04/05/2011
Woke up a bit early so I watched a bit of CNN's coverage of Bin Laden's death. Interesting point about whether they should release pictures of his dead body or not.
On the one hand, I don't know if I completely trust the US Government and there are scores of wacky Americans who won't buy the 'quickly buried at sea and we won't show you photos' and will create some conspiracy theories and never shut up about them.
On the other hand, it is pretty disrespectful to publish images of a dead person, especially one shot in cold blood.
I then had the 'breakfast' provided by the hostel which consisted of a bread roll and a cup of tea.
You're joking. I'd rather pay slightly less and go for breakfast somewhere else than be led under the illusion that I might in fact receive adequate food to last me until lunch and then receive wartime rations.
I then got my laundry, packed, paid my hostel bill and went for lunch at, you guessed it, Abi's Cafe. I defy anyone to question the logic of not changing a winning formula. Some will say 'variety is the spice of life' but you can never be sure of a winner and anyway, I was never one for spicy food.
That's actually a lie, I do like spicy food but it sounded cool so I decided to write it.
One taxi ride to the bus terminal later and I was ready to head on to Potosí, my next destination. As soon as I arrived at the terminal, two women from rival companies were drawn to me and shouted 'Potosi, Potosi' at me which was a bit annoying. That said, I got a ticket for a bus leaving just ten minutes after I turned up.
That's efficiency.
The bus ride was fairly comfortable and one thing I quite like is that every once in a while, the bus stops and women come to the windows selling refreshments. The journey was only three hours but I bought an empanada, some cakes and an ice cream.
Oops.
We then arrived in Potosí. It is one of the world's highest cities (4100m) and pretty lifeless and uninspiring. It was only built because in the 1500s, a shepherd accidentally realised that a mountain there was an untapped massive source of silver. There was then an explosion of mining and the city was built and was once the world's biggest silver producer.
The silver has long dried up however and the town is a bleak shadow of what was once clearly a vibrant and prosperous place.
I found a cheap hostel and then went to find a computer to Skype but couldn't find one with such capabilities. I hope that the internet cafes in Chile (my next destination) are better equipped.
One thing I did do was book both a tour of the mine for tomorrow and a trip to the Salar de Uyuni salt flat, the biggest salt flat in the world.
A little further down the same road I found a cheap little diner and got a hamburger and chips. I then treated myself to my first pudding I've had since I've been travelling and went for a massive ice cream sundae. It was absolutely fabulous and I felt a little bit naughty but it was well worth it, even though it massively defeated the object of having Coke Zero though it's nicer than regular Coca Cola anyway.
Mmm, ice cream.
JG
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