After the bloodbath comes Potosí
Next stop potosí with an altitude of 4090 meters one the highest cities in the world. And here is were actually our real adventure began.
So we walked still with all our bags, way too many bags from our hotel to the bus terminal in la Paz.
The day before we had booked 2 Semi Cama seats/beds for 60Bs for the 9 hour ride from la Paz to Potosí. So the bus was about to leave at 1 pm and supposed to arrive at 10 pm in Potosi. So far so good.
First impression of the bus yeah, yes, hmmm it was quite, I would say it sucked so did the drivers that looked like a twin set of Quasimodo and who didn’t even know that the bus they were about to drive had to stop in potosi. But we explained that to them. So after a short discussion everything seemed to be settled. They loaded our bags (or did they?) and along with tons of coca leaves off we went in our semi bed seats which were actually regular seats. But we don’t want to be picky and connived.
Additional info: 9 hour bus ride = no toilet (But who dares to complain with these prices, definitely not me)
So from there everything went smoothly until 2 hours before our arrival in Potosí the bus broke down in the middle of nowhere. Two quasimodos, one clown and a caveman now tried to repair the bus with all their available mechanical knowledge. And who would have thought that, they managed to fix the bus after roughly one hour. Unfortunately the repair lasted for exactly 1.23 minutes. After another 3-5 breakdowns the bus managed to bring us, with just a delay of 5 hours to the city of potosi. (Btw peeing in the middle of nowhere whilst watching the stars is highly underrated) So it was 3 o’clock and we were finally in Potosi but there was only one problem my bag was gone. It simply disappeared. I had several theories:
- They did not load my bag and it got simply forgotten in la Paz
- They took it out of the bus whilst repairing and forgot to put it in
- It was stolen
- They just couldn’t find it and it suddenly appeared at the final stop in Villazon
Unfortunately I never solved the case.
After several calls with the bus company I eventually gave up on getting my bag back. Good thing about it, I was traveling lighter now.
So I just started to enjoy my time in Potosi and la Casona hostel close to the main plaza. The rooms at la casona cost 50 Bs and there was finally the first real hot shower in Bolivia, yeah. Not too bad either breakfast was included.
We were basically not doing much in Potosi as there is not much to do besides visiting the mines in Cerro Rico mountain (Cerro de Potosi 4,824 metres). But instead of going to see the mines me and my friend just climbed the mountain. However not the entire mountain but a part of it in order to have a nice view above the city. And we certainly did not stop climbing after a while because we were out of breath, do not dare to think that. I just smoke a bit, maybe sometimes a bit more but it doesn’t give me breathing problems at least not always but maybe it does at 4000 meter, we don’t know that. The rest of the time we spent watching the people at the Plaza. Btw best German bread + cold cuts outside Germany.
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