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Published: March 15th 2006
After a few busy weeks in Bolivia we thought we would make our way south to Argentina for some R&R, but first we needed a stop to break up the journey, so we decided on a small mining town named Potosi. I honestly didn't read up on the town too much but had heard from other travellers that it was a quite a unique place. We arrived early in the morning and after finding a decent hostel we were able to arrange a tour of the local mines that were still in operation. I realize that it sounds bizzare that we were able to visit mines that were still operational, but after all this is Bolivia we are talking about. First we were taken to the local miners market where the miners buy their materials. It is also a spot to buy products like coca leaves. The leaf, when chewed with a catylist extracts a juice that is swallowed, and supposedly acts as a stimulant mitigating symptoms like tiredness, hunger, and thirst. More importantly for us it helps with altitude sickness and headaches caused from the fumes.
Before we entered the mines our guide gave us a run down of the
situation. The mines had been government run up until the mid 90's, which meant for the workers a steady salary, a pension, and favourable working conditions. However with little silver left to extract and the zinc and tin markets very poor the government sold out and they are now all run by co-operative companies. The miners now must work for themselves, mining 12 hours a day hoping for that big prospect. The mining company doesn't provide the miners with electricity, so everything is done manually now in the dark. Most of the miners are all of mining families, and have been for generations. They usually start helping out the family at the age of 8 on the operations outside the mine and by the time they turn 12 they are moved inside the mine as runners. Runners are the ones who do all the grunt work. They work 8 hours in the mine pushing 1000's of pounds of rock in a bin, on a track, that could have been used with the help of an electric whinch, if only they could afford the electricity to run it. At one point we were standing in what was like a fork in
the paths, when a group of runners came upon us through one of the tunnels. There were 3 of them pushing and 2 pulling a massive cart along the traks that was loaded with rock. We spoke with a few of them and they bagan to tell us they were paid by the hour and made about 30 pesos for a 12 hour day, or......4 dollars! A more experienced miner might make double that and the old boys make a bit more. The boys couldn't have been much older than 16 and they were skin and bones. The fear of more contamination than they are already inhaling prevents them from bringing food into the mines, so instead they all pack their mouths with coca to ease the hunger pains. We gave the boys a hand getting their cart up a small hill, and I honestly don't know how they do it. It was so heavy! Each miner we met shared stories with us about how life in the mines was all they new, and how they new they were slowly being poisoned to death by a deadly lung disease called silicosis, but had no choice. The life expectancy of a
miner is 40, and a miner is only able to retire from the mines with a pension if he has 80-90% silicosis of the lungs, or basically what it means is if he is about to die. Life in the mines is to put it litely brutal, and it's no surprise that the mines lose just as many people from suicide or drug and alcohal related accidents as it actually claims itself. The week before our tour of the mines 3 miners of the ripe old ages of 18, 19, and 25 crawled in late at night. 2 days later they were found dead in a remote area of the mines with empty bottles of alcohol scattered around them. They were apparently in too small of an area with their lamps, and died of Carbon monoxide poisoning. Another sad story of the mines, but a small number out of the apparent 8 million workers who have lost their lives in the mines of Bolivia over the centuries. We heard story after story of tradgedy, and after finally hearing of the 3 dead boys our guide took a look at our disheartened faces and said that we had heard enough. We
Salta
Now folks that is a BBQwearily crept out of the mines coughing from the fumes, and wiping the sweat out of our eyes, finally reaching the exit where we could see light and shadows of more men coming back in with the same blank looks on their faces. It was a sad display of balance in this world we live in and I was very very embarrassed of being a tourist that day.
That night we were so depressed over the whole day that we decided to pay for our room and leave on the first night bus we could find.
After crossing the border we caught a bus right away to the small Argentine city of Salta. It's a small city of about 500 000 inhabitants and is known mainly on the gringo trail as a place to stop over between Bolivia, and Mendoza. There are other scenic trips to take outside of the city but we were there for one reason. It was the weekend and Salta has a bit of a reputation of being a fun town. Salta didn't dissapoint and we had a great 3 nights of partying Argentine style. For those of you who don't know, Argentine people live in
a completely differen't world(however I have heard it is similar to Spain) in that they work for a few hours, then shut their doors to sleep and eat for 3 or 4 hours, then open back up. When they do close for the night they don't choose to dine right away. Eating dinner is some time between 10 and midnight. After dinner it's to either a cafe or a pub for a few drinks before finally hitting the clubs sometime between 2 and 4 in the morning. I have been here for nearly 3 weeks now and I still have a hard time getting used to it. It's especially hard if you want to accomplish anything during the day.
