The Potosi Mine - PHOTOS (click here and start page 3)

Yep the posts keep coming thick and fast - but the sights we have encountered in the past week or two just keep coming too.

On Monday afternoon we set off on the Potosi Mine tour with no idea what it might involve (except the much talked about dynamite use). To begin with we got ourselves kitted up in all the protective gear (including old tin helmets with lights operated by adding water to some sort of calcium based compound - forgotten its exact name). We then stopped in at the Miners Markets which exist to provide the miners with everything they need to work and live in the mines and also tourists the opportunity to buy more coca leaves + the special compound to mix with the leaves to ellicit the appropriate effect, dynamite, detonators, ammonium nitrate, 96% alcohol and cinnamon and something cigarettes (all of which are presents for the miners).

The next step of the journey was to venture into the mine (probably the worlds highest mine at 4800 metres). After crossing paths with various miners (one of whom had been working the mine for 50 years - 7 days a week - another asked us the time, not knowing if it was day or night or how long he had been underground), we met a couple who were digging the little holes to place dynamite into and blow the tunnel downwards. Each hole - about 50cm in depth and 1 inch in diameter takes between 2 and 4 hours to dig with a chisel and hammer, so the five holes we arrived to put our dynamite and ammonium nitrate into would have taken over 10 hours to dig. Which is mind blowing given the size of the mine (a vast labyrinth over 3km in depth - all mined by hand - and small dynamite explosions since 1952 - the mine started in the 1600's and was mined by the ensalved indigenous population, who were forced to live in the mine for up to six months at a time or until they died).

The most exhilirating part of the tour (due to the adrenalin and claustrophobic feeling) was crawling full length through stretches of tunnel barely shoulder width with nothing but a temperamental flame from our helmets providing light. And also climbing through vertical sections of tunnel with slippery walls and no safety precautions if we were to slip and plummet back down on top of the others. There were definitely moments when the space and air of the outside world was extremely appealing when compared to the dimly lit narrow labyrinth we edged our way through. It is hard imagine that the miners spent most of their lives (from age 12) slowly chipping away at these walls deep underground. The mine is a free-for-all operation with families (usually) mining whatever section of a tunnel they can find a mineral vein and then they sell the raw material to the foreign owned refineries for a pittance. There is a large amount of respect for and between the miners and the stealing of other miners materials or encroaching on their new found mineral vein seldom happens.

We are in Sucre now (Boli capital) and head to La Paz on the overnight bus tomorrow - the cultural heart of Bolivia, we have purchased an array of knick knacks and a guitar for lucas.

Off to dinner now. Happy days everybody.