The Road to Potosi Page Content Page Name (for URL) Page Title Breadcrumb Text On Day 8, we took a taxi to Potosi. It takes 2-3 hours to get there, but just like with Samaipata you could take a special taxi there for Bs.120 (for everyone). We ended up splitting the taxi with two fellow-gringos who we met earlier on [the dino-truck](http://www.freewisdom.org/en/all/entries/2005/12/29/sucre_dinosaur_tracks). <~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2005-12-08-a-sucre-potosi/20051208_008_1010 2005-12-08-a-sucre-potosi/20051208_018_6635 2005-12-08-a-sucre-potosi/20051208_020_4457 Potosi's Cerro Rico ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~> The last photo shows Potosi's Cerro Rico ("Rich Hill") where Potosi's mine was (and still is) mined. Sucre is at 2,700 m elevation, which rarely causes problems for anyone. Potosi, however, is at 4,100, which is already serious altitude (with atmospheric density at 2/3 the sea level), where "mal de altura" is a serious possibility. We've been warned in Santa Cruz to take altitude sickness (aka "mal de altura" or "sorojchi") seriously and told that it's not the same thing as just feeling short on breadth when going up the hill: you can get sick with headache, vomiting, and a bunch of other unpleasant symptoms and that prior exposure to altitude is no guarantee - some people get sick for the first time on their second or third visit to La Paz. In our cases, spending a full day at a half-way point in Sucre would improve our chances quite a bit, but we decided to get some Bolivian "sorojchi pills" just to be sure. We took some before flying to Sucre and then again on the road to Potosi. For this reason or others, we didn't have any problems, until La Paz where I felt short on breadth during the first night. Don't put anything here Advanced Fields Category 2002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014E. AsiaE. EuropeL's FamilyL's FriendsN. AmericaN. EuropeS. AmericaS. AsiaW. EuropeY & LY's FamilyY's Friends Prototype Redirect Permissions0 Actions Config Markup Module HTML/Meta/Keywords HTML/Meta/Description Save Hook HTML Fields Main Head Body Header Menu Logo Page Content Template Sidebar Footer Tags Allowed for XSSFilter Don't put anything here HTTP Fields Cache-Control Expires Guru Fields Templates Translations Fields Edit UI Admin Edit UI Don't put anything here A summary of your changes Edit Summary Don't put anything here Don't put anything here Don't put anything here save preview cancel
