Heralded as Bolivia's best museum, the Casa de la Moneda offers a fascinating look back at a time when Potosí was the center of the Spanish Empire's wealth. This mammoth building in the center of the city was the Royal Mint, pressing silver extracted from the Cerro Rico into coins and medallions.
By far the most popular tourist activity in Potosí is a visit to the mines of Cerro Rico. They're still active, so a tour entails walking past soot-covered miners hard at work in conditions that could be straight out of the 18th century. We weren't especially excited about taking a tour, since gawking at people working in such a dangerous profession is more than a bit unseemly. Between accidents and the inevitable lung diseases, it's still rare for a Potosí miner to reach the age of 50. But we couldn't skip out on the city's most famous experience.
