Mountains of Silver

---

---

Saturday
From Uyuni we drove across the mountains to Potosi at nearly 4000m. Some of the road was almost brand new but the engineers had underestimated the amount of water that can flow through a dry gully and most of the culverts under the road had been washed away with the result that every few kilometres we drove off the road and around a gaping chasm. The rest of the road wound over mountains, through gorges, across and along sandy valleys. The wind is howling and any snow is streaked with dust. Dust follows the bus and runs down dry river beds. Rocks, llamas, cattle, sheep and donkeys flash past the windows.

The bus stops for lunch and a loo break. I edge around the side of the building to the toilets and when I emerge, I have a sight of Bolivian passengers squatting in groups in among the long sparse grass and trees at the base of the road embankment. Once again, the locals choose a place with a view.

We arrive at Potosi mid afternoon and take a taxi up the hill to our hotel. Potosi is so different from my expectations. Thinking it would be something more like Uyuni, I found a large town on the side of a mountain. It's lively and vibrant. We are in another rambling hotel just down the hill from the cathedral. In the evening we come across a group of motorcyclists preparing for a riding or jumping display/competition (not sure) but they were making a lot of noise in a small area.

Pizza for dinner......how unusual! For some reason you can get pizza almost anywhere in South America.

Sunday
Cerro Rico (Rich Mountain) rises up to over 4700m to the south of Potosi and the reason for her existence. We were joined by a young American and Norwegian and, kitted out in light weight pants and jacket (protection from dust) and hard hat with miners lamp, we ventured down one of the 50 co-operative mines - it is only in these mines that a miner can become very rich - to see how the miners live and work.

First, as a gift to the miners and their families, we stop to buy biscuits and coca leaves. Miners will chew 100 coca leaves every 3 hrs and drink a cap of pure alcohol per shift which can be anything from 8 to 16 hrs, often not eating until they come out. We also bought a stick of dynamite to set off in the mine.

With a lifespan of 45years it´s not a good life but some can make their fortune. 2000 men work in the 500 mines and many end up with serious lung diseases from dust, asbestos and cyanide. There are also toxic gasses and in the deep mines it's very hot. At one place we stood beside a highly toxic puddle of sulphuric acid and cyanide.

Each year about 700 llamas are sacrificed. The blood is spatted on the entrance to the mines, the meat is eaten and the head and some other parts are buried in the mines as an offering of good luck to "Uncle" the mountain god thought of by many to be the devil. Each Friday they also make an alcohol and coca leaf offering at his shrine in the mine. However he still takes a large toll from them.

After a safety briefing, we follow Jorge, our guide and experienced miner, down the sloping shaft, rough steps hewn into the white dusty rock. Occasionally he grabs my boot to stop me sliding. We drop down short holes, take ladders down longer ones, walk past deep vertical holes, old compressed air pipes, power lines, wheel barrows and used coca leaves, until we are 100m down.

The low class miners (newbies) earn $17/day to run up and down there in less than 10 mins, many times a day, fetching and carrying. 1st and 2nd class miners earn up to 10 times that and more for the 1st class (boss) as he carries out 20kgs of the best ore at the end of the shift. The rest is hauled up a vertical shaft.

At the end of a passage with a sloping wall of scree Jorge sets half a stick of dynamite with a 30 second fuse and gets Sam, the American, to light it.. After several unsuccessful tries, Jorge shows him how. With the match against the fuse, strike the box against the match. We ran for it, crouched over, back along the tunnel, over boards crossing watery holes and I still banged my head twice. It went off with a dull thud. (it had been set in gravel as there were no holes in the rock) Miners will drill 25-30 holes over 1m long. When the dynamite, with a 5 min fuse, is set they have 2 mins to light them all.

It's been fun and extremely interesting but no way do I want to be a miner. We haul ourselves back to the surface and on the drive back to town learn about the Aussie guy who has started a school for the miners kids, bringing teachers from Aus for short stints as volunteers and having the lessons translated to the native Qechuan.

I donate my big jacket, bought in La Paz and woolie socks to the miners (won't be needing them again) and then we take the midday bus to Sucre, the old capital of Bolivia. This road traverses some really rugged country of steep valleys with wide flat river beds, some with water, some without. On the high planes of low rolling hills, the harvest is finished. Animals are turned out into the fields fenced by rock walls. On one farm women are winnowing wheat. There is almost no machinery. Nearer Sucre there is more forest. Jill thinks she saw a condor. The rocky hills shine silvery in the sunshine, but when cleared of trees, appears like a slag heap.

The old city is very beautiful with its stately colonial buildings, in stark contrast to the new. Our hotel could have been one of them with it's beautiful courtyards and verandas. I notice that the buildings are plastered with clay and straw, similar to Cusco.

We eat dinner at the lively Joy Ride Cafe. We are still up in the mountains as Sucre is at 2800m.

---

Photos

lunch stop somewhere between Uyuni and Potosi
ham flavoured bikkies...yum

that's sand, not snow
a little stream runs through the valley. Grazing animals are sheep, cattle, donkeys and llamas

llamas
what are they eating? they will probably be used as sacrifices to "Uncle"

climbing down a hole
lighting is from camera flash and head lamp only