Down the silver mines

Potosi before it wakes.. Beautiful Colonial Church
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An overnight journey and yet another extremely early arrival in a foreign city. We arrived in Potosi the highest city (4070m) of its size (112000 people) in the world.  It used to be world famous as the Spaniards mined immense quantities of silver from the mountain here, whilst treating the miners like slaves and using coca to keep them working long long hours. Nowadays the silver has run out but there are still other minerals that are mineable. The miners still work the mine, but they are their own bosses now and earn a good salary by Bolivian standards (equal to teachers). we had come here to appreciate the conditions they worked in.

Unusual carved wood street art
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We walked up the deserted steep streets slowly, struggling for breath with our backpacks on. Trying to appreciate the colonial architecture (funded by the silver) and old churches in the clear sunshine. We headed straight for an agency that ran tours of the silver mines. Luckily the tours didn't start for another hour so we had time for brekkie. The group of many different nationalities got bused across Potosi to get kitted up for the mine first of all. We got to know Mel (Oz), Alex (U.K) and Richard (U.K) on the bus. We were now firmly on the gringo trail and kept meeting the same people again and again as we travelled Bolivia! We were all entertained by the ridiculous boiler suit type outfits we had to wear for protection in the mines and fortunately all of us bought up the bandanas that were for sale to protect from the dust (we thought they were just a gimmick but it turns out that they were really useful!). Once we were kitted out we were then paraded around the streets for all the locals to look and laugh at as we walked to the market area where the local miners buy their supplies.

bag containing the dynamite and the detonator together........

Claire looks out onto steep deserted streets with the Silver Mountain in the background
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The market was like no other that we had visited. Apart from the stalls selling food for a good hearty breakfast there were also stalls selling huge quantities of coca leaves and also dynamite......yes dynamite, oh and ammonium nitrate which they also use to blow up the rocks!! We were all encouraged to buy a few bits to pass on to the miners as a kind of present, like some dynamite and a bag of coca leaves costing about 25 bolivianas (just under 2 quid!!). We also bought a little extra dynamite  between our group to blow up later.....yes they actually let you set off your own explosives, no health and safety here!! What's more is that they let you carry your explosives in a small carrier bag containing the dynamite and the detonator together.....I don't know much about explosives but I am sure these two items are usually kept apart and in metal boxes!!

Beautiful streets
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When we arrived at the mine there were very few miners around, it was a national holiday, the Day of the Dead! This is basically a celebration to honour past relatives and friends and generally ends up with everyone drinking too much and having bad hangovers the next day, in fact when we arrived in the morning there were already people stumbling around like they had drunk too much!! So we left our bags of goodies in the small huts the miners use and we headed on into the mine.

The first 5 minutes were fine, standing all the way heading into a narrow passage. Then you start to stoop, still ok I suppose. Then before you know it you are on the hands and knees squeezing through the very narrow passage and the dust is already very thick making it hard to get a good breath! About half way in just off a narrow section you come to a small chamber where they have created a museum and as it opens out you also get some better quality air to breath! The museum has some interesting information about the rise and fall of the mines, the accidents, the life expectancy and also the rituals the miners carried out to keep them safe against Tio (the devil). Onwards and also downwards to the next level in the mine. The way to get between levels is not how you would imagine like stairs or a step ladder, maybe a rope to lower yourself down......no, just on your bum, lying back as the tunnel is so low, slipping down unable to stop yourself (health and safety?). The next level is worst than the first, no space to stand just crawling. At this point it is well worth me mentioning that I was feeling very claustrophobic and the lack of oxygen and huge amounts of dust just worstened the feeling. Down again to the third level! After fearing the worst this level was better, for some reason more air and we could at least stand, sorry stoop!! Our guide was very good, an ex-miner, so very knowledgable and he did make you feel a little bit at ease. At each stage he would chew a few more coca leaves and tell you more stories of the mines.

Town Hall
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The way back out of the mine was back the way we had come. So the tunnels that we had slid down now became the tunnels that we had to climb back up, on our bellies with very little to hold on to, very scary! By the time we got out we were covered in dust and finding it hard to speak with the amount of dust in our throats and we had only be in the mines for 2 hours! On average the Potosi Miners work a 15 hour day 6 days a week, some do 7 days. Some of the miners have been doing this job for 30 years......no wonder they need a stiff drink on their days off!!

Clock tower.. they haven't kept the clocks running on time!
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The bus back to the centre of town was quiet, contemplating the daily conditions of these miners. Once back we decided to stay the night and checked into the same hostel that Richard and his girlfriend Fiona were staying at, a great choice! The room was fine but the best bit was the very hot and powerful shower, what luxury!! We must have spent about an hour in it at least!!

The next day (after another fine shower) over breakfast we were busy telling Richard and Fiona about the marvellous showers in the hostel, they couldn't understand because theirs had been cold at times. On closer inspection of our room it turned out that our shower was right next to the main water heater tank and our shower must have been the first one in the queue, sapping everyone elses hot water ration......oh how we laughed!!

Looking stylish in our miners gear!
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Later that day we were on another bus off to Uyuni, in the south of Bolivia, with Alex, Mel, Richard & Fiona.