Salta was in fact a blast but we heard about a wine harvest festival taking place in Mendoza....so Jim, Matt, and I with much anticipation made our way to Mendoza.
Mendoza is a bit of an oasis on the foot hills of the Andes. With warm days and cool nights the area culminates a perfect temperature for vinyards. The result is one of the top ten wine regions in the world....and we just happened to stumble upon the biggest festival of
the year....magic! It was a fun week of chugging back wine, eating tremendous steak and partying with locals, all in a remarkably charming city. Unfortunately the finally of the whole harvest festival had nothing to do with wine. We bought tickets to the Vindimia festival expecting all sorts of wine vendors to be sloshing out free samples, but when we go there you couldn't even buy wine let alone get any for free. Instead we sat on concrete benches for 4 hours and watched a theatrical show followed by a beauty pageant. The pageant was a specatcle that I still can't believe I was witness to. The attendance was some where around 70 000 people and it was more raucuss than a soccer game here. With each girl having a section filled with legions of fans screaming, singing, and waving massive banners to show support. The crowd was filled with local celebs, politicians, and even the president. It was so wierd! We had a blast in Mendoza, we even treated ourselves to a decent hotel...it was always fun eating breakfast with the old wine snobs in the hotel restaurant at 8 in the morning as we stumbled in from the
night. In the afternoons we would just lounge by the pool, and occasionaly play a bit of ping pong....that was until I received my first injury of the trip....who new you could pull a ham string playing ping pong...the boys got quite a laugh out of that. Jimmy I might have to start the season on the D.L.
Matt had to fly out of Buenas Aires on the 12th so the three of us headed to B.A. for one last week of partying together. B.A. is in one word anawsome city! The cityitself has 9 million people and with an extensive colonial past, it boasts some of the most incredible colonial architecture I have seen, making it a treat to just stroll around the city viewing the grand old buildings. There are countless parks to lounge in covered by giant old growth trees when the days are too hot, or you can sit in one of the 1000's of sidewalk cafe's to have lunch or a drink, and watch the world go by. For those who like shopping you can't beat B.A. The city centre is marked from one end to the other with a massive pathway with trendy shops
lining the dozens of city blocks that it covers. I have already done some pretty good damage to the credit card. B.A. night life is pretty tricky unless you know the city well but we were lucky that Jim, and Matt had some friends living there that took us out to some good restaurants, and decent clubs. I think the highlight of B.A was the soccer match we went to. Argentine's are so passionate about football and especially in B.A. which is home to the 2 biggest clubs in the country. On Wed. we went to see River Plate play at home against an Ecuadorian team. The match was pretty dull at first as the home side fell to 3-1 deficite early in the match, but the fans never missed a beat...all the while singing and waving flags. River netted another goal with 10 min. remaining starting the comeback. Within another 2 min. they scored to tie it up and then the crown completely erupted as a River forward headed the go ahead goal with 5 min. left in the match. The crowd went completely nuts, and 3 grown men came tumbling down beside me from 3 rows up, as
Buenas Aires
typical Parrilla restaurant in Argentina they lost their balance from jumping up and down. They appologized, got back up and continued to sing and dance. I hope I get the chance to catch another match before I go home. It is quite an experience.
Well I have said goodbye to Matt, and now Jim along with his girlfriend and one of her friends and myself are in Patagonia. We are in Bariloche which is the main hub in between B.A., Mendoza, and Southern Argentina. It's a small touristy town on a vast lake overshadowed by snow capped mountains, and large carniferous trees. It's a beautiful spot. It apparently has some of the best fly fishing in the area, so I think we are going to give that a try tomorrow, and then Saturday I will head off on my own south to Torres Del Paine in Chile, before heading back North to Iguazu falls, and then B.A. for my flight home. I am on the home stretch now!
Until next time...chau
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Dad
non-member comment
Lil slower pace huh?
Hi Troy As much as you disliked the mines of Bolivia it was probably a good thing for you to visit them. It will always help you to appreciate your home. You obviously have found some Argentinian friends to add to your growing address book. It looks like a beautiful country Troy, glad you're getting to see the most of it. I have had a picture of Iguazu falls as my wallpaper for months, quite the coincidence. Kaspers are having an open house tomorrow for Kari and the baby, I will send your regrets. Got the package you sent last week. Hope it wasn't too expensive for you to send. Can't wait to hear from you again, keep the blogs coming and prepare for your epilogue. Take care son Love Dad