"World" Oltona's photos around Potosi, Bolivia
A TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow of a travel blog to Potosi, Bolivia by TravelPod blogger Oltona titled "World" Oltona's travel blog entry: "Some history is in order here just to set the scene ... Potosi - set on a desolate, windswept plain amid barren mountains, at almost 4100m above sea level, it is the highest city in the world. A fascinating yet tragic place, Potosi was built on the south of the Cerro Rico (Rich Mountain), which was the richest source of silver the world has ever seen. The silver rush of Cerro Rico was started in 1545 and 20 years later, the new city of Potosi became the richest single source of silver in the world. By the beginning of the 17th century, Potosi was home to more than 160000 people and boasted magnificent churches, theaters, gambling houses etc. For theindigenous workers and African slaves who produced this wealth however, the working conditions were appalling and the consequences catastrophic. Like all such booms, the silver bonanza at Potosi eventually cooled. From the end of the 19th century Potosi came to rely more and more on the mining of tin, but the town never recovered from the decline of silver production, much less the crash of the tin market in the mid 1980´s. There are tours offered to the mines, despite them being advertised as an unpleasant experience and highly dangerous. Anyone suffering from claustrophobia or heart problems should not go on the tour. So if you know that the mines contain asbestos and other noxious_b_..._/b_