Potosi mining tour
Trip Start
Unknown
1
8
19
Trip End
Ongoing
Potosi, Bolivia
Thursday, May 12, 2011
I left La Paz late and arrived into Potosi early at about 6am to be met with freezing cold temperatures. I forgot to mention that Potosi is the highest city in the world supposedly. I took a taxi from the bus station, only to find out that the taxi has been altered to be road worthy in Bolivia. They changed the car from right side drive to left. I found this out by sitting up front and seeing the rev counter and speed dial on my side. That was not my only problem with the taxi; the driver seemed to think it was appropriate to drive with the ice still on the windscreen. He had a little patch of clear windscreen to drive with. Also the road surface was shit, but at least that slowed the crazy bastard down. Some how we made it to the hostel, but I had to wait in the reception area for three hours until check in.
The only reason I was in Potosi was to do the mining tour, but I had arranged that for the next day. I just walked around town to see what it was like and to see if it was better in the light of day. The centre was ok with its colonial builds, which showed the city had money back in the day. Unfortunately outside the centre it had a looked of a shanty town. You only had to go out two streets to see the poverty of the place, so it left the day wanting. Just for reference sake, do not go to Potosi unless you want to do the mining tour. There is nothing else to do except drink, but the beer was awful and tasteless. They clearly went to the same beer brewing school as the yanks.
Well, it was the day of the mining tour and a lovely day it was too. I had no idea what the mining tour consisted of. I assumed it might be like the mining tour I did in Bavaria in December. That was a nice tour, very leisurely and informative. There was a little train to take us into the mine and slides to take us to different levels. I enjoyed that tour. Guess what I am building up to.
Anyway, they gave us our mining gear, which consisted of protective trousers and top, a helmet with light, Wellington boots and water proof bag to put our stuff in.
The embarrassing thing was they made us walk across town looking like this to get on the mini bus. The locals probably had seen it all before, but we looked like prats. On the way to the mine we stopped at a shop to buy the miners gifts. We were told to buy coca leaves, very strong alcohol, concentrated orange juice and dynamite. Yes I said dynamite and it can be bought freely and legally in potosi by anybody. I have a picture of myself trying to light and smoke a stick of dynamite.
We get to the mine entrance at 11am and all the miners were outside smoking, drinking alcohol, chewing coca leaves and chatting. We were told to start chewing some of the coca leaves and then to take a bite out of the sweet rock in the bag. I had no idea why we had to do this or what it would do, but I did it anyway and my mouth turned numb. Remember from the previous blog, I mentioned that the coca leaves were used to make cocaine. I am not saying I got a buzz, but I do not know why my mouth went numb. Anyway we were all standing around chatting and chewing for about thirty minutes. It is crazy to think this is the miners daily morning routine.
The safety instructions were given and then we went into the darkness. I am trying to set a mood of setting out into the unknown. The path in the mine was covered in water, which made it difficult to work in. The mine was not meant to be for anybody of average high let alone tall people. The helmet was very useful, because I had to bend down immediately. We were told to climb down a rope through a hole in the ground. The floor was slippery and I slipped and fell into the hole and only saved myself by grabbing onto the rope. The rope cut my hand and wrist, but there was no turning back or first aid kit. There was no health and safety and the miners expected you to man up and get on with it. We went to see a statue of the devil and we had to perform a ritual. We gave the devil coca leaves and alcohol. This was an offering to the devil in exchange for our lives. It was just for the tourists and to probably scare us. They showed us the process they go through to extract, shovel and then transport the rocks out of the mine. They got us to drill, carry and shovel the rocks to show what it was like. There were moments in the mine when I struggled to breath after trying to do some manual labour, which was a little scary. A few of the women in the group had panic attacks when trying to climb in certain areas. The miners called them and us babies and had no sympathy. When they asked us what we did for a leaving, they said my job was women's work and I did not care. I was happy to do women's work after that tour.
There were miners as young as fifteen down there. I do not understand how any of the miners keep working in those conditions. There was no safety, only a few planks of wood holding certain points up. Their idea of safety was knowing another way out if there was a cave in. Also according to them cave-ins were frequent. We were all glad to have left the mine and to get back to our Molly coddled lives.
From potosi I visited sucre which was only three hours down the road. Sucre is the shared capital of Bolivia. It was originally the capital back in the day, but because of La Paz being the business centre they gave it to them. You can tell Sucre had a political past. The city has many imposing government builds. The cities buildings are mostly white, which shows Spanish influence. Sucre is the first city in Bolivian that I can say is beautiful. The buildings, the plaza's and the surroundings give it a very tranquil feel. The city has a lot of history, with the Bolivian independents being signed there and I have a picture of that document. I was happy to have visited such a historical city. Unfortunately the night before I departed Sucre on a ten hour bus ride I was ill and was kept awake all night. Once again Bolivian food had worked its magic.
