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Potosì is a beautiful city at 4050 metres of elevation, with a population of about 100,000 people. Because of its interesting history and the nice colonial style, it has been declared by UNESCO as a World's Heritage and Cultural site. |
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| The day starts with a visit in the city's main museum "Casa della Moneda" where machines for printing coins and other interesting objects, are still well preserved. |
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| Inside the museum there is also a nice art gallery, showing paintings from several authors. | |
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| The most important painting is the Virgin of the Mountain, as it represents the history and the economy of the city. The big mountain behind Potosì is very important because it is full of silver and many other minerals. Mines was and are the main resource of the city, but I will talk about this later. | |
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Because of the silver miners, at the colonial time Potosì was the main centre where coins were printed and shipped to Europe. Stored in this room, there are dozens of different casts used to print coins in several shapes, sizes and drawings on the faces. |
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These machines was used to make a raw metallic plate thin like a coin. Severeal passes in different machines, up to 12, was required in order to get the proper thickness before going ahead, in another room, to actually cut and print the coin. To move these heavy wheels and mechanisms, four mules were used in the lower floor, as visible on the pictures. |
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| On the left pictures, tools and instruments used to cut and print the coins (it was just a manual work) and, ton the right, the safe used to ship the coins to Europe. It is dynamite-proof and its locking mechanism is so complicated that anybody would be able to open it, as the key must be moved left-right, up and down, in a precise sequence. | |
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| When the steam-driven machines arrived, they replaced the older systems turned by mules. |
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The day continues with an excursion inside the cooperative mines where silver and many additional minerals are extracted. The miners are very important for Potosì's economy, as well as they was for its history. They are located on a big mountain which is clearly visible from most parts of the city, at 4350 metres of elevation (upper-left picture). Dressed like miners, with headlamp also, we go near the miner's entrance (upper-right picture) from where a nice view of all Potosì is visible (bottom pictures). |
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| On the left: the entrance to the mine. On the top: coca leaves, cigarettes and dynamite are offered by tourists to the miners, because very important for their work. |
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We enter in the claustrophobic tunnels of the mine and after a short walk we see the a miner at work. He is making an hole, of course by manual labour, in order to place some dynamite and make an explosion. The time required to make an hole like this is about 3 hours on average. |
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| In the narrow passages of the mine it is often impossible to stand on foot. | ||
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A miner fills his mouth of coca leaves and catalyst, in order to not feel pain and fatigue. The salary of the miners is around the equivalent of US$150 and their final income depends only on how many minerals they extract, not on how many hours they work. It is not uncommon for them to work for all day (24 hours on 24). Accidents and deaths are frequent and many of them don't live for more then 10-15 years in a condition like this. |
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| On the left: a God to which miners make donations to prevent him to get angry. Above: a vein of mineral. |
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| A bit sad for what I saw in the mines, I take a short city tour of Potosì. This is the central square, with gardens and nice buildings all around. |
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| The desolated streets of the suburbs (left picture) contrast with the nice buildings and the many churches in the center of the city. | |
PICTURES OF PERU - BOLIVIA - CILE: IMAGES FROM THE TRIP DAY BY DAY |
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09.08.2003 - Santiago day tour Guided day tour of Santiago, visiting Plaza de Armas, the downtown with its tall skyscrapers, and the outskirts. |
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10.08.2003 - Winery tour from Santiago Chile is getting every year more competitive in the wine market, thanks to the quality and to the increasing quantity. A winery tour in a farm near Santiago lets to discover the wine production process and to taste excellent wines. |
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11.08.2003 - San Pedro De Atacama The Atacama desert in Chile is considered one of the world's driest place where, in several areas, there are no registered rainfalls for many consecutive years. But this doesn't mean that there is no life or nothing to see... |
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12.08.2003 - San Pedro de Atacama and Salar De Atacama Day tour from San Pedro de Atacama to Salar de Atacama, a huge salt flat surrounded by majestic volcanoes, where flamingoes have made their home. |
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13.08.2003 - from Laguna Verde to Laguna Colorada Today the groups gets into Bolivia where an adventure by 4x4 begins. The today itinerary goes from Laguna Verde (green lake) to Laguna Colorada (red lake) driving off road or onto dirty roads, between spectacular lunar landscape of extreme high mountain. |
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14.08.2003 - Crossing Bolivian plateau by 4x4 The Bolivian desert expedition by 4x4 continues at altitudes between 3.500 and 5000 meters above sea level, in an incredible landscape of rocks sculptured by winds and other extreme elements. |
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15.08.2003 - Salar De Uyuni tour With an average altitude higher than 4000 meters, the Bolivian plateau offers spectacular scenery, like the immense Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat. We make a stop at Isla Pescado (fish island) a small hill in the middle of the salt, where there are giant cactus. |
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16.08.2003 - Travel from Uyuni to Potosi Travel by public bus service from Uyuni to Potosi, over partly paved roads at extreme altitudes, in the middle of the Andes. |
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17.08.2003 - Potosi city tour and silver miner excursion <YOU ARE HERE> Excursion to the interesting "museum of the coins" in Potosi, then tour into a silver miner where people work in terrible conditions, inside a mountain above 4.000 meters of altitude. |
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Travel by public bus service from Potosi to Uyuni, Bolivia, then short Sucre city tour and excursion to the "dinosaurs footprints" park, a vertical wall of rock where dinosaurs tracks were left impressed after a sudden catastrophic event. |
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Flight from Sucre to El Alto, one of the world's most elevated airports, near the city of La Paz, Bolivia. A short city tour of La Paz follows. |
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Excursion to Tiahuanaco ruins by bus, departing from La Paz. This archeological site is very interesting and belongs to pre-Inca time. |
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21.08.2003 - Travel La Paz - Puno via Copacabana Travel by public bus from La Paz to Puno (Peru) via Copacabana. Today, we cross the border line between Bolivia and Peru, traveling along the Titicaca lake shores. |
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22.08.2003 - Titicaca lake cruise Like the ancient Uros people, about 2000 Peruvians still populate the floating islands built of Totora reeds, over lake Titicaca in Peru. Everything, from homes to the floating islands itself, is built using Totora reeds, a plant growing along the shores of lake Titicaca. |
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23.08.2003 - Travel Puno - Cusco by train Travel from Puno to Cusco by train, over one of the world highest railway. The entire journey takes almost 12 hours, but worth because of the beautiful scenery. |
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24.08.2003 - Excursions from Cusco Cusco, in the middle of the Andes in Peru, is a city full of history and fascinating museum. The first day spent in Cusco is dedicated to an excursion to Sacsayhuaman fortress and to the temple of the sun. |
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25.08.2003 - Pisaq and Ollantaytambo tour Drive from Cusco thru the Sacred Valley to Pisaq with its ancient ruins and the local handicraft market. Continue to Ollantaytambo where we spend the night. |
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26.08.2003 - Travel to Machu Picchu by train Travel to Machu Picchu by train from Ollantaytambo. The narrow gauge railway finishes in Aguas Calientes where we have some rest and overnight. |
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27.08.2003 - Machu Picchu tour Machu Picchu, the ancient Inca town, has been discovered only in 1911, although was always known by several local farmers. A tour of Machu Picchu gives the possibility to better understand the everyday life of who has lived here. |
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28.08.2003 - Cusco city tour and museums Only one day in Cusco is never enough, so, in this second day, I visit several interesting museums and do more hikes in the city, where many modern buildings are built over ancient Inca walls. |
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29.08.2003 - Flight Cusco - Lima Short flight from Cusco to Lima by a Lan Peru Airbus A320. This journey thru the Andes of South America is now about to finish. |
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Excursion to a pre-Inca cemetery, before visiting Plaza de Armas and the interesting San Francisco monastery. |
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Collection of the best pictures The most beautiful pictures from Peru, Bolivia and Chile are collected in this page. Click the highlighted links for additional travel information, for useful links and for a description of the photography equipment. |
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