On Saturday, April 28, we had another stunning drive over 212 km from Uyuni to Potasi. We left at 8 a.m and pulled into Potosi around 4 p.m. Once again, the drive took us through the bleak but stunning moss-green coloured Andes Mountains on a narrow two-lane, dirt road. We climbed high up into the Andes zig-zagging around hundreds of treacherous hair pin bends, passing spectacular rock formations, and llamas, sheep, cattle and donkeys grazing on the arid, wheaten-coloured, straw grass. We drove across the bleak but beautiful Altiplano at heights of over 3500 feet. Along the way we met numerous lorries, small coaches, expedition jeeps, and cars which gave the standard Bolivian honk and a wave on passing. Struggling up one hairpin bend we met a Bolivian lady in traditional dress, herding a sheep and its lamb by throwing stones at them to encourage them to move out of the way of the Truck. We ate our lunch by the side of a small stream in a narrow mountain valley watched over by a group of llamas