A Weekend in Potosí

We spent last weekend in Potosí (altitude appx.13,500 feet), undoubtedly one of Bolivia´s most beautiful and complex cities. Potosí originally served as a piggy bank for the Spanish Empire, as conquistadors enslaved much of the population here to mine the silver-rich Cerro Ricco, pictured to the left (altitude appx. 15,800 feet).  According to our tour guide at Bolivia´s National Mint, over 40,000 metric tons of silver were mined from Cerro Rico during the first two centuries of Spanish rule in Potosí, and the mountain itself is shorter than it once was due to nearly-continuous mining.

The city itself is beautiful (if you can look past the car exhaust and trash, which you do after you´ve been in Bolivia for a while). Much of the architecture from the colonial period remains intact, and several of the churches are available for touring. You can even stroll along winding cobblestone roads originally designed to thwart the icy wind that blows through here at such a high altitude.

We were delighted to stumble upon a parade just after we checked into our hotel, El Turista (which was expensive but had central heating, a rarity even in chilly Potosí). One of the local high schools was celebrating its 70th anniversary with a vibrant procession of traditional costumes and masks. (I´ll upload a video if I can get a fast enough internet connection.)

 

Although we didn´t recognize many of the masks, our previous trip to the Museum of Folklore and Ethnography in Sucre had prepared us enough to know that each mask represents a different figure, some of whom are purely mythical while others are caricatures of real people (i.e. you´ll find gods, demons, jokers, elders, Spaniards, women who want to get pregnant, women who don´t want to get pregnant, etc. represented among the masks.)

We also toured the Museum of the National Mint, which was an operating mint through the middle of the twentieth century. Bacchus´ face smiles at you knowingly as you enter and exit the mint.  It is said to be a conquering smile directed at the Spanish after they were kicked out of Latin America.

My favorite part of the trip was by far our tour of El Museo del Convento de San Francisco--a convent built in 1547.  The highlight of the tour was the trip to the roof of the convent, where we walked atop the same orange bricks where you would have found busy nuns only a few years ago. Although this little adventure challenged yet again my fear of heights (which apparently doesn´t exist among Bolivians), it was worth it for the spectacular views of the city and of Cerro Rico.