Diggin´Deep..The Potosi mines

Potosi was definitely the biggest culture shock of our trip. After a more than comfortable night in the Koala Den (plus fruit and eggs for breakfast, yum!) we took a tour out to the working mineral mines underneath the Cerro rico mountain. First stop was the miner´s market where we got to buy gifts for the miner´s..Like every good tourist we settled on a bunch of dynamite with extra detonators and a bag of coca leaves. Jack was veering towards the 80% proof potable alcohol but our guide (a miner himself) said that this was not good as most of the miner´s, being fully honed alcoholics, already have stacks of the stuff.. which is not a good thing but may explain how they can stand the conditions inside.
In all serious the mines are hard work..really hard work. The air is already thin as we are at such high altitude (touching 4500m) add to that the dust from the minerals, stones and dynamite, plus the heat and cramped conditions and you have yourself a veritable hell. We were in there for just over a couple of hours and got to see the real miners at work, we even helped out with a bit of shovelling (not that i was much use!) When we exited it felt like heaven, seeing daylight and breathing semi-fresh air. Just to round off the excitement of the trip we got to set off our own personal supply of dynamite, accompanied by a display by our mad miner-guide running after llamas with the explosives in his mouth, alight. Luckily the animals were clever enough to move out of the way and we got to see the explosions in relative safety...much better than firework´s night!
Unfortunately it was a case of no rest for the wicked and after a quick shower (which the hostel charged us for!) it was time to board yet another nightbus and get over to Uyuni. Clearly not satisfied with the minerals in the mountains it was time for us to check out the famous salt flats!

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Part of trip: South American Adventure

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