After a very sad goodbye to Maria and Lilly, Michelle and I took a taxi to the bus terminal where we were able to jump on a bus to Potosi within half an hour of arriving. The journey itself was very picturesque, so I ended up chatting to Michelle the whole way whilst looking out the window. No Spanish practise on this journey. 4 hours passed and we finally arrived in one of the highest cities in the world. I have always been curious to see how my body would react at this altitude, but apart from being rather out of breath having just walked 5 minutes down the road, I would say that I have been lucky to avoid any kind of altitude sickness so far (but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed, I do have time to change that, especially in Peru!)

The first taxi we stopped was trying to charge us 10 bolivianos each, and according to our research it was meant to be just 3, so we quickly discarded that taxi driver. We soon discovered rejecting our taxi was a mistake, as we had arrived in Potosi on a strike day (yes, I really should have guessed, Bolivia LOVES their strikes.) As a result there were no Micros running, so of course the taxis were going to take advantage of this and charge us 3X more than usual. We were about 3k away from the centre of town so walking wasn't really an option, especially as we were so high up, trying to walk with all our bags 4000 metres above sea level probably wasn't a bright idea.

We were greeted by a very stern looking man (who had forgotten how to smile) at Koala Hostel. He didn't put us of checking in because it was 50 bolivianos per night including breakfast and the atmosphere in the hostel felt good. We dropped off our bags and went to explore the very quiet city. As we were stood outside looking at the map like real tourists a Bolivian lady approached us and asked us where we wanted to go. We were simply looking for the plaza which turned out to be straight ahead of us (ops, real blonde tourists now!) The afternoon turned out to be great as the lady ended up giving us a full tour of the city, taking us down all the streets, into some buildings (those which were still open on strike day) and we even managed to take a peek in one of the churches too (which was incredibly well decorated, with all kinds of religious paintings, sculptures, cabinets full of candles and all things religious...take a look at my photos) I was also rather chuffed by the fact that I was able to understand pretty much everything our kind guide was telling us...and yes, it was in Spanish, not English! It made me so happy and really confirmed my stay in Sucre was worthwhile. To be able to connect with the locals and to even make jokes with them to make them laugh (which they really love) gives me such a buzz. I even get told that I speak good Spanish, but in all honesty I think they are just very nice people and want to encourage me to speak more, maybe even so they can just laugh at me! After a nice stroll around the city in our t-shirts (yes, it wasn't even cold, people we warning us it was going to be freezing but in the sun it was boiling hot J) , we headed to 'cafe 4.060' and ended up indulging in their really good coffees, juices and Mexican dishes. Time flew by in the cafe, Michelle and I ended up talking about everything and anything until we realised it was 11pm and decided then that we really should go to bed!

Whilst wondering the streets with our lovely kind lady we learnt a few interesting facts about Potosi:

- The Spanish took over the mines around the 1500's. Thousands of Bolivian miners were dying with a life expectancy of under one year due to brutal working conditions and poisonous mercury vapours used in the mining process. When the Spanish left three centuries later, they extracted enough pure silver to build a bridge from Bolivia to Spain itself - how insane is that! I think it was something like 62,000 metric tonnes (137 million pounds) of silver.

- The Spaniards made a 'god' in the mines called "Tio" (he looks like a devil with red eyes) and told the miners that this was a 'god' and if they did not do their work or did not worship Tio, he would cast bad luck on them and bad things would happen. Since then, they still have Tio, and still bring offerings of alcohol, food, coca leaves.

- In the 1700's Potosi was one of the biggest & richest cities in the world due to the amount of silver that was being extracted from the mines. It's population was bigger than the centre of London and people from all around the world came to live in the city- hence it had many divisions and churches for all religions scattered around the town.

So Michelle and I arrived in Potosi during a 2 day strike - so they are still not happy. We asked the lady why and, from what I could make out in Spanish, I believe that they are striking because they are not happy with the living conditions in the city so want the Government to do something about it...like open up more factories and businesses in the town. The only work that is really available in the city is the mines, and hence the men are still forced to work in terrible conditions simply to obtain enough money to buy food for their family. 15, 000 miners are still working in the mines today. They work for themselves, so decide how long they work per day and when they work but it seemed like most would be in the mines for 10-20 hours and would work 7 days a week. During this time they solely survive on water, 96% bottles of alcohol and coca leaves. So I have already seen men walking around chewing coca leaves before, but down here in the mines, the men had huge clumps of coca leaves stored in the side of their cheeks, like big gob-stoppers. They chew this stuff as it is used to relieve hunger and fatigue and also enhances their physical performance. Oh, I also forgot to say that the lady who took us around the town looked about 50 years old and she was a construction worker...which is extremely hard work! It's insane!

Anyway, back on track...it was an early start for us the following day, as we were off to visit the mines at 8am (yes luckily the mine tour was still available despite the strikes). We had a lovely breakfast at the hostel including coffee, fresh bread, pancakes and scrambled egg too. After being kitted out in some sexy looking miners' clothes, we went to buy some presents. Between our group we bought dynamite, juices, water & coca leaves. Apparently they tend to drink the alcohol on Fridays only so we didn't want to encourage more binge drinking - it was only a Monday!

We were down in the mines for about 2 hours, and by golly that was plenty of time. I was glad to get out. It was hard work down there, just to get from one level of the mine to the next. It was hot, dark & dirty and at times there were extremely small spaces to crawl through to get to the next mining section. If you are at all claustrophobic there is no chance you could go there. The biggest challenge of all was the breathing:

- Not only were we at an extremely high altitude where the Oxygen is very thin, but the further down we went into the mine, the harder it was to breathe. We found we were all out of breath so easily just clambering a few metres.

- The dust in the mines was unimaginable; I didn't feel I was breathing air, just dust!

- The minerals were at times so potent it was really uncomfortable to breathe in even with scalfs and bandanas wrapped around our mouths and noses.

What surprised me most of all was that the men we met in the mines. They were working 8-20 hours at one time, yet they were smiling, laughing and joking around with us. I guess it was just normal for them and I guess they might as well make the best of a bad situation. I know now that I really can never complain about my job, and however bad I think my day is going in work I only need to think back to this day and remember all those who work here in the mines. I thought I had been put through torture going down just to see the miners working...but we didn't have to chisel away at the rocks, or load the wagons, or push the 200 ton wagons up to the exit.

In the afternoon we did all things normal to feel human again by taking a shower and eating in Koala Restaurant. A veggie burger was only 12 bolivianos. Michelle and I then took a tour around the Casa de Mint which was actually a really impressive museum with all kinds of religious paintings, a great collection of old coins, rooms full of big machines that used to be used to cut the money...all sorts! And we were good and took the tour in Spanish too J Go us! We returned to cafe 4.060 for dinner....we just couldn't resist the coffee and pizza there!!!