Bolivia - Potosi

We decided to take an overnight luxury bus on the newly tarred toad from La Paz to Potosi, thereby avoiding the overnight trip on the notorious unpaved road from La Paz to Uyuni. We heard many first hand accounts of how bad that jpurney is, including seemingly impossible no bridge river crossings and all passengers having to get out and push through sections. Our overnight trip to Potosi was pretty uneventful bar the no-seat passengers picked up en route. I presume to avoid paying full fare and extra money for the driver, 6 people were picked up en route and sat and slept in the aisle or on the staircase.

We arrived in Potosi as scheduled and grabbed a taxi up to the hostel where we booked on to a mine tour. Potosi used to be the richest city in South America and was larger than Paris or London. It's wealth came from mining the Cerro Rico mountain for silver where millions of indigenous and African slaves died in the appalling conditions underground.

We were met by an ex miner who proceeded to kit us out with mining trousers, jacket, rucksack and headlight. We were driven up to the area of the miner's market to buy gifts for the miners. The serious alcohol abuse problem was apparent as soon as we arrived at the miners market. A man was carried of a bus by the driver, completely passed out, and put on the side of the street. Another man was passed out in the street with buses having to drive around him. I'm not sure if this was just an average Saturday morning but it made me very uncomfortable when we were asked to buy beers as presents for the miners who would be working in the mine we were to tour. We were also shown the the 96% proof alcohol they take into the mines and were offered dynamite for £2.50 per stick. Yes, dynamite - and you can buy it off the side of the street as it it was a cool drink. The stick, wick, accelerator and activation components were handed out to us with a laugh and "don't drop it" chuckling warning. Between the group, beer, coca leaves and dynamite were taken as presents for the miners. I was already feeling pretty uncomfortable by his stage. The guide/ex miner was pretty gun-ho with a massive split lit - not sure if the was from a punch up or dynamite accident but this wasn't adding anything to my confidence in him.

We drove up to the mine on Cerro Rico, the entrance was dug out with a few wood beams supporting it and rails running along the ground along which carriages are run taking the silver out. I was glad it was a quieter day being Saturday and we wouldn't be exposed to lots of dynamite explosions and carriage running that we would have had to dodge - the guide said most of the previous days group was in tears with all of the uncontrolled, unannounced explosions sending dust clouds through the shafts. We started walking into the mines, crouched to half height. Something I have neglected to mention is Potosi is the world's highest city at 4000m above sea level. Now imagine crawling through a dark mine, with no breathing apparatus evident and air that thin. I then began to understand the alcohol use a little more. The working conditions are horrendous. We passed the mine's 'Tio'. Every mine has one and they're a bit scary looking. The miners are generally catholic and believe in God but don't believe God exists or works within the mines instead believing it is Tio, a version of the devil that keeps them safe. Each mine therefore has a figure of Tio to which the miners make offerings of alcohol, coca leaves and dynamite hoping that he will keep them safe.

We were lead through to a small area where we could kind of stand up straight and met the head miner and one of his sons. We were told to give them beer. The mines are worked as co-operatives. At this stage I decided to head out of the mine with another girl. We hadn't had any explanation about how long or far we'd be going into the mines and if there were stages where we could leave. I was starting to feel claustrophobic (I'm not good in caves either) and didn't want to get to far in and have an anxiety attack. We were lead to the final tunnel out where we had to go on our own to the exit. I was very relieved to have someone else with me.

Was made it to the next stop, where they saw the miners working, which is still by hand. One discovered a silver vain while they were there. Warren then came out with a few others and the rest went further into the mine where they let off dynamite.

We headed back to town, avoiding one more passed out drunk man in the road, and back to the hostel. The mines were shocking, the working conditions are probably 100 years behind those in more developed countries, and the miners are risking their lives every day.

That evening we watched an excellent documentary called 'The Devil's Miner'. It follows a young boy who has worked on the mines since he was 10 years old. Now 14 years, he is working to put himself, his younger brother and younger sister through school. It follows his journey to a bigger mine where he can earn $4 per day (his mother makes £0.25 a month). It is definitely worth a watch.