Day 188 – Potosi, BO
March 3, 2011 23 Comments
Day 188 – Potosi, BO 02/25/11 Mileage: 0
Potosi is famous for mainly one thing…the mine. The Spanish found pure veins of silver in the mountain here and extracted more than 45,000 tons…fueling the Spanish Empire. In it’s heyday, Potosi was one of the largest and wealthiest cities in the world…and it’s also one of the highest at 13, 400 feet. The mine has been in operation for over 400 years, and the mountain is riddled with some 400 different mines, 127 of which are currently in operation. There are roughly 12,000 miners who work in the various individual mines in a co-op structure. Normally there is a shuttle bus to take the gringo tourists around, but because of a nationwide general strike, no buses were aloud to run. Instead we had to ride in the back of a truck, which frankly made it a bit more realistic.
Our first stop was to get fitted with our miners outfit complete with hard-hat and miners lamp.
Marshall and I all dressed up and looking to party…
Next was the miners market where we bought gifts for the miners…water, coca leaves, oh, and of course dynamite!
Yep, that is real dynamite for sale…no age or any kind of other restrictions…it’s as easy to buy as toothpaste.
When do we get to light the bang sticks!?
Some locals in the market…
Next we toured the facility where they process the rock from the mine to extract the silver.
Then it was back to the truck for the bumpy 20 minute ride up to the mine.
Just outside the mine shaft, our guide lit a stick of dynamite and let (those who wanted) hold it…after which he quickly ran and tossed it out into an open area before it exploded moments later.
I hope this really is a 3 minute fuse….or else this will be a very bad day!
Evan at a distance you could feel the shock wave and the echo lingered as it bounced off of the nearby mountains. Next it was into the mine itself where there are no lights except for the one on your helmet.
Our guide in the entrance to the mine…
It is also dusty and definitely no place for the claustrophobic! As we descended deeper into the mine the temperature got hotter and it was altogether an uncomfortable place to be. In places we had to crawl on our stomachs over small collapsed areas or to squeeze through small shafts.
Most of the work is still done by hand or in some cases pneumatic drills are used to make holes for the dynamite, but it is as you might expect a dirty, dusty, arduous job to say the least.
Back on the surface we loaded back into the truck and headed back for town. It was an altogether great experience and certainly made me appreciate my (former) cushy IT job. That night Marshall and Megan cooked a nice homemade dinner for the three of us and we shared some good laughs and conversation. Tomorrow it’s off to Uyuni, if the weather cooperates!