Potosi

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Day 23

We arrived in Potosi midday and had a wander round. We are something like 3600 m above sea level so it's really hard to walk uphill as your heart is beating so fast due to the altitude! We had lunch and then went for a tour around the mint museum.

Day 24

We were picked up in the morning for our trip to the mine. Basically Potosi is a mining town where the miners pay the government to work in the mine and whatever they find is theirs. The mine used to be rich in silver, but now it is other minerals they look for. We stopped off at the market to buy the miners some presents and headed to the mine. Firstly our tour guide showed us how the miners use dynamite to explode holes in the mine by making a massive explosion just beneath us!! We then headed into the mine, where the miners were working. The conditions were horrendous and we feared for our lives a couple of times when climbing down narrow slippery holes where the drop below was 10 metres. It was really interesting. We were true miners, chewing on Coca leaves to relieve the altitude sickness and give us energy!

We then had a 6 hour bus ride to Uyuni.

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Photos

Miners at work
All of the work is done by hand, with little safety equipment. Not even masks to protect from the dust.

The Rich Mountain
This is the mountain where the mining takes place, it´s called the Rich Mountain for all of the silver it once contained.

Pacha Mama
The mountain is also the key symbol of the Bolivian religion. Which was altered to incorporate Mary when the Spanish invaded. The religion is based on the Sun, Moon and Mother Earth {Pacha Mama}