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Published: June 11th 2006
mach macho macho man!!
i love blowing up dynamite!!As soon as we arrived in Uyuni, we couldn’t wait to leave…the place really had nothing going for it. So after 4days of being cramped in a jeep, we still considered another 6 hours by bus a good alternative to staying around this town. Finding all the buses fully booked till the morning, we did the only thing possible- we hired a private bus! Grabbe 10 peoploe in total, and organised our own way there. We had some locals even tryin to get out and offered to pay us 30bolivianos each to get on.
Now this is the strange thing- driving through totally desolate landscapes lit up by moonlight, random people would be dropped off in the middle of nowhere…there was no house or path in sight…where are these people going…no doubt there is some alien spaceship waiting to abduct them!
So arrived in Potosi…..this was definitely not what you pictured Bolivia to be like. It was beautifully lined with Spanish looking houses and definitely not a poor city. We realised we had in fact arrived in the world´s highest city!!! At a staggering 4070metres high, we could definitely feel the altitude- my friend alex could barely walk more than
miners
shuffling the rocks and minerals to be sent and processed 10metres before getting puffed out! The girls travelling with us had no problems- mental note: look up if females have genetic predisposition to adapt to altitude!
Potosi is famed for Cerro Rico, mountain laying at the edge of the city that became renowned for its silver rich veins driving through it..among other metals- in fact Potosi was one of the richest cities in the world at one point, providing metals for the making of coinage for Europe and especially spain! Silver sparse now, but mining still a main trade.
Organised a tour to go down deep in the mines- so wake up early, get in a jeep, go to the miners markets…buy some cocoa leaves to chew to help with altitude, buy some presents for the miners and pick up some dynamite to blow up!!!!!!!!
We get to the mountain and the first thing they ask us- who wants to blow up dynamite- we put the kit together, ignite the 30cm fuse string and run like a mother fucker! The earth trembled as 7 dynamites went off one by one! Great pics!
Robed in our hot yellow outfits, protection helmets and goggles and face masks, we
cerro Rico
the mountain that gave Potosi all its riches!! make our decent throught the mines of Rosario- where real miners still are working. These mines have been around since the 1500, and more than 8 million people have died from mines caving in, lung related diseases and general ill health. Our brilliant guide had worked there for 3 years himself, and he led us through ever narrowing passage ways that went on and on…down through crevices, up though holes. Got the chance to help drill into the wall, and help with chovelling the minerals.
The conditions were atrocious, and boys as young as 15 were there mining! Apparently, they don’t make it past 10years from when they start working!
Another strange fact- Potosi is a very catholic city. The churches are adorned with the riches that are laboured from the country, but in the mines, they also pray to thje devil and make sacrifices of lama fetuses, alcohol and cigarettes- a tradition that has spanned for centuries in their belief that in the underground the devil is the provider of their fortune. They called him Uncle Tio, because in the old language they don’t have the letter D for Dio (meaning god).
End of the day in a
casa real de la Moneda
inside the area that made coins for many countries! karaoke bar singing ¨stand by me¨ while guzzling down strange concoctions of Bolivian alcohol…diluted with fruit juice to drown out the foul tasting Bolivian toxin! Bolivians love their karaoke- its everywhere you go! Apparwntly I look like some famous British Pop Idol called Darius, and they keep wanting to get me to sing Britney Spears´ ¨Baby one more time¨… apparently his famous audition piece…damn I can´t find it in any of their song lists..looks like Britney´s popularity deosnts pan across into Bolivia!!
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