Potosi

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Our journey to Potosi was an interesting one, by taxi in the dark with lots of driving in the middle or on the wrong side of the road! Curiously, the taxi driver had to give a list of his passengers into the police to be stamped before we left Sucre and then it was checked again as we entered Potosi. The next morning we got up and each dressed in oodles of layers as advised to visit the silver and zinc mines on the outskirts of town. First stop was the miners' market, where we bought coca leaves, biscuits, alcohol and TNT as gifts for the miners. They chew copious amounts of coca leaves in the belief that it will act as a filter against the dust in the mines. Vinny took a handful to chew along with some sort of mixture to help bring out the juices and ended up with a numb tongue. The alcohol is 95% proof - lethal stuff! Armed with the supplies we headed out to the mines where we donned our super sexy attire. Our guide was excellent and took us along the mines to introduce us to some of the men working. We met Ishmael, now 17, who had started working in the mines at age 13. The oldest miner, Elgin, was age 60 and a very friendly chap, he gave us a present of some "silver". Some of these miners work shifts from 12 to 24 hours and that's without eating a bite! When they hit a good seam they are determined to work hard to extract it. After our tour through the mines we were taken a short distance away to explode some TNT, as it was windy the blast wasn't deafening but you could feel the vibration through your feet. Whilst the mines weren't as claustrophobic (or as cold!) as we had been led to believe, neither of us will be considering it as a possible career change anytime soon!!

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