Potosi

The road from Uyunyi was scenic in a very barren and ugly way, interesting but not pretty. The journey was around 6 hours and we got to Potosi mid-afternoon. First job was to try and get a bus out to Sucre for the following evening. After a short hike with our packs and asking at about a hundred bus companies it became clear none would sell us a ticket, saying something about a national blockade. So we dediced to proceed to a hostel, the rather cosy Koala Den. There we found out we could do the mine trip the next day anyway as the miners had Sunday off, so we booked that up for Monday and found out a bit more about the strikes which were causing trouble, with many people upset at old Evo in the run up to a referendum that was happening on the 10th (today as I write this). That discovered Potosi had a very nice centre, even if the sprawl on the hills around was a bit ugly. I started to fell a little the effects of altidue as Potosi is the highest city in the world at 4060m and I'd stopped the pills. I remember that number as that night we had a very nice dinner at bar 4060. The next day we went in the morning to the Royal Mint. As the silver mine at Potosi financed the Spannish empire through much of it's glory days, much of it's coinage was minted here. After some confusion we eventually got a half-decent English tour (no English tour, English tour in 30 minutes, no English tour, English tour NOW). The rest of the day was mainly spent internetting and sleeping as most things were shut for Sunday. We did see rather a lot of Marching brass bands, which seems to be a big thing in Bolivia. In the evening it turned out almost all restaurants were shut, and the one that was open had no meat, no salad, and few beers. Maybe it was the blockade or just general Bolivian Chaos. The next day was out trip down the silver mine. An early start and we first went to get out protective gear. Then to buy gifts for the miners - fizzy drinks, coca leaves and dynamite, and some dynamite for ourselves too. We went to visit a plant where the process the ore, but then it was on up the mountain for the main event, descending the mine. This was a fairly hairy affair. The tunnel first went 400m into the mountain, generally not big enough for me to stand. Then we had to descent to the next level down, which basically involved crawling and sliding down a shaft. The air was full of dust making breathing very difficult, we had bandanas to cover our mouths, but that then became to hot. We pushed on a bit to see some miners at work using techniques seemingly unchanged for 200 years. They spent around a day making a long hole with a big chisel and hammer, and then stuck some dynamite in it. And repeat. After seeing this the two Irish girls in our group decided they'd had enough and got out of there. Our guide decided that without them we were up to a challenge and directed us to climb and slide down another steep shaft while he took the stairs round the corner. We made it and continued down another level and found some more miners working in the old way. It was then time to get out and lungs were really burning from the dust. Crawling back up you were just thinking of getting out, and thinking things would be easier if you weren't 6´2´´. We were very relieved to see the light at the end of the tunnel and cough and splutter our way out. We spent around 2 hours underground. Of course the miners do this every day... for 50 Bolivianos (less than 4 pounds). There are children as young as 12 down there, and if you start that young, life expectancy is 28. Starting at 18 you should make 40. Scary biscuits. After recovering we got to set our dynamite outside. There was a 3 minute fuse, so we all passed it round with the fuse burning for photos, and then boom! (In truth slightly disappointing to see but loud.) After a quick cheap and crappy lunch and well deserved beer we headed to the bus station on spec, knowing that the road to Sucre we wanted had been blockaded the day before.

Photos:

Main Plaza in Potosi with the mountain containing the mines in the background.


Down the mine.


Survived the mine, but yes that is a lit dynamite bomb.