Potosi miners

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So where were we...

Ok, so we left Uyuni for Bolivia, you may think it is one of the smaller South American countries, but just to put it into perspective it is the same size as France and Spain combined (this is from a reliable source).

Anyway so we arrived in Potosi. Potosi is officially the world's highest city at 4,090m absl. Fortunately we had at this point been ´at altitude´ for some time so did not feel the pinch as some do when they get to Potosi.

Whilst at altitude we decided that there is nothing better for breathing than to climb a mountain and then descend into the dusty darkness of the Cerro Rico silver mines.

Cerro Rico is a rather impressive pointy mountain which towers above Potosi.

Potosi was founded in about 1545 upon discovery of the silver in Cerro Rico. As a direct result Potosi became Latin America's largest and wealthiest city reaching a population circa 200,000 and for the time rivaling many of the great world cities such as London, Paris and Skeggy.

Incidently, La Paz was founded in 1548 as a staging post on the main artery to the Pacific coast from Potosi. La Plata (later to be named Surce) had already been founded as the Spaniards' main centre for South America.

This contributed to one of our reoccuring debates while negotiating Bolivia, namely "What is the capital?"

In the Blue corner representing Sucre, and weighing in over 200lb we have Stacey 'Suddenly an Expert' Spencer and Diane 'Mon Dieu' Degalbert. In the slightly ginger corner, boasting a fighting weight of 378lb representing Great Britian and the Penal colonies we have James Roberts and Muzza 'Mightly Mouse' Furlongness*...

After some close opening rounds pooling reference from sources such as the British Foreign office web site, Wikipedia and the BBC the contest was still evenly balanced. After a few sly backhanders and much verbal abuse it was agreed that both had claim to be 'capitals' La Paz as the 'de facto' capital and Sucre as the constitutional. Although I think we all know which one is the real capital...

Anyway, back to the darkness and dust of the silver mine...

Diane aka Chocolate Moose, Murray aka Muzza and I started our tour of the mine with a visit to the local miners market. We procured the sort of items one would generally find in a local market such as fizzy pop and 96%!a(MISSING)lcohol. Other less normal items were coca leaves and of course dynamite.

DYNAMITE! Thats right, dynamite! I think in the way to the mine we had over 10 sticks of dynamite in our plastic bags with our detonators and other sundry items for the miners. These items are given to the miners as gifts to thank them for their 'hospitality'.

The main reason for going down into the mines is to witness the appalling conditions which make up everyday life for many Potosions. Although the mines are now mainly used for excavating minerals, working practises have remained predominantly unchanged for hundreds of years. Lonely Planet states that approximately 8 million African and Indian (feathers not vermilion) slaves.

Our tour involved crouching, scrambling, crawling through low shafts, banging heads, smelling noxious chemicals all while short of breath. Muzza and I both had a go at shovelling rocks into buckets which was thoroughly exhausting.

It really is amazing what some people go through, and all the while the miners where joking and laughing to keep their spirits up.

In effect the miners work for themselves and are paid by the amount of rocks and mineral they excavate. Money is the justification for working and it would seem living for an average of 45-50 years.

Potosi itself is a very nice town with many colonial buildings from the siver era.

Thanks to Muzza and his dusty camera for the pictures

*This is not his real name, true identity has been concealed for legal reasons.
Further info:-

http://www.common-place.org/vol-03/no-04/potosi/

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Photos

Potosi at night
Cerro Rico illuminated

James
Just picked up some dynamite, detonators and coca leaves for the miners

Processing
An intricate weave of conveyor belts, rubber bands and spinning things represents part of the mineral extraction process

Muzza the miner
Miners on display with cheaks stretched by wads of coca leaves to help get through the day.

Muzza
Some of the small 'thoroughfares'

WANTED
Have you seen this man?
Last seen hassling minors* in Bolivia.
*Spelling mistake