Crossing the altiplano to Potosi 27 November

We left La Paz around 6.30am. We had gathered in the reception at 6 and been driven by bus to a bus parking area where the Tucan bus was waiting with the driver Raoul. The bus is a bright yellow with the Tucan logo on the side and she is called Millie. I had had a lousy night sleeping in that hotel as it had room coming off a central opening where the lift and stairs were. This seemed to act as perfect ear canal carrying any sound up through the building. On top of that I couldn't close my curtains and the room was bright from the street lights outside. I hopped out of bed around 4.30 and when I discovered the water was hot I had a shower to get back at those people who had been talking and flushing loos through the night. So I was tired but felt some satisfaction at having got back at the world for contributing to my sleeplessness.We had the early start from La Pas to avoid some traffic hassle. Back up the 'hill', past the airport, through El Alto which was already buzzing with mini-busses ready to take the worker bees to the big city. Then we began a 12+ hous trip through the high altiplano which is arid, hilly and inhospitable - but surprisingly people are out there in little fertile corners of gorges for example growing crops in small cultivations by a meager stream.We had lunch out in the open where there were llamas grazing on what looked like dirt. They are tough animals and are the only ones that can eat some of the thorny and wiry plants up there. There were signs of snow in small pockets and powder snow on the higher hills around here.We were headed for Potosi a city of 110,000 people and at 4060 metros The highest city of it's size at that altitude in the world. Founded by the Spanish in 1549, it quickly grew into a city of over 100,000 larger than any city in Europe or America at that time. It was all about silver which had been found in the cone shaped mountain called Cerro Rico. Millions of people died in appalling conditions (some people estimate it was around 8 million) being worked to death by their Spanish overlords to get the silver out of the mountain and back to Spain. Today only a limited amount of silver is mined there but it is rich in tin, zinc, lead, antimony and wolfram. The state no long owns the mines they are run by cooperatives. More on that later.Probably due to the earlier wealth in the city there are some beautiful colonial buildings and the streets in the old centre of the town are mostly cobbled and quite narrow which meant our bus Millie had to stop in a new part of town and we got a few taxis to our hotel. Dinner was in a very pleasant restaurant not far from our hotel. I had a veal steak with chips and veggies and a glass of very nice red wine and it cost 48 Bolivianos which is about $8.