I had always wanted to visit Bolivia and was fortunate enough to do so in 1997.
For me, the attraction lay in its high and desolate Altiplano and its interesting and tragic history.

La Paz and Lhasa share the titles of highest Capital Cities in the world.

Tiwanaku, a UNESCO Word Heritage Site, is a Pre-Columbian archaeological site on the Altiplano.
It was the capital of a huge empire that stretched from Peru to Chile and flourishing between AD 300 and AD 1000.

The town of Potosi (a UNESCO Word Heritage Site), has had more of its fair share of fortune and tragedy:
The town's history has been inextricably linked to Cerro Rico (Rich Mountain) which provided the Spanish Empire with silver for almost 300 years but at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives.
The silver was taken by llama and mule train to Cartagena or Panama and from there by Spanish Galleon to Spain.
Mining safety conditions at Cerro Rico are not much better today and today's miners still make offerings to the Devil to protect them while they are in his domain.