Hi ho hi ho off to the mines we go!

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Reluctantly we left Sucre for Potosi. We were advised to catch a taxi which would take 2 and a half hours and cost a little more than a bus. However things didn´t go to plan and we ended up catching a minibus. The 2 and a half hours journey turned out to be a hurrendous 5 hours journey. The bus struggled to reach 10 miles an hour when the road was going uphill, which was for 70% of the journey. At one point the bus ran out of petrol so the local people travelling with us hopped off to push the vehicle! As we finally reached Potosi the road was going downhill so the driver turned the engine off and simply let the bus go down by itself!

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Potosi is claimed to be the highest city in the world at 4090m above sea level, peaking to 4800m at the top of the Cerro Rico mountain. It was also once the richest city in the world thanks to its silver mines. It was claimed that back in the days they would have been able to build a bridge out of silver from Potosi straight into Spain!

Needless to say Potosi is a mining town and there are still 10,000 workers nowadays working incredibly hard in 200 different mines. Children as old as 14 start working in some mines in order to help their families make ends meet. Travellers are encouraged to go and visit the mines so as to get a better understanding of the conditions some people have to work in. A high percentage of the workers have no other choice but to work in the mines as there are no other industries for them to make a living from. The mines are also part of a long tradition. It is believed 8 million people have died in the mines over the last 500 years. Africans were even brought over to help but the climate and the altitude were detremental to them.

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We went into one of the biggest mines along with 6 other travellers. We bought some dynamite and coca leaves for the workers and geared up for the occasion. We stayed over 2 hours in the mines and went down 4 levels, crawling in some parts. I had no voice at the end and was struggling to breathe. No wonder the average age for a worker is 57 years! We coudnln´t have stayed in there for any longer, the air was thin and we were breathing many different toxic gases. We met miners who had been working in there for over 30 years. Incredible and humbling once again! I will never moan again about the air conditioning in the office, promise!

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We only stayed in Potosi for one day and one night as we were both eager to do the 4 day Salt lake tour.