We arrived in Potosí early in the morning after a long, but surprisingly comfortable night bus. We found the hotel where one of our friends had checked in the previous day and met up with him to book our tour of the infamous Potosí mine.

For centuries, Potosí was the source of most of the silver in Spain, and at one point was one of the largest cities in the world. Eventually, though, the mine was nearly stripped clean of silver, and the town was basically left to die. Now, the mines are still active, but mostly extract less valuable minerals such as tin, lead, antimony and wolfram.

We headed up toward Cerro Rico and stopped at the miner’s market to buy gifts for the workers.  In exchange for things like Coca Leaves, Ceibo (96% alcohol that these guys actually drink… I think we call it ‘rubbing alcohol’), and dynamite (all the miners are independent and have to purchase their own equipment, including explosives), the miners allow tourists to go through their workplace and see the mines.  We got on some protective gear and our hard hats with lamps and headed into the mine.

The Potosí mines have been called ‘the mouth of hell’ and they certainly lived up to the reputation.  Dark, hot, smelly, and dangerous (at times we had to hoist ourselves up ropes and climb old rickety, broken ladders) it was very eye-opening to see the men of the town risk their lives daily for a small piece of the wealth that might be left in Cerro Rico.

And, for an added bonus, after the mine tour, our guide took us to a small abandoned spot and we blew up some dynamite.  A bit childish, maybe, but c’mon, who doesn’t love blowing stuff up?

We got back to the hostel and relaxed for the rest of the day.  In the morning, we got on an Uyuni-bound bus.  We arrived in the afternoon, found a cheap place to stay, and booked a three day tour of the Salt Flats, which would leave us down in San Pedro de Atacama in Chile.  That night, we ended up at a very cool bar in town, having a few drinks, chatting with a lot of people, and participating in some open mic fun.

The next day, at around 10:30, we set off in our Toyota 4Runners (in all, there were 7 of us, plus 5 other travellers, so we had to take two cars – I ended up in a car with Ryan and Omar from my group, plus three very cool Argentinian girls).  For the first day, we drove all over the surreal, seemingly endless, bright white salt flats.  My buddies all took a bunch of good pictures which I will steal and post as soon as possible. The next day was a full day of driving through the desert, checking out lagoons full of flamingos and looking at volcanos.  You know, the usual.  On the third day, we woke up early, and headed out into the freezing cold to see some geysers, and then watched the sunrise from the 100-degree waters of a hot spring.  By mid-morning, we were close to the border of Chile, and our group borded a small bus bound for the town of San Pedro de Atacama.

After a miserable, disorganized, slow, but thankfully free (still reeling from the cost of a Bolivian visa) border crossing into Chile, we hit the small desert town of San Pedro.  We immediately noticed the big difference between Bolivia and Chile is the cost.  Prices are closer to what we pay back in the States for food and drink, and we were all used to the cheap cost of travelling in Bolivia.  Despite the cost, we all quickly fell in love with the small town and it’s incredibly friendly residents.  Of course, it’s going to be a short stay, as we purchased tickets bound for Salta, Argentina for Friday morning.