Pulacayo

Pulacayo grew around the Huanchaca silver mine, which by the late nineteenth century was among the richest in Bolivia and supported a town of some twenty thousand people with the country's first railway, electric light and a substantial industrial plant. The ore ran down and the town emptied, leaving a few hundred residents among the shells of houses, workshops and machine halls at 4,200 metres. What remains is genuinely interesting industrial archaeology: British-built steam locomotives rusting on sidings, winding gear, the mine entrances, and the carriage said to be from the train robbed in 1908 by the men usually identified as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, who were killed shortly afterwards at San Vicente not far away.

What's there

• Steam locomotives - British-built engines rusting on the sidings.
• The mine workings - entrances, winding gear and machine halls.
• The robbed train carriage - the rolling stock tied to the 1908 holdup.
• The emptied town - houses and streets with a few hundred residents left.

When to go

May to September for the roads; the altiplano is severely cold in winter nights and wet in the summer months. Mornings are best. Guides in the village show the mine and the machinery.

Good to know

The site is a decaying industrial town, not a preserved museum, and much is unsafe to enter. The Butch Cassidy attribution is traditional rather than documented. It is at 4,200 metres and cold. Facilities are minimal and guides are informal.

Nearby

Uyuni lies southwest; Potosí is northeast.

Key facts