Potosi - silver mines

Potosi is the worlds highest city according to my guidebook, and it also has an amazing history due to its silver mining. Yes, once the worlds most prolofic and lucrative silver mine starting in the 1500s, it grew by the end of the 1700s to be the largest and wealthiest city in Latin America. Yes, the spaniards loved their silver. And they ordered locals to work for months at a time in the mines, and then went on to import african slaves as well. Of course conditions were appalling (and still are) and with shifts of 12 -18 hrs a day and months at a time underground it was hardly surprising millions died. The church even went as far as to revoke its previous order that all coca leaves were prohibited due to pressure from the mine owners... workers needed coca leaves to work those hours.

Since its glory days, Potosi is now in trouble after 500yrs of mining the quality of ore is not great and hardly economic... it relies on tin and lead at the moment, and the forecast reserve is for these is only another 10 to 20 years.

Anyway I wandered round town, checking out the beautiful colonial buildings, churches, convents etc. (Nuns also led an odd life I discovered, being shut away behind wooden doors and only allowed to speak to family once a month and only hear them not see them then either) And the next day I went on a mine tour.

Well, first of all we got all suited up cos its dusty and dirty down the mines (quite probably poisonous too with the lead and arsenic...). Then we went to learn basic bomb making in the miners market... where anyone (yes kids, foreigners, anyone) can buy supplies of dynamite, ignition fuses and other materials that help make bigger bangs! Of course you can also get face masks, lamps and safety gear (although I cant say I saw that much in use). From there we went to get more presents for the miners... coca leaves and soft drinks. (Check out the lump in the vendors cheek... a lump of coca leaves) Then a visit to a ingenio where they grind and refine the ore a little. (Oddly they export the dried sludge, and don`t smelt any here)

Then down the mine for 2-3 hours, through the maze of tunnels that have been carved in the mountain. No real planning here... groups of miners follow mineral veins and prop where they think necessary... no big picture, no overall company controlling mine, no OH&S, minimal machinery with the majority being shovelled out of the mountain and put into rail carts. Groups of miners get paid according to the ore quality and quantity. Did I say it was hot and dusty down the mines...and at times only crawlable. It was a real experience to visit the place and see the conditions they work in, but let me tell you its hot, hard to breath and uncomfortable, a few hours and one shovel load was more than enough for me. But very interesting.

At the end our guide demonstrated how the dynamite works... so casually lighting it and then handing it round with a burning fuse for photos (see left... thats lit) before running down the hill to explode it somewhere safe! Yeah it went bang.

On a different note I caught a micro out to a wierd hot springs up a mountain in this beautiful valley. It was a little freaky cos I was the only one there, and the guidebooks warned about the dangers of swimming there. Its this round green pool, volcanic with really steep sides that just dropoff, and no ones quite sure how deep it is but it gets hotter the deeper you go. And bubble come up in the centre of the laguna. Now if thats not a setting for some wierd nasty creature from a horror movie I dont know what is... needless to say I swam but warily!