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Published: October 28th 2008
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(Matt)
-Sucre-
We spent a few days in the pleasant spanish colonial town of Sucre. During our time there we visited Parque Cretácico a cement quarry where in 1994 employees uncovered 6000 dinosaur tracks on a vertical mudstone hillside (much to my disappointment the dinosaurs couldn´t walk up walls it was once flat but the land was pushed upwards by plate tectonics!). The park is now a minor tourist attraction with model dinosaurs, a tour guide and rip off Jurassic Park typeface on the signs. It is the largest collection of dinosaur footprints in the world.
Slightly more exciting (for us) than 68 million year old dino footprints was the Dutch run Joyride Cafe (we´re so uncultured!) it was a brilliant bar with fantastic food, a small outdoor heated courtyard, homemade beer and a bar/cinema room that showed films everynight. It was here that we got to see the documentary ´The Devil´s Miner´a documentary about a fourteen year old boy who works down a mine in terrible conditions in the village of Potosi. A haunting and cleverly made film, it was especially interesting for us as Potosi would be our next stop.
-Potosi-
Potosi is the
highest city in the world at just over 4000 metres. You can definitely feel yourself struggling for air. The combination of thin air and a slight headcold meant catherine decided to give a trip to the mines a miss, with narrow tunnels, dust and abestos it was proabably for the best.
Founded in 1546 as a mining town, it wasn´t long before Potosi was producing incredible wealth from mining silver. I hate reading boring statistics about places but it is hard not to be amazed by them in relation to Potosi:
- Between 1556 and 1783 45,000 tons of pure silver were mined, making Potosi one of the richest cities in the world during the 16th century.
- Around 30,000 African slaves were taken to Potosi during the Spanish Colonial era in order to keep up with the extraction of silver.
- The mine is still active today, the average life expectancy of the miners who work there is 40.
- It is estimated 8 million people have died working in the mines, which is why it is known as the ´the mountain that eats men alive´.
My trip to the mines was with
a group of three others and started with a visit to the miner´s market. The market sells, amongst other things, mining hardware, cigarettes, coca leaves, alcohol, dynamite and fuses. Everything you need for one hell of a party!
We were given ten minutes to buy anything we wanted for ourselves plus some small gifts for the miners we would meet along the way. We bought some dynamite and a special ten minute fuse for ourselves and cigarettes, coca leaves, more dynamite and alcohol for the miners. I´m not sure what was more dangerous, the dynamite or the 95% proof alcohol, we got to try them both.
Before entering the mine our guide showed us how to prime the dynamite and then lit the ten minute fuse in order for us to have an interesting photo opportunity...hopefully not of the ´you´ve been framed variety´! Preferably I would have liked to have been first to hold it but ended up being third in line desperately watching those before me trying to frame their photos and then take pictures with and without flash. Eventually our guide took the explosive package and ran down a hill moving away only seconds before it
blew up. Phew...that was fun, what next, how about crawling through a rickety old abestos filled mine...cool, bring it on.
At the entrance of the cave you can see dark patches of Llama blood from a local ceremony that involves offering llama blood to Tio the god (or more accurately the devil) of the mine to satiate his need in the hope that he won´t want the blood of the miners. There are hundreds of different mine shafts in the Cerro Rico mountain but they all have a statue representing Tio the devil. It is really strange that the miners believe God rules above ground but Tio rules underground in the mines and it is for this reason they must make offerings to him in order to keep them safe. We visited the statues of Tio in the mine shaft we were in and although they were adorned with coloured ribbons and were smoking cigarettes (looking like some new years eve parties I´ve been to) there was something incredibly creepy about them.
In the few hours we were in the mines we met many people (old and young) working in dark, dusty and dangerous conditions. It is really
sad to see in this day and age people having to earn a living in such a place. I´m glad that I decided to go to the mines but it was with a heavy heart and restless mind that I made my way down the mountain.
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