belleza.

sucre is known as “bolivia’s most beautiful city” as well as “the symbolic heart of the nation.” it was in sucre where bolivia’s independence was proclaimed and it is recognized in the constitution as the nation’s capital. *in case you didn’t know, bolivia does have two official capitals for this reason: la paz and sucre*

truly, it’s an alluring city-and although it doesn’t have a wealth of things to do per say….i can definitely understand why people end up staying a little longer than originally intended. somehow it just sort of captures you.

the few days that we were there the weather was literally perfect, and i couldn’t help but soak up every second of it-especially with the looming realization that i will be blasted with winter in less than a week, the minute i step off of the plane in beautiful denver colorado. we created our own adventurous walking tour around town, had a lovely lunch in leafy courtyard, sat on the roof of a church for at least an hour and a half in the warm sunshine, visited the museum of liberty, sampled sucre’s famous chocolate, met interesting people, people watched in the main plaza and wandered into gorgeous buildings and patio’s. it was a delight!

“i am rich potosí, the treasure of the world…..and the envy of kings.”

potosí is a city famous for it’s “cerro rico” or “rich hill” whose silver completely funded the wealth of spain and it’s colonies in the 1500’s. during it’s boom years, it was the largest and wealthiest city of the americas. the rumor is that the spanish could have constructed a silver bridge to spain from potosí, and still would have had silver to carry across it.

i love the history of how the silver was discovered: in 1544 a local inca (diego huallpa) was searching for a llama that had escaped and stopped to build a fire at the foot of the mountain. it’s said that his fire grew so hot that the earth beneath it began to melt and shiny liquid oozed from the ground. it only seems right that a llama was involved in the discovery. part 2: there was an incan legend associated with the mountain. inca huayna capac had been instructed by a “booming voice” not to dig in the hill of potojsí (the quechua name for cerro rico), but to leave the metal alone, because it was intended for others. interesting, huh? whether the legend was true or not, the spanish conquistadors became the “others” and extracted (using millions of indigenous and imported african slaves) pretty much all the silver from the hill over the 3 centuries of colonial rule (until 1825).

as you can imagine (and have seen in the news lately), mining is EXTREMELY dangerous work. no one knows an exact number, but they say that as many as 8 million people died working in the mines from the terrible conditions. the miners worked 12-18 hour shifts and the majority of them would stay underground for 4 months at a time. FOUR MONTHS without daylight in the dust and chemicals that define the atmosphere of a mine. can you even imagine?

the mines’ output began to decline in the early 19th century, yet most of the mines are still active today, and the economy of potosí is still extremely reliant on cerro rico. as our tour guide put it-without the mines, potosí wouldn’t exist as a city. for awhile tin sustained the economy, but now the income is mainly dependent on the zinc and lead extracted from the hill. unfortunately, the working conditions of the mines have not changed much since colonial times. on our tour they told us that at least 35 miners die each year in the hill.

if anyone has seen the movie “the devil’s miner”-think of the conditions explained and shown on screen….totally accurate. the reality of the miners lifestyle completely blew me away. i let my extreme case of claustrophobia get in the way of a 2 hour mine tour underground, but i did do an extensive “exterior” tour which included climbing to the very top of cerro rico, walking around a processing plant (and letting our tour guide wipe silver from the mine on my face), setting off dynamite (which i held as it was being lit-would be SO illegal in the states) as well as entering the mines for a short period of time. at one point i turned our driver who had grown up around the mines and said, “this sure is a tough life.” he looked at me straight in the eyes and said, “there’s no other option.”

the city of potosí was full of history, strength, pride, and a work ethic that cannot be put into words. i was humbled by the contrast of culture between the world i grew up in, and the 500ish years of harsh history that exists in the mining town i spent the beginning of the week in.

although the powerful history of the city without a doubt defined our time in potosí, we also thoroughly enjoyed our time touring around the charming streets, churches, museums and plaza’s in the city center. we climbed the bell tower of the main cathedral to overlook the charismatic and vivacious main plaza, visited one of the more interesting museum’s i’ve ever been in-casa nacional de moneda (used to be the national mint), discovered beautiful side streets to explore all over the city and met some fabulous other travelers to share long, hot meals with. our short time in potosí (one of the highest cities in the world at 13,420 feet p.s.) was memorable in more ways than one.

“potosí was raised in the pandemonium of greed at the foot of riches discovered by accident.”

….and a few more pictures i just couldn’t leave out. :)

our final clasura was beautiful….and i can’t believe it’s already over. our group chose the butterfly as a theme since it develops slowly and throughout a process….sort of like we did over the last 6 months. cheesy i realize, but true. i made this giant butterfly puzzle before hand-each student got a piece that they put on the board after they finished their final speeches to contribute to the puzzle. we all took turns standing up in front of everyone and giving our final speeches to the whole group. they were short-only around 3-4 minutes each, but people did a really good job on them. each one was very thoughtful and filled with gratitude for the opportunity and experience. when all 17 of us had finished, the administration presented us with our certificates and a group picture we had taken a few months before and read each of us some things that people at the institute had written about us. truly, it was a lovely ceremony. when it was all said and done, we all had coffee in the main sala-there were lots of congratulatory hugs and encouraging words. next on the agenda was the talent show-which proved to be extremely entertaining. we made origami butterflies, watched a picture slide show, had lots of people sing songs, saw quite a few traditional dances, and even had a few comic sketches thrown in. it was a wonderful time just to enjoy each other and laugh together. we continued the celebration by having a huge bbq outside with everyone (teachers, administration, students, family and friends who had decided to come, staff etc.) eating together on our beautiful school grounds. soon after we finished eating the dancing started….and didn’t end until 4 hours later. we had an absolute blast, and it was the perfect way to end our semester together. it only confirmed the profound and unique community that i have been part during my time here and the authentic friendships that have been formed.