The Highest City in the World!

One of the many colonial church steep with Cerro Rico ("rich mountain") in the background

Elias and I made a journey to Bolivia´s highest city this past weekend and what they claim to be the highest city in all the world (about 15,000 ft). After 10 hours in an overnight bus that made switchbacks all night, we arrived to crisp, cool air and beautiful sunshine. Potosí is the mining capital of this country rich in natural resources. Unfortunately, Bolivia hasn´t yet learned how to capitalize on these resources, but has rather been raped of them (tin, gold, silver, natural gas) for the last four hundred years by colonial powers and a series of transnational corportations. In it´s heyday (mid-1600s) , Potosí was the richest city in the world (with London ranking second)! Since they´ve been mining Cerro Rico for the last 400 years, there isn´t a whole lot left, so the city has seen a decline in mining profits. Many of it´s residents have migrated to larger cities like Cochabamba in search of work (the reason for my visit - to understand the history of some of the families I´m working with). What remains is some beautiful Spanish colonial architecture from the times when Spain ruled the area (and all the minerals mined were considered their property...). It is a sleepy city, with thin air, and very friendly people.

A beautiful Baroque church door and our guide offering coca leaves and a cigarette to please el tio

The highlight of the visit was definitely our visit to a mining cooperative. It was intense,

scary at times, but a very enlightening experience. We met "el tio" (the devil), who is the guardian of the mine and the underworld, as well as some miners who will be lucky to live to reach 40 years. There are teenagers and even children who work in the mines in order to support their families. I´ll post more photos later when I have more time...