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Published: February 20th 2009
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Day 19 - Potosi
After the worse bus ride of our lives we arrive early into Potosi. A bus journey can be bad due to the driver, the roads or the quality of the bus but above all the worse thing the worst thing is a bus full of stinkers! We had two smelly Bolivians behind us and one sat next to us in the isle on the floor. After covering our faces we managed to get some sleep before being rudely awaken by the Police to check everyone's identification.
We expected to arrive in Potosi at around 8am but surprisingly the bus was early and we arrived at 5.30am! Tired and smelly we grab a taxi to take us to our hostel (this was like deja view). After a few minutes in the taxi Laura noticed that the instrument panel in the dashboard was the other side to the steering wheel, must have been converted!
Upon arrival at the hostel (Casona Potosi) and waking up the night staff we were told there would be no rooms available until midday. After asking if there was a TV room he reluctantly let us sit in there for a few
hours. There were about 5 of us and this must happen every day so they shod take this into consideration.
At this point we decided to book a mine tour as this was our reason for coming to Potosi. Potosi is the highest city (4060m) in the world, it is a UNESCO world heritage site and was once a very wealthy place due to the silver mines. The city was found in 1545 under Spanish colonial rule and was responsible for underwriting the Spanish economy for over two centuries until the silver dried up and at the cost of millions of African and indigenous lives.
The mining continues to this day as they can still find many minerals and occasionally find small amounts of silver. The miners work in cooperatives as the mines are not state run and all the tours for tourists are with independent guides. Our tour started at 9am with 15 of us squeezing into a mini bus that was falling apart. Two guides took us up to the mining area to first look at the ore processing plant before heading into the small mining community to get ready for our mine tour.
We
were taken to a little shed full of mining equipment where we were given over trousers, jackets, wellies, helmets and lamps. The guide then took us to a local store to purchase dynamite, gloves, coca leaves and pop as presents for the miners. Yesterday they had a celebration which meant only 20 hungover miners were working today out of a normal 200.
As we arrived at the mine you could see miners pushing out trolleys full of ore to unload them into trucks. We were all then lined up and told that none of this was for show and you have to stay out of the miners way as they are trying to make a living. Just as we were about to enter the mine our guide told us how many people die a year from cave ins and that it is not a joke and tourists do die, although he hasn't lost any yet! Also as it is the wet season the mine can become quite wet and dangerous due to the higher risk of cave ins.
You could here the boom of dynamite exploding from within the mine and it was all becoming a bit too
intense. As you looked around you could see that their mining techniques have not changed in about 300 hundred years, just pick, shovel and dynamite. No safety measures here. None of the miners wear any form of respiration aids and the mine was self ventilating and as such they only live until about 35 if they are lucky.
The entrance to the mine was about 5 foot high with airlines for the drills and rails for the trolleys, wooden props and beams stopping the ceiling caving in We were to follow our guide walking very fast for about 250 metres until we reached the small widening in the tunnel for a rest while trolleys could continue pass. The tour was to take approximately 2.5 hours in the deep and dark mine. At this point after struggling to catch our breathe we decide it is not worth the risk and ask to leave before going any further.
The light at the end of the tunnel could not come fast enough and we were so glad to be out of the hell hole of the mine. We sat for 3 hours waiting for our guide and group to return. One
Miner
Dynamite in Hand group returned within 2 hours so we started to worry what had happened to our group. When they returned they described their experiences, how they crawled down shafts with no ladders, prepared dynamite with miners and sat around for about 2 hours deep in the mine getting drunk with the miners and guides! Apparently one of the guides was sick he was that drunk and still hungover from the day before. All the group seemed relieved to be out and said that until they got drunk were all nervous.
Despite missing out on the tour down the silver mine we felt sure of our decision and had gained a lot from the experience.
After leaving our equipment and drunk guide we were taken back to our hostel to check in. As usual we had booked our room a few days earlier on the internet but had cocked up again! This time we had booked a room with a shared bathroom, normally this would be OK but still with deli bellies, only having few hours sleep and no lunch it wasn't.
We tried to upgrade to another room but the Spanish receptionist did not understand and after getting
the manager we decide we will have to manage for just 1 night. To feel a bit better we decide to shower, however there was no towels, hot water, a floor full of cold water, no toilet seat cover, no shelves or hooks so it was a bit of a nightmare.
After a sleep we felt well enough to find somewhere to eat. We managed to find the most modern cafe/restaurant in town and enjoyed our meal as we hadn't eaten since porridge this morning. Tonight there was a massive thunderstorm and being in the highest city in the world it was very loud and the hailstones made the streets white in minutes.
Having not decided on what we are doing tomorrow we headed to an internet cafe to try to make a decision. We decide to take a bus to Tupiza where a hotel and tour has been recommended to us.
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Becki
non-member comment
wow
I bet you had an amazing experience. The mine sounds a crazy place-glad you guys got out earlier!!! I bet the thunder storm and hail was fantastic!!