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Potosà is a city, the capital of the department of Potosà in Bolivia. It is at an altitude of 4,070 meters and has about 115,000 inhabitants. It is claimed to be the highest city in the world. It lies beneath the Cerro de Potosà ? sometimes referred to as the Cerro Rico ("rich mountain") ? a mountain of silver ore, which has always dominated the city. Cerro de PotosÃ's peak is 4,824 meters (15,827 feet) above sea level.
We arrived in Potosi and checked into a hotel where the Granja running it split her time being nice to us and being nasty to us.We were going to meet a friend here, whom we had met at Inti Wara Yassi so we spent the first day just wandering around and buying little items from the market to keep us warmer.The Christmassy feeling in Sucre escalated with the cold as we hit Potosi.We had already decided not to go to the mine and waited to do the Museum until Antonio arrived.Granja came into our room when we came back to the hostel and stole our towels saying they were doing something bad to the curtains and the mirror (Crazy old lady).Granja also shouted at Charlie when he was in the shower to say that there wasn't enough water, when there clearly was.
We met up with Antonio, who had checked into a different hotel, on the second day there and he told us he had been to the museum that morning.When he visited our hotel Granja shouted that guests weren't allowed in the rooms so he backed away from the door gingerly and with much hysteria.We spent the rest of the day in cafes, visiting the bus station (which had a sign that warned us people had been stolen on the streets) and on the internet.When we returned to the hostel Granja tried to have a long chat to us about Global Warming, we tried to escape and edged towards our door whilst she was still blithering.
The next morning Charlie and Lisa went to the Museo de la Casa de la Moneda (The Royal Mint).We had a compulsory tour that took 2 hours and involved laughing at old religious paintings, machinery powered by slaves and hoping that each room was the last.We did see small mummies in glass cases that looked like horror film dolls and lots of silver.
We met Antonio again in a lovely western style café and ate lemon pie.Charlie destroyed an Artisanal shop, whilst no-one was looking and so we ran away to the internet.We had seen a building that looked like an alien spaceship and so did some research and found out it was a Rotating Restaurant (modeled on one in Canada).We decided this might be a nice place for dinner unfortunately we got a taxi but it was closed so we came back and found a fancy looking restaurant in town.The meal was much cheaper than expected and there was fire to heat our very cold bones.The food wasn't excellent but it was a nice place to sit and drink a few glasses of wine.We left Potosi the next morning after Granja charged us for breakfasts, which were said to be included in the price.
Final Thoughts: Potosi was very cold and very high but had some pleasant Cafes and some bipolar granjas.
Mark out of 10: 4 Next Time........... Uyuni
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