Potosi and Uyuni

Today I arrived at Uyuni from Potosi. Maybe I should have reserved an extra day to visit the mining museum and the Bolivian mint at Potosi. But I had already booked a tour to the salt flats tomorrow. 

Potosi is quite a big town with a nice centre with many colonial buildings. It had once been the biggest and richest city in the Americas when the Cerro Rico was still full of silver. Now this region is one of the poorest in Bolivia. 

Uyuni is very much a desert town - very dusty because it has mainly dirt roads except the main roads and a dry high desert climate. At the moment it is pleasantly warm during day time but the nights are cold. 

Tourists come here only to visit the salt flats and there is not much else to do or see and to be honest it's not a cosy place. 

On Wednesday I will take the night train to Oruro and from there will travel further to Cochabamba or La Paz. 

So far I am lucky not to have any trouble with the altitude. A bit light headed sometimes and a bit short of breath when climbing stairs. I think it helped to stay in Sucre for some time getting used to the thin air.

It really helps to speak a little Spanish. Most people do not speak English at all over here. Without any knowledge of Spanish you have to use hands and feet or Google Translate - the latter coming up with some strange phrases sometimes🤔