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After one terrible nights sleep and one of the hardest and most uncomfortable beds I have ever come across; I was up at 5am waiting for the sun to rise. I decided to head over to Charlottes early so we would have a few extra hours to explore the city before catching our bus back to Potosi. Unfortunately she was still asleep and it took her a good hour and a half to get up and ready - I made some tea in the meantime and caught up on emails. Mid morning I had organized to meet David my mate from America at the market so I could try some of the famous Sucre fresh juices. On the way into the market we were inundated with fruit samples from melons to chiramoya and various types of avocado all of which was delicious. We finally made it to the juice section and wow about twenty vendors selling every kind of juice, fruit salad and health shake you can imagine. From around 40c to $1 would get you two cups of fresh juice mixed with milk or water and for even less fruit salads with yogurt, syrup and cereals. There was far too much choice but in the end under David's recommendation I went for the fruit salad with papaya, orange, apple, juice and various other fruits. After a delicious mid-morning snack we headed up to the mirador (lookout) to get a look at the whole city and surrounding mountains. David took us to a hotel that had a really nice view and we got a few photos before having to race back down to grab a few last things from the market. I brought a heap of vegetables to take to Potosi as apparently all the shops in Potosi are closed today because of a birthday celebration. It was then time to pick our things up and walk to the station about a 25 minute walk up the hill and out of Sucre city. As the sun was beating down it was quite a workout specially with three bags and a grocery bag full of vegetables. We arrived on time and soon boarded our bus - not to bad by Bolivian standards. After a bumpy and windey 3 hour bus ride we arrived in the outskirts of Potosi, overshadowing the city was the Cero Rico: the mountain where all the silver mines are located. At around 5pm and after another couple of bus rides we arrived at Charlottes place; a quaint little place complete with a little old lady landlord, attached to her work; where she takes care of less fortunate children. We unloaded our things and then headed for the city to buy some things and have a bit of a look around. We visited the market and I brought a few bits and pieces for dinner and Charlotte brought the local wine. On the way back to Charlottes I stopped in at a fellow Couchsurfers tour agency that offers unique tours up and into the mine. Pedro was his name and he was in charge of the agency and welcomed me with welcome arms, the price of the tour was very expensive but after a long chat he knocked a third of the price off for me and booked me in for the mornings tour. For dinner I made Charlotte a vegetable tortilla with peas, carrot, onion, peppers, tomato, sausage, egg and mustard. We washed it down with the cheap local sweet red wine and then sat around chatting and showing each other travel photos. It gets really cold in Potosi in the night so I finally had the opportunity to use all the clothes I had been lugging around for last few weeks.
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