the 18th century. There is a fountain on the courtyard of this structure. Behind it you can see a balcon with caritature of Mascarón (a large laughing head with vine grapes around its head). It was made by Eugenio Martín Moulon in 1856. It is the "symbol" of the city. Yet there are disputes over what or who it depicts.   

The city of Potosí is a city of churches. At least in my perspective. When we walk o
n the paved streets, some ascending, some leading uphill and some downhill. It seems there is a church simply everywhere. Really nice one is situated below Moneda Museum. It is Torre de la Compaňia de Jesús.

We encounter Nuestra Seňora de Jerusalén chapel on Plaza del Estudiante with a beautiful colonnial stone church of San Bernardo which has white belfries. We found a beautiful vista to see in the upper town of the city. There you can find San Sabastian church before Cerro Rico mountain. The church has an orangeish color, and it seems as it was camouflage for the mountain has dark red color. San Benito is on the lower part of the square. It is a clean white church with yellow ornaments around the entrance and on the belfry.

The traffic is quite heavy in the city center. In Potosí, they found a way how to cross the road in safety and have fun at the same time. People in white tiger costumes stop cars on several roads. A driver notices the costume immediately. He stops the car, have fun, a pedestiran crosses the road, thanks tiger and everybody is happy. We did it as well. What is bit of disappointment to us is Pari Orko scenic platform. There is radio tower and the vista over the city. The park is, however, closed. They open it only on weekends which means we will not be able to get there.    

Two or three days are enough to enjoy colonial and alpine atmosphere of a mining town. The city is not large and it is easy to walk through it especially when you get used to thinner air. There are two terminus stations. The smaller one (closer to the center)  is a terminus for buses from Uyuni. The second one which is new (Nueove terminal) is situated at the edge of the town. There are also newer houses. Buses to Sucre, Cochabamba or La Paz depart there. Our reason for going to this terminus is that we need to get to Sucre, the capital of Bolivia. Again, we pay 2 BOB for using the terminus. We spent there 5 minutes and got away. People here found out how can they avoid the fee. The bus stops on the road for then. Behind the terminus our bus stopped several times. It is little risky for the bus wouldn't have stopped if it was full.

GPS: 19°35'19.7"S 65°45'14.4"W

Text and photos: Tomáš Novák