First night and last meal in Potosi

We got here about 4pm, pretty much on time. We (I should really say they, as I was naturally sceptical and aloof) were seduced by a tout into going to a hostel different from the one the couple had already booked in. We have a sort of mini apartment with two twin rooms. There is wi-fi here but it's as slow as hell.

Once we got here I realised I had developed a minor case of the shits, to be crude and avoid difficult spelling. Took a couple of tablets and feel OK now but this is not what I need given what's going on. That shook me a bit already.

We went out for a walk round the town and then food earlier. This place is freaking me out. We walked through some market and there were various butchery kind of places. I had already seen a sort of market this morning in Uyuni with people hacking carcases up and that was fine. But this place was a step up, or down depending how you look at it. Some kind of half-dismembered animals hanging up by their windpipes (it's a mixed blessing having chefs in the party I guess), then we passed a stall which had four or five decaptitated cattle heads festering on the floor. We took photos, then were told not to, but no one actually took the cameras off us. I shall upload this delightful image, if it came out, in due course.

Just before that we all booked up for a tour of the mines tomorrow. I had vaguely planned to do this when the Welsh-Australian couple I met in San Pedro told me about it, but when we got here this afternoon Stefan showed me his Lonely Planet guidebook on the subject. Apart from the ethical issues, which quite frankly are a minor factor, the guide seemed extremely keen to hammer home the small but serious risks. This is a working mine, not some museum. As per the guide book, when we signed up they made us sign a disclaimer against injury or death, which also cheerfully pointed out that should there be a cave in we are as much at risk as the miners, and that more miners die from cave ins than any other cause. This sort of thing always reacts badly on my mental make up. The others are all so incredibly calm about it and I know the actual danger is minimal, but it was freaking me out bigtime. I feel a bit better after a pizza and a couple of beers, plus I usually tend to get my worrying out of the way in advance and then feel OKish when push comes to shove. Nonetheless I spent most of the night marvelling that the other three guys apparently find nothing remotely strange about signing disclaimers like that and what have you.

It is a slight comfort to observe that I now have firsthand experience that guide books exaggerate. My "South America on a shoestring" guide claims that the trip from San Pedro to Uyuni via the salt flats requires "a plucky, positive attitude". I would not consider myself abundant in this quality and yet I didn't feel compelled to dig deep inside myself for resources during the trip. Sitting in the back of a car with minimal leg room for 8 hours with intermittent short breaks isn't pleasant, but I don't think it requires much pluck. It also says you shouldn't stay in a salt hotel as they are environmentally unsound (boohoo) and that you should bring "something for the thumping headaches". I didn't even want to take an aspirin or anything. It was like a mild hangover at worst.

And yet if I had read that in the guide before I booked the trip I would have been put off completely. Fingers crossed it's the same with the mine trip.

We had to leg it back to the hostel after the pizza as it turns out it shuts at 11pm. (I was completely unaware of this, as was Stefan, but the other two had seen the sign. They didn't exactly hammer the fact in when we booked the room.) This is absolutely rank. I was planning on moving to a single room here tomorrow but as it is I think I will see if I can find somewhere nearby which doesn't impose these prison-like rules. We got back at 11:05pm or thereabouts and had to bang on the door a bit to get in. I may exaggerate slightly but Susie, who shows no qualms about going down some fucking mine tomorrow, was rather worried about us getting in. I didn't give a toss, I knew someone would turn up for us ten minutes late and push comes to shove we just go somewhere else. Different strokes and all that.

Apart from the general "oh my fucking god"-ness of it, the mine tour means we have to be picked up at the hostel at 8:45am tomorrow morning. Yet another day with an early start. All the more reason to get a single room in a decent hostel for tomorrow night, celebrate still being alive (if I am ;-) ) with a Saturday night quite frankly on the lash and sleep late on Sunday.

Maybe it was nerves but I felt a bit short of breath while we were walking around the town earlier. I think it's altitude mainly and the others report vaguely similar symptoms (although the precise manifestations appear very personal). This is apparently the highest city in the world at (by guide book, not GPS) 4060m.

I really hope Montezuma's revenge is under control as I am likely to shit myself tomorrow anyway without any extra help. I had some medicine already but I popped into a pharmacy to buy some more while we were walking round the town tonight. They sold me some "carbon", but I checked with them it has drugs in and it has some chemical-ly looking name on the packet so I assume it is not just some crappy folk remedy. The other guys bought some stuff too (for different complaints), I gather it is true that you can get just about anything without a prescription here. It occurred to me later on I should maybe have bought myself some kind of tranquiliser for tomorrow, but I figure it's probably best for my self respect to do it unaided, and also it's hardly the situation to start experimenting with random drugs.

Oh, I just checked my shoestring guide re the mine tour. It's not surprising given it's a Lonely Planet guide but it says basically the same as Stefan's guide. Vaguely heartening to note the tour company we are going with comes highly recommended for their professional practices. I have to quote, in the hope that I can at least slightly dispute the claims later, the guide book as saying that the mines are "fairly nightmarish places" and that a visit is "demanding, shocking and memorable". I can handle shocking and memorable but demanding makes me question myself. Anyway, I will do it as a homage to Orwell. :-) Besides, this may be one of those rare situations where being a shortarse has serious benefits. :-)