A History of Conquest
There is something a little eerie about waking up in the world's highest city. At 4,060 meters in elevation, Potosi's historic towers seem to, and actually do, reach into the heavens. To give a benchmark, at more than 12,000 feet, Potosi lies at more than twice the elevation of Denver, Colorado, famous for being the "mile high city". At this height, waking "night gasps" for oxygen aren't a factor when sleeping, but with the exertion of normally paced walking down the street, lack of oxygen can sneak up on you.
Of course, the locals have adjusted to the altitude over generations, so we really shouldn't have been surprised to find the city center flooded with children and a regional road race running competition. (I love that their pinned numbers are hand painted on cloth fabric swatches.)
Given that it is Sunday, there are few sites to be had except for the Casa Real de Moneda or the Spanish Royal Mint, first constructed in the 1750's to manage coin production from the literally hundreds of tons of silver mined here each year.
The restored colonial building is worth the architectural viewing effort, with beautiful courtyards, ...
thickened treasury vault walls, topped with cupolas, ...
curved Spanish tile roofs, ...
and graceful repeating arches connecting the ante-building with the actual "forging and stamping area" of the mint.
The courtyard main entrance to the building is oddly centered with an almost demonically smiling figurehead, which oddly enough likely captures the gluttonous conquering disposition of plundering Spanish colonialism.
In the mid-eighteenth century, this room constituted "state of the art" coin manufacture. The mechanized stamping process minimized variation in weight and size of the empires money supply.
Lacking electricity, "mule power" drove the labyrinth of coin stamping mechanisms. Animals would work twelve hour shifts at the turn wheel, then be relieved by another grouping. The work was so intense and persistent that these beasts of propulsive burden could only manage a mere six months before ultimately breaking.
Of course, money needs a safe means of transportation and storage, so strong boxes were constructed.
Check out the "keying system" for this royal safety box. I'm not sure duplicate keys could be readily made at the local hardware store for this door.
A surprise find, in one of the empty vaults, was the main alter piece for the town's cathedral, which is currently under renovation.
Completing the Casa Real del la Moneda tour, ...
we headed back behind the closed cathedral to venture into the "working area" of Potosi.
We were a little surprised to find portions of the market open and preparing for Monday morning business. As with other third world eating efficiency, nothing is wasted.
Although, this "madam butcher" was in no ways amused by Lipika's inadvertent camera flash, disrupting her bovine skull butchering efforts.
Mmmm... dinner.
The beauty of detailed architecture is when extraordinary towers light up the evening sky with color, angles, and design.
The beauty of clear, black, evening sky was enhanced by the illuminated pyramid outline of the Potosi mountain. If you didn't know any better, one might think that this visual display was a ski resort, instead of geographic epicenter to the greatest loss of human life in history, with over 8 million souls lost under this lit apex, since the inauguration of Spanish colonial reign. So, guess what the target of tomorrow's exploration will be?
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