expanse.
Onwards through more salt plains
and desert wasteland weaving
through mountain ranges and around
smoking volcanoes, the next day we
headed towards Potosi, which was
once one of the world’s wealthiest
cities. On the way however, we had
a chance to visit with and help some
of Bolivia’s most needful children.
Compass Expeditions has been sup-
porting the local school at Chaquilla
for many years and guests on their
tours to the region are encouraged to
help out with gifts of school supplies,
sports equipment and fresh fruit and
vegetables.
A quick lunch, a bit of street soccer
and amusing the kids with the motor-
cycles and we were back on the road.
The landscape became progressively
greener as we moved out of the de-
sert and into the mountains.
JC, our ever cheerful, helpful and
hard-working support van driver was
also the designated chef for the tour
and how happy we were for that!
It never ceased to amaze us that
JC could whip up a fresh, healthy
and supremely tasty lunch from the
kitchen in the back of the van. It was
like magic when fresh salads, guaca-
mole, pasta and a selection of cold
meats would be produced from what
seemed like nowhere by the time we
had set up some shade and arranged
the trestle tables and chairs. Each
ride day his menu was fresh, varied
and wholesome.
The people of Potosi have mined
silver, tin and other metals from the
surrounding hills for over 500 years
and in the days of the Conquistadors
it was at its height. The silver that
was shipped back to Spain helped
make that nation rich, it also made
Potosi one of the wealthiest cities in
the world and this can be seen today
in the beautiful Spanish Colonial ar-
chitecture of the city. Our “rest day”
in Potosi was anything but, with an
exciting visit into a silver mine that
still functioned in a very traditional
way with miners moving much of
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