Potosi - the highest city in the world at a staggering 4,070m above sea level! The city is also a Unesco World Heritage sight. The city was once the richest in the world thanks to Cerro Rico which is the mineral rich mountain which hangs over the city. At first, the city seemed a bit bizarre (What else would you expect from a city this high up?) The streets are set on a hill which makes it especially hard to breathe whilst walking. Checked into a nice hostel which was just a few blocks from the pleasant central square before wandering around the city. You can tell that this city once had money but, to be honest, the smell of urine rather overshadowed some of the nice colonial buildings. On the first night myself and a group of people from the Uyuni tour went to a randon local nightclub where we drank the local beer (rank) whilst watching all the ugly locals dance in a line to Regaton music! The main reason for visiting Potosi was to visit the cooperative mines which once made the city the richest in the world. After gathering together all our mining equipment we headed to the miners market where we tried the miners'tipple (a 96% offering of which I will be smuggling one litre back into England) One sip is more than enough - the liquid evaporates off your tongue and makes you feel like you have just eaten fire! Its well worth a try though! Apparently the miners can neck half a litre each in 4 hours! We also bought Coca leaves for the miners. The most obscure and worrying purchase was made for 17 Bolivianos (1 pound 10 pence) For that I got a stick of dinamite, a fuse with detonator, and a bag of amonium nitrate! I gave my 'bomb' to a miner because they use the stuff to blow open the mines! However, at the end of the tour, our guide made a similar bomb and casually wondered off and left it to blow. The scale of the destruction was amazing considering the low cost! There are no rules as to who can and who can't buy the ingredients! Before all this, we spent two hours walking, kneeling and crawling along some of the most horrific and claustraphobic mines. The heat was like a wall, Arsenic, Copper Sulphate and Asbestos covered the walls. I was struggling for breath as we were higher than 4,300m a.s.l. Along the way we learnt about the mines and even met a miner and his 12 year old son. Its hard to beleive that people actually work here. Apparently 25 miners die each year in the mines due to cavings, silicosis or even murder (If a rival miner steals another mans silver) Back in the day, 8 million slaves died in the mines of Cerro Rico because they were forced to stay inside for a 6 month stretch. I was genuinely shocked and appalled by this experience. Miners have to work for 2 months to earn what most of us earn in less than a day. My two hours in the mines will be something I will never forget. It was hell on earth. Next stop, Sucre.