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Our stop in Potosi was a quick one as there is not much to do there except the excursion to see the working Silver mines. It was an awesome experience and I promise never to complain about my working conditions ever again! The local people spend up to 36 hours in horrible conditions using just a hammer and chisel and some dynamite. The larger mines have drills but they do not work on a sunday as there is no electricity. After we got kitted out in our very sexy gear we headed in to the mine with our guide. there are many different layers to the mines and it was tough to breathe at first but I id eventually adapt to that level. We met some of the miners and gave them our goodie bags filled with Coca leaves, crackers and dynamite and watched them as they worked. One of them took our dynamite and we all turned off our head torches and heard the huge boom and felt the vibrations the explosion made - crazy!!
One of the miners we met had been working there for 35 years and he was so grateful for our presents and we also
bought some silver ore from him which would have been a full days pay! they tend to earn on average 40 bolivianos a day (just 4 pounds!).
That afternoon we took a private bus through very windy roads and eventually made it to Uyuni,another small town which is the gateway to the Salar.
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