Lewis the Lion left the city of Uyuni one Sunday evening for the highest city in the world at 4090 metres above sea level: Potosí, Bolivia.
Potosi’s main square with cathedral
As he arrived at the bus stop, he could see a small bus with no more than 20 seats on it and passengers were waiting with their blankets in hand. They were obviously prepared for a cold bus journey! However, Lewis the Lion couldn’t complain as the whole journey from Uyuni to Potosí (a 5 hour journey) only cost $30 Bolivianos, i.e. £3 in pound sterling. In other words, it was incredibly cheap.
He realised it was no wonder it was cheap because the bus looked very rickety and the luggage had to be passed to the driver who secured it to the roof of the bus. Lewis the Lion just hoped that he would get his luggage back safely when he arrived at his destination.
The bus bobbled along for most of the journey along rough roads and at times, Lewis the Lion worried that the bus might topple down a ditch. However, the driver seemed very competent, especially when oncoming vehicles narrowly missed the bus! There was a cold draft coming in through the windows so it was a good job that Helen had worn lots and lots of layers. Nonetheless, when the group of friends arrived at Potosí, they were positively freezing and their feet felt like blocks of ice! Lewis was travelling with friends that he had made on his journey to Uyuni: Kelly, James and Al. He was grateful that they were there, especially when James helped them all to get their luggage down from the roof of the bus.
The friends caught a very cheap taxi (5 Bolivianos each) to a hostel called La Vicuña. This was a lovely hostel but they soon discovered, like many of the hostels in Potosí, that it had no central heating! Thankfully however, it had lots of warm blankets on the beds and hot showers in the morning.
La Vicuña Hostel
The next day Lewis the Lion got a proper chance to wander around the pretty city of Potosì with his friends and soak up the atmosphere. Potosì was formerly one of the richest and most populated cities in the world due to the silver that was mined in its mountain, Cerro Rico – ‘the rich mountain’ in English.
The Cerro Rico Mountain dominates the city of Potosi
The mountain dominates the city and in fact is still mined today. (Lewis the Lion will tell you more about the mine in his next blog). However, traces of Potosì’s Spanish colonial past were still clear for Lewis the Lion to see, as there were many beautiful churches, buildings and squares where you could watch the world go by.
Lewis looks on a square in Potosi with Cerro Rico in the background
Lewis the Lion particularly liked one such square where there was a woman selling freshly squeezed orange juice for 2 Bolivianos – just 20 pence!
A cup of freshly squeezed orange juice anyone?
Lewis the Lion was in for another surprise in terms of how cheap things were in Bolivia for Helen had her full lunch for just 20p and was full! (Watch out for Lewis the Lion’s coming blog on the Bolivian currency and the Bolivian National Mint).
Lunch time in the market square in Potosi
She bought two salteñas, a type of pasty, in one of the market squares and got the salad for free too.
Street sellers with salteñas at lunchtime
Here is a picture of James enjoying his salteña in the sunshine.
James with classic Bolivian street food: salteñas and salad
Seeing as it was so cheap, Helen decided to treat herself to a jelly with cream which a lady was also selling off a store. She also made friends with some of the local people as you can see in this picture.
Helen eats a jelly dessert with the locals
Lewis the Lion just loved observing the street life: the people, the stores – everything just seemed so colourful in Bolivia.
A typical Bolivian street stall
Many people seemed to set up little stores selling produce that they had grown themselves or were offering services like shoe-shining. There definitely seemed to be an entrepreneurial spirit about the place.
In the market place, there were also cages with tiny puppies and other animals and Lewis the Lion could hear children pleading with their mums and dads to have one! He wondered if it would be the same in a pet shop in the UK?
Children clammer to buy a pet in the market square
What surprised him even more was that on that particular day that he had arrived in Potosì, children had been given the afternoon off school as it was Mother’s Day in Bolivia the day before (27th May). Lewis the Lion thought that that was a lovely idea!
Children going to school
Would you like an afternoon off school in your country to celebrate Mother’s Day and Father’s Day?
Bolivian school children in their uniform
He also noticed that the children were wearing uniforms and were impeccably dressed. He also noticed that many of the children on this special day gathered in groups in the internet cafés to play video games! He wondered if that was because they maybe didn’t have the internet in their homes?
Do you ever play video games with your friends? If so, where do you play?
As Lewis the Lion wandered around the pretty city of Potosì he realised that when he was standing in the sunshine, it was really warm but the minute he ventured into the shade, it felt very cold indeed. That was because of the high altitude. The hostel owner told Lewis the Lion that many people in Potosì moved to another nearby city, Sucre, because they found it too difficult living at such a high altitude and it caused medical conditions such as high blood pressure. Lewis the Lion noticed that it was certainly harder to breath at times because there was less oxygen. He was glad to have visited the highest city in the world but thought he might struggle to live there permanently.
Nonetheless, there seemed to be no shortage of breath one particular evening as hundreds of young people took to the streets in party mode for a celebration of their college. There was a big brass band, dancing, singing and fire-crackers and the whole city seemed to come alive! Lewis the Lion just loved the energy of this city! Click here so you can see some of the celebrations too.
Lewis watches on the college’s festivities
