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Potosi is the highest city in the world -not a bad claim to fame. The city stands tall in the south of Bolivia at 4,100 metres or 13,500 feet above sea level. Today, one of the biggest attractions to Potosi is the silver mines, which brings tourists from all over the world who would like to experience life in the mine on a tour. While the tourist dollar is now vital in Potosi’s economy, the town did not always have such a dependency on outside factors and Potosi used to be the wealthiest city in the world.
The town lies beneath the mountain known as Cerro Rico (Rich Mountain). The name was conceived because the mountain used to contain an abundance of silver and this is the reason Potosí's historical importance. Founded in 1546 as a mining town, it soon produced fabulous wealth, becoming one of the largest and richest cities in the world, with a population exceeding 200,000 people.
One of the first things that we did when arriving in town was to book a tour of the mines. Sarah and I arrived in Potosi following a 4 hour bus ride from Uyuni, where we visited the salt
flats. We had a nice group of friends that we met on the salt flat tour, so once we landed in the bus station in Potosi our group decided to walk up to the Centro to get a hotel and book a tour. Well, mainly it was the lads who decided that we would walk. The girls weren’t too enthused at having to walk a half-mile up a decently steep hill at such high altitude with the sun beating down and us carrying backpacks. Us lads could hear the puffing and panting and we could feel the girl’s stares burning into the back of our heads as we closed in on the hotel. But all was well once we checked in and got some food and drinks for the chicas.
Mine Tour
That night we booked a tour with the ‘REAL DEAL’ company. All of the guides are former miners themselves who previously worked with another mine tour company before going out on their own and starting their new business. Our guide was Pablo, and like the other guys, he was really friendly, funny and had a great sense of humor which you need if you’ve worked as a
miner.
The tour started in the morning when we were picked up to go to their miner’s office. There we received safety clothing, wellington boots, helmet and head torch. First thing, Pablo brought us to a miner’s market where he explained about some of the miner’s needs. They buy coca leaves for energy, clothing, soft drinks, dynamite, ammonium nitrate, fuses, and some buy ‘Ceibo’ – a 96% clear alcohol! Pablo gave each of us a swig of the firewater to which some of the group pulled some funny twisted faces indicating that they, perhaps, would not order this beverage themselves at their local bar. Sarah and I bought a few gifts for the miners here including coca leaves, drinks and dynamite.
From the market we walked to the refinery where we saw how the Silver ore and scrap silver have to go through a refining process in order for the pure silver to be separated from the dross. First the silver ore is placed in a solution of nitric acid to dissolve the silver to produce a white-silver powder called silver chloride. Then this is added to a furnace and heated to 1,200 degrees Celsius to separate the silver.
So, after getting an idea of how silver is refined it was time to go in…
Our walking tour of the mine brought us over a kilometer into Cerro Rico. The conditions for miners are tough. We had to wade through a couple of feet of water in the entry tunnel and crouch through passages as we progressed. At times we would have to move to the side bank as a cart pushed by miners whooshed past us. When we got to a connecting tunnel, we met a bunch of miners who were shouting at each other while they figured out how to unstick their cart full of mineral rocks. We chatted with some of them and gave them drinks and coca leaves which they were thankful for. Then they got the cart unstuck and kept on rolling. Most of the miners age from late twenties to early fifties, but we did meet a couple of young lads in their mid teens also. About halfway through, we stopped and sat down in a grotto that was caved in the passage wall. This was where we met ‘El Tio’. The Tio is a devil-god that must be respected to avoid
an early death, and to hopefully help with plentiful findings of silver. All miners offer Tio gifts on a daily basis as their belief in his powers is strong. Our guide offered coca leaves and some ceibo before passing the firewater around the group again.
After saying “Adios” to El Tio we walked on to a down ladder where Pablo told us the tour was going. Some of the girls were not too keen on having to shuffle down this narrow passage, but after some encouragement we all slipped down the ladder and crouched through another really narrow tunnel to meet with Pablo. Pablo introduced his mining friend who was sitting a bit away from us taking a break and chewing coca leaves. Miners don’t each lunch. Instead they have a big breakfast and chew coca leaves throughout their 10+ hour days. Pablo went on to tell us that his friend had been working this particular passage for over a year and unfortunately it was not bearing much silver. The story got worse when we learned that the guy used to work here with his brother before he was killed in a toxic gas accident. We gave him some
gifts and made our way to the entrance where it was nice to see daylight again. Sometimes we think we have it hard, then we can meet people who help us remember just how fortunate we are.
So today the Cerro Rico is far from the rich mine that it used to be. In fact, the miners have given it a new name, “Swiss Cheese”, since it continues to be over-mined for diminishing results. But for many people in Potosi, the mine is the only way.
After dropping off our gear at the office, the guys treated us to dinner at a restaurant across the street which was run by one of their wives. This was the first time we tried Llama meat. Not bad at all!
Before we left Potosi we had time to check out the Cathedral, the Mint Museum / Casa de Moneda and sample a local festival. I even picked up a random magazine at a café and saw a picture of our Bolivian friend that we would be visiting in La Paz in a few weeks.
Enjoy!
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