Set our alarm for early today as we'd been tipped off by the lady at the Cathedral about a major celebration kicking off at 7:30am. Needn't have bothered - 21 gun salute rang out at 6:30am!
Bleary eyed we skipped breakfast and hot footed it down to the Plaza 10 de Noviembre (the clue's in the name) where astonishingly there's a full Bolivian Army Regiment in Dress Uniform standing to attention, plus over 500 local people all suited and booted. TV cameras filming, Military Police guarding, Army Band playing, and two lone Tourists rubbernecking!
At 7:45am Bolivia's Military Top Brass marched into the Plaza to inspect the troops and at 8:00am sharp the band struck up a fanfare and El Presidente Evo Morales arrived.
By now we were just feet away from the action - as the photos show! We all sang the Bolivian National Anthem and Potosi's Song of Independence - and David skipped through the Military Police lines posing as Press Photographer to snap some great shots of El Presidente - so close he could have shaken Evo's hand!!
History told us later that Potosi is the place where Bolivia's fight for independence began - on 10th November 1810. A rebellion against the tyranny of the Spanish started at Potosi, the town of Cerro Rico (Silver Mountain), plundered by the Spanish Crown who from 1545 for hundreds of years cruelly forced the indigenous people into slavery, digging silver and minting pieces of eight. The war for independence lasted 15 years - there's an adjoining Plaza del 6 Agosto in honour of Independence Day - but for Potosi 10th November is the biggie!
