Potosí

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From Uyuni, we headed to Potosí on the bus, which was interesting. Niall unfortunately ate some soup at a little local place on the way. Ten minutes later, "Stop the bus!" and he was off like a flash hurling his guts up on the roadside. A welcome warning about Bolivian food...watch out!

Potosí is a bit of an odd place. It was once very prosperous, thanks to the mountain it is built around that housed a wealth of silver ready to be mined, not by the indigenous people, but by the Spanish. The indigenous people left the mountain alone, proclaiming it a sacred place, linked to ´Pachamama´ or Mother Earth. Then the Spanish arrived and mined the life out of the place. It is still a working mine, but there is next to nothing left there, only some minerals. There is not one big company, either, but an ´every man for himself´ philosophy, meaning it is a very poor place, because you can be mining for months and not find anything. Children start work in the mines from the age of 12, which is so young, and the conditions are horrendous. We did a mine tour, to see what the mines are like, and you bring gift bags for the miners containing cigarettes, coca leaves, dynamite, and some bicuits. It didn´t feel enough. They have basic tools, no drills or masks or overalls, they go to work in their jeans and jumpers, with only a hard hat and torch for assistance. There are asbestos crystals in the air, lots of dust, and hardly any warning when someone is about to blow up a section of the mountain. So there are many deaths, it averages 3 a month from accidents, but this does not include all the deaths from respiratory problems, our guide explained for us. And it is so dark and claustrophobic in there, we only spent an hour or two down in the mines, and the miners work 12 hours a day, seven days a week. It is very hard to imagine, and a very lonely job indeed. There is a very creepy statue of the devil down in the mines, which we came across, and our guide explained that it was built down there mainly to scare people into working in the mines when it first started so many years ago. To get local people to work, the Spanish created lots of images of the devil, warning people that if they did not work, the devil would haunt them. And so down into the mines they went. But soon, the devil statue failed to scare them, and instead they realised an affinity with him. The statue was alone in the mine, so were they. Even now, every Friday, the miners go to the devil in the mine and leave gifts like alcohol, coca leaves, even their work boots.

Next to the devil statue is a statue carved of Pachmama (Mother Earth), who is meant to bring forth the wealth in the mines. Girls and women are not allowed to work in the mines because of an old superstition which states that the devil and Pachamama are together, and if girls start to work in the mine, Pachamama will get jealous, and take away all the riches of the mountain.

Although, today, it seems like the riches are far beyond depleted, the remnants and history showing that is was once a rich area housed in the Museo Casa de Moneda. This museum is excellent, if a little sad. It takes you through the history of the mining of the mountain and the making of coins for all over the world (somewhat glossing over the fact that the Spanish brought in a huge amount of African slaves for a large majority of the work...). At the end of the tour, the guide ironically pointed out that, "Once we used make money for countries all over the world. Now, we have rely on other countries to make our money for us".

So, Potosí is a bit of a strange one. The local people, we were warned, do not like tourists, even though it is becoming a big part of their economy. Which was apparent in the Miners Carnaval, which was on the weekend we were there. Tourists are targeted with flour, water bombs, even in some harsher cases, dynamite (our tour leader was in an internet café when it was on last year, and a group of locals lit some dynamite and left it on the step on the café. She came out, saw it, and ran back inside, which was lucky, as there was a big hole left in the wall of the place!). And she is Argentinian, but still gets called ´Gringo´, and got targeted with a flour bomb this year.

Two night in Potosí was really enough, and we were all fairly happy to be moving on to Sucre, which turned out to be my favourite place in Bolivia by far!

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