Santa Rosalia
Although the outskirts of town have a grim industrial look, Santa Rosalia is a pleasant small city once dominated by Compagnie du Boleo, a French mining company.
Lacking wood to build their church, the Compagnie du Boleo bought a metal church designed by Gustav Eiffel out from under some South Africans who wanted it because of the problems where termites reign supreme.
El Triunfo de la Santa Cruz
In the 1750s gold and silver mines were established at El Triunfo. By the 19th Century they had figured out that the fumes from the smelting operation that were killing off people, so a truly massive chimney (at the time, one of the tallest in North America) was created to try to keep them from settling on the town. By midcentury, operations had ceased and many of the bricks were carted off to La Paz for construction there.
Goat Ranching up in the Hills
If there’s not gold or silver or water enough for crops, there’s always goats.
The owner has 40 lactating goats she milks in 1 1/2 hours. We thought that was pretty impressive. Many of the other goats are free range and her husband will go out with his dog to gather them in. They simply follow like a pack.