Mineville

Sucre
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After the Santa Cruz flight episode we finally landed in Sucre a day later than expected.  We had to cut down our time in Sucre and Potosi because of the few extra days in Santa Cruz.

Sucre itself was a pretty colonial town where most of Bolivia´s government buildings were situated.  The main tourist attraction in Sucre was not the beautiful buildings but dinosaur footprints on the outskirts of the town.  So that´s what we did in Sucre - go to see a few dinosaur footprints!  We also went to a fantastic churasqueria that evening where we had the best steaks of the trip.  After 2 nights in Sucre we decided to leave for Potosi where we had an interesting taxi ride.  Basically the taxi driver tried to fleece us but we were having none of it and after a few strong words from ourselves all was ok.

Dinosaur Tracks
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We went to Potosi with the sole intention of visiting the working mines where conditions are so harsh that the life expectancy of the miners after entering the mine is something like 20-30 years.  Most enter the mine in there early teens.  However, when we arrived in Potosi we were informed that the 10 November was the city´s holiday.  That meant no miners working on that day!! We were stretched for time so went ahead with a tour of a mine without the workers.

The mine tour started in the early morning where we went to buy presents for the miners.  This consisted of dynamite, ammonium nitrate, fuses for the dynamite and some soft drinks for the miners!  We also bought extra dynamite for ourselves so we could have some fun after the tour.  It was really strange being able to go to a shop and just go and buy dynamite, given the Bolivian border controls it would be quite easy to stroll anywhere with some dynamite in your bag.  We then went to a factory where they separated the minerals from the raw material mined in the mountain.  After that it was down the mine.  Even though there were no workers it was quite an experience.  There was a lot of crawling and the air was putrid making it really difficult top breathe.  I can now understand why so many die down there.  After the tour it was time to blow up some dynamite - the reverberations from the explosions were impressive.

Cerro Rico, Potosi
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We then went to the central plaza where celebrations for the town´s anniversary were occurring.  Eva Morales was also in town so there was a really big army presence and a parade for the big man´s enjoyment.  Unfortunately Morales was not donning his favourite sweater but a rather ordinary looking suit.  After enjoying some of the festivities we had to go to catch a bus that evening to Uyuni where we would briefly stay before going on the Salar De Uyuni tour.