Potosà is a colonial city of 145 000 people at 4090 metres high, which mean that it’s the highest city of more than 100 000 inhabitants in the world! Since 1987 the city is labelled Unesco World Heritage List for its baroque architecture. Unless its pretty stiff streets, it reminds me quite a bit of Spain. I enjoyed walking up and down the streets, discovering the different markets or walking back down from the mine – I needed fresh air! – to the city centre, crossing the working-class suburb.
One of the main attraction is to visit the mine of the Cerro Rico, such an unforgetable and quite traumatic experience… I still don’t really understand how people can just kill themselve – life expectancy 45 years old! – with such a hard work that hardly make them able to survive… Visit is very much alive – don’t ever go there if you’re claustrophobic!!! I had to concentrate really hard for not going back, while walking completly hunched in a really narrow tunnel just at the beginning of the visit! Then I could feel the ache in my legs while going up and down the ladder or even just walking at 4 100 metres underground! Quite a challenge – again! - and it gives you a real idea about the miner life as you’re literally with them in the mine! You can easily see how dangerous it is - You’ll never be able to do that in Europe! Too slippery… Too dangerous! – and I felt really sorry to see a 12 years old boy already working there! I’m so glad not to have such a hard life!
After such an experience I walked back to the city, stopping to take a banana fresh juice and taste local food at the market: Pastela, kind of crepe with or without cheese – I tasted both 
– and Api drink, I still don’t know what it is but it was good 
Tomorrow, visit of Convento-museo Santa Teresa planned before heading toward Uyuni.
Reality… I just have my eyes to cry. My friend Ariane told me that it’s best I didn’t start with India… I guess she is right!
