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Published: June 18th 2009
Bolivia is the land of the "Worlds Highest ........". The world’s highest airport; The world’s highest ski-field (although it hasn’t actually had any snow for the last few years...); The world’s highest golf course and now the world’s highest city.......Welcome to Potosi - altitude 4,200 m.s.l.!
We left mid afternoon the following day from Sucre, but not before my early morning stint at the Joyride cafe for more pancakes and the biggest cup of coffee I think I have ever had, so much coffee that I walked away with the coffee shakes at the end of it...Ouch!
Potosi, a UNESCO world heritage city, is set against the Cerro Rico Mountains. It was founded in 1545 after the first discovery of silver and became the largest & wealthiest city in Latin America by the end of the 18th century. Today, thousands of people still work in the mines but the silver is all but gone. The city itself, not surprisingly, is dominated by all things ‘mining’ related. There are monuments to the miners and shops selling all sorts of things from masks (totally useless cloth varieties, that do little to protect the miners themselves) to sticks of dynamite and of
What style....
All dressed up to go mining!course, silver. The city has a dark grimy side, with a view of the mountain never too far away from sight, but it also has over 80 churches and some wonderful Spanish Colonial style buildings peppered through the streets.
Our first night in Potosi involved a film called ‘The Devil’s Miners’, a documentary about the life of the miners working in the mines and the shocking working conditions. It focused specifically on a 12-year-old boy, who worked in the mines after the death of his Father. The average survival age of a miner was 45 years, if they were unable to get out and find a new job. If these men didn’t die from explosions or mine collapses, they would die from not being able to breathe, coughing up blood in a slow and painful way, as a result of all the toxins they would have breathed during their time in the mines. It was a shocking insight into the life of most of the people in Potosi and an introduction to the actual mines that we were visiting the following day.
The next day, dressed in all my miners gear, I went off to visit one of
Off to the mines we go.
I dont know how good we will be at doing the job though the mines with the rest of my group. Not one for the claustrophobic or asthmatic, they were dark, damp, small, cramped, cold & smelly. We visited a working mine and watched as the men excavated the minerals, cleared the rubble and hauled the rocks out of the mines for further processing. We watched as our guide detonated a stick of dynamite (this time outside of the mine), where I scared myself stupid once it exploded. We walked around the mines, saying hello to the miners and their families, giving them our presents of coca leaves (used by the miners to combat fatigue, hunger, pain & altitude), biscuits & soda. We sat and gave a blessing of pure alcohol, coca leaves & cigarettes to ‘Tio’ the devil that is worshiped by the miners for protection and money whilst they are underground.
On a lighter note, however, my exploration of the city also involved a lunch in a truly local family eatery. It had no menus, just a meal of the day consisting of 4-courses. If you didn’t understand Spanish, then it was pot luck as to what you got, so thankfully, we had some sort of idea and enjoyed a
very nice lunch for the princely sum of $3...Mmmmm!
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