After the salt flats tour we jumped a local bus for the four hour trip to Potosi. Potosi is a town that causes some conflict amongst tourists. It is the highest town in Bolivia and also a mining town. Originally in this town the Spanish basically treated the Bolovians like slaves and sent them into the mines to come out with silver. The silver ran out years ago, but it is still a mining town for other minerals.

Now - Potosi is a topic of conflict amongst tourist because the mine is able to be viewed by tourists. The conditions are awful, as the government won't pay for any safety. It's asbestos filled and the miners have exceptionally poor conditions and often won't live a long life. Some travellers believe that by tourists going to see the minors in these conditions (mainly a Belgian couple we met on the salt flats tour) is exploiting them and not doing anything except comparing how much better your life is than the miners. That couple were a pair of d*** . While Potosi is famous for its mining, it was also a beautiful town with incredible buildings, streets and lovely people. You can also do a mine tour and as part of it, you buy gifts for the miners to show your appreciation and to give them something they may not normally afford themselves. We actually wimped out of the mine tour. Decided that we didn't want to go into a mine in those conditions. We were all for it, but then a FaceTime session with Milly (my mum) made us decide against it. So we settled with wandering the streets, visiting the museums and the mint and having our first taste of llama. It's horrid. It's really tough and chewy. Might try it again in Peru.

On our last night in Potosi, we could hear the sound of gun fire and what sounded like bombs. We think it was some sort of fireworks celebrating Easter. Can't be sure. But there didn't seem to be any damage when we boarded our bus to La Paz the following day.