UYUNI TO POTOSI

Sunday 30th November

Spent most of today travelling - in a beat up old bus with no suspension, from Uyuni to Potosi. Left at 8am. Dust and bumnps were the order of the day, magnified even more by teh fact that we had a bus driver who looked about 12 and seemed totally carefree.

Have to say I didnt really mind it too much ( I'd been clever enough to buy snacks, water and had my Ipod to while away the hours) - but some of the others really struggled with it. Journey took us just short of 7 hours on dirt tracks that really didnt deserve to be called roads.

The driver and his companion ( even younger looking) stopped about 4 times to check tyres and engines etc as the road slowly took its toll on our ageing bus. apparently we lost about 3 bolts from one of the tyres !!!

Stopped briefly at Pesca where I again bought handmade 'tourist tat' from a sad looking girl outside their 'Museum of Weaving'. Really wasnt much more than a hut with a weaving loom and a few donkeys outside of it.

About an hour or so out of Potosi we hit a really wild thunder storm with some of the most fantastic lightning Ive ever seen - and some really heavy rain, although by that stage no-one was bothered about how treacherous the roads were becoming because we didnt think it could get much worse.

At long last I actually felt like a real backpacker, really roughing it. The Aussies decided that they werent tipping the driver or his sidekick so when we finally arrived in Potosi they dropped us off a good 200 yards from our hotel rather than directly outside it, which meant we all had to lug in our bags. When it turned out that the rain had been leaking into the back of the bus and all our bags were soaked, it all became too much for one of the group ( who shall remain nameless !!) who proceeded to lose it big time in the reception of the hotel - talk about throwing your toys out of the pram. Quite a scene !!

Hotel is passable - Hostal Colonial, old colonial style with two courtyards and a TV in the bedroom ( cant remember when I last watched TV actually !!!). All the single rooms are hidden away at the back of the hotel, but bed was comfy so I wasnt complaining.

Potosi is a very traditional old fashioned town so everything was shut on a Sunday - we had to make do with dodgey hamburgers from a kind of fast food place for a belated lunch and then pizza from a local spit and sawdust restaurant later at night. Both really crap !!

At 4060m Potosi is officially the highest city in the world (I think city is stretching it a bit - town would be far more realistic, not really got much of a city vibe). Its really juts a shadow of the town it once was - during the 16th century after the Spanish invaded it was one of the largest and wealthiest cities in the world, due to its silver mines. The silver from these mines kept the Spanish monarchy afloat for well over a hunded and fifty years until Bolivia finally got its independence in 1825 ( Potosi was the last town the Spanish fought to hold onto - given its obvious wealth).

The mines are still operational and we're planning to tour one of them tomorrow.

Managed to find a Farmacia that was open and bought it out in terms of pills, tablets and anything else that would help me breathe easier at night. Starting to really hate being this high up !!