182 CultureShock! Bolivia
Museum Musts
A cast of venerable museums and convents provides an escort for
the Casa Real de la Moneda. The Museo Universitario is a must
for lovers of modern art, pottery and cultural artefacts.Churches with elaborate baroque façades, wooden and
wrought iron balconies overlooking narrow cobblestone
streets and orange colonial tile roofi ng make Potosí an
outdoor museum. The stone carved façade of the San Lorenzo
Church is a brilliant example of indigenous motifs adapted
into a classic baroque design.
Sensorial contact with Potosí’s arduous history is accessible
through tours that descend mine shafts. Don’t expect
Disneyland stylisation; the horrors will be real. A 20-minute
bus ride will take you to the Pailabiri tin mining encampment,
where, after paying an entrance fee, you’ll be given protective
gear, boots and lamps. You’ll get to feel the humid tunnels
and the intense heat, up to 45°C (113°F) which obligates
miners to strip down for work. Only the toughest of men
could survive the bizarre contrast between the stifl ing heat of
the mine and the furious cold outside the pits, at an inhumane
altitude of 4,500 m (nearly 15,000 ft).
A visit to a cooperative silicosis mine is recommended
for the most masochistic of tourists. Check ahead of time to
make sure someone is not dynamiting in his own little niche
of the shaft. Mining is a strong family tradition, and most of
the miners you meet are friendly fatalists. Tour companies
that sponsor inexpensive visits to the mines also contribute
to miners’ clinics and health expenses.
In the depth of the Potosí winter, a quick, two-hour ride
(three hours by bus) to Sucre’s high valley eternal spring
climate will be therapeutic. Potosí also serves as base camp
for a visit to Bolivia’s version of the ‘Great Salt Lake,’ the
spectral Salar de Uyuni.
Potosí was named as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO,
in tribute to its exquisite colonial architecture and the living
remnants of its tragic history.