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| Potos・is the highest city in the world, it stands at 4000
metres and as such is also bloody freezing, in the daytime with the
sun it is lovely and warm but at night...brrrrrrrrr, I bought
an Alpaca (a type of Llama, although there are bloody loads of them
and they all look the same to me!) blanket which has come in very
handy, some alpaca socks and gloves, all I need now is some red
ribbons in each ear a head on each end...(push me pull you for
anyone who hasnt seen Dr Doolittle). Potos・itself used to be the richest city in the world and all this is due to Cerro Rico (rich hill) the mountain which stands as a stripped red streaky backdrop to the city. In colonial times the spaniards discovered the mountains riches and set about putting Indian slaves and others from Africa to work mining for the vast amounts of silver that was inside the mountain. Before this, rumour has it that the mountain was discovered by the last Inca who used to vsit the nearby area with its thermal pools. The legend has it that after his discovery a booming voice came from the sky demanding the mountain be left alone...that the treasure was for those from afar! Anyway, during the three hundred years of colonial spanish rule about 8 million people died in the mines under the terrible conditions and today there are still people working down there in conditions which although are not half as bad as they were are still a far cry from anything you would find anywhere else in the world. The average life of a miner once he has entered the mines is about 10 years, some go down as early as 10years old. Its a hard difficult life but a lot of them choose to do so, either through enjoyment of the job, tradition (most miners would go down with their fathers and it was expected that they would follow, this is lessening nowadays though) or through lack of other job opportunities. When i first arrived here I was taken aback by the charm of the place, although it is high up, cold and difficult the some of the others I was with were affected by the altitude, there is a fresh alpine feel and the architecture is incredible. All the buildings are very old and look like they are from Shakespearean times, you can almost imagine Romeo calling to Juliet at her balcony in parts. The streets are all very narrow and cobbled and there are over 80 churches in the area from the time when it was a wealthy place. Thats the city, the outside area is even more astounding, in one direction you`ve got Tarapaya and Miraflores, an area full of geothermal activity, hot springs and hot rivers! The old Indian ladies go to wash their clothes in the sulphur smelling hot water and other go to bathe. The main attraction, a perfectly circular hot lake, called the Ojo del Inca (Inca`s eye so called because this was the favoured bathing spot of the last Inca) is set amongst a beautiful valley which is really easy to climb as the rock is all volcanic. In the other direction is the Kari Kari range which is full of over 30 natural and artificial lakes, you can climb to almost 5000metres here and walk through valleys, canyons and be so far away from anything you can feel like you really are the only person alive. I went there yesterday, just on a short hike a few kilometres to the first lake and could barely breathe from the beauty of it. All the views here in this area are so vast, you can see land formations on the other side of the city from almost an aerial view at times. Anyway, after just two days here I was talking to one of the guides, Pedro about staying in Bolivia for a while and practising my spanish, he told me straight away he would get me a job...the next day he found me to talk to his boss and the following day...I began work as the new secretary! Since then I have been selling tours, helping out in their associated hostel, a lovely little place and only 3 weeks old, and practicing spanish lots! The guides all speak english really well but only use spanish with me which is really good. The owner is a funny Bolivian guy who visited england a while back and has since come back with all sorts of wild funny englishisms! He came to work the other day delighting in telling me how he hadnt had time to put his pants on and did I want to see, we all went out after work that night to the best disco in town...man, Id hate to see the worst! The most bizarre thing was that everyone was dancing on the dance floor in two very distinct lines, boys on one side and girls on another or sometimes mixed, dancing in twos but always in these lines...so in we went charging in causing havoc and messing up their unity, barrel of laughs. Anyway, I really should get back to work! love to you all Emma _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx |
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