Potosi, Sucre and La Paz

After Uyuni, the highlight of which was the train cemetary (!), we headed for Potosi.

Potosi

The guide book said it would take six hours to reach Potosi,so we were bracing ourselves for yet another long bus ride. But the road has recently been upgraded and is new tarmac all the way, so it only took four hours - and the journey was spectacular. First we headed up into the hills, with good views back across the salt flats, then we gradually climbed up and up into the mountains, up over 4,000m again, and with great views all around.

We weren´t expecting much of Potosi, we were really only breaking the journey between Uyuni and Sucre. But it was a pleasant surprise - warm and sunny even though at 4,100m, and there were some lovely colonial streets to wander around.

We also managed to go on a guided tour of the Mint which was fascinating. Did you know that the $ symbol originated from Potosi, when the colonial silver coins were stamped with the overprinted letters P T S I for Potosi, thus making the first $ symbol?

Sucre

The next day we headed for Sucre, earlier than we'd hoped as there weren't many bus options. At least this meant that we arrived on the afternoon, in time to have a look round before dark and settle into our hotel which was a really lovely colonial house - here's David looking out of our bedroom window...

Sucre is known as the White City because of all its white-washed colonial buildings, mainly churches. It has a very nice central plaza and it has a relaxed and friendly feel, even though it's a large city. The streets here are wider and grander than in Potosi.

We had a couple of days here, and moved fairly slowly, wandering up the local hill to admire the city views, wandering around the colonial buildings, and exploring a few squares and parks. We also visited an indigenous art museum and leant a lot about textiles - and I weakened and bought one!

La Paz

Then to La Paz, this time by plane, and the landing was dramatic to say the least - we swooped in over the Andes and landed on a thin landing strip in El Alto, a city in its won right at 4,000m, and it has the highest airport in the world. Then for a taxi down to La Paz, at a mere 3,600m! It took us a few hours to acclimatize to the altitude, and to the hustle and bustle of a huge sprawling city - houses all the way up the steep hillside, unless the rock is just too crumbly! We enjoyed wandering round the markets, where you could buy just about anything - there was even a witches' market selling potions and llama fetuses!

We met up with Nicky and Graham who we had met in Potosi and we arranged to go on the same day trip with them to visit a pre-Inca site at Tiwanaku - down near Lake Titicaca, this site was once the biggest city in South America. As with other sites, a lot was now in ruins and not always clear how things would have looked originally - but there was still enough of a huge pyramid and some temples to make this an impressive site.

We spent an enjoyable last evening with Nicky and Graham - and tried llama steaks with a bottle of Bilivian malbec - all surprisingly tasty!

We wandered around the old city the morning before flying to Lima, and we luckily coincided with Andean new celebrations in the main square! Lots of speeches, music and dancing - and loads of people out in traditional dress for the occasion. We rounded off the morning with some traditional La Paz food - saltenas, a bit like spicy pasties!