The silver mines at Potosi

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Dynamite exploding

Dom with the Bomb!

Our intention for visiting Potosi was to see the famous silver mines there. This was such a brilliant day! We went to the mines with a group of 13 people. Firstly we stopped at a small shop, where we were told we aught to buy the miners a present. There was a choice between tobacco, cocoa leaves, cold drinks and of course Dynamite! We, being health conscious, chose cold drinks. Dom, however, did decide to buy some dynamite for himself as this was an option, seeing it as something of a ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity!

When we arrived at the mine the first thing was to set off the dynamite we had bought for ourselves. We were instructed on how to construct the bombs, as explained in the photos. It was then time to light the flint! What Dom had not expected was to be left in the dark about what to do, whilst still holding his rapidly burning bomb!...see the hilarious video for details!

The bombs were so loud, even the largest men of the group jumped out of their skins. After all the fireworks we spit up in to two groups to go in to the mine. The mine was split up in to three levels. On the first was a small museum in which we looked around and learnt about the history of the miners. They had not had an easy past, having been very rich at one point; disaster fell when the Spanish came and inflicted mass assassination.

As we went further down the mine the pathways got narrower and the roof much lower. On the second floor it was extremely dusty and difficult to breath. Four of our group had panic attacks and had to go up to the surface, leaving only the two us to continue the tour. It was very uncomfortable but we were too interested by the miners who drove by on carts and we could here them at work. On the 3rd level, ironically, ventilation was much better. We were led to where a group of miners were working. We had a go at shoveling the stones and were tired after five minutes! These men do the same work for over 10 hrs a day! It was really interesting to see how the minig works. One of the men was as young as 15 and another as old as 68. The miners have some great personalities. Having no TV or radio and little sunlight all day they appreciate a good joke!


Make sure you check out the videos. They can be seen by clicking on the icon at the top left of this page, where the writing starts! "Dynamite exploding" and "Dom with the Bomb!"

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Comments

[Katie P]

I love that video -> "Run Dom!" hilarious i actually laughed out loud!! Your braver than me espec going down those mines!!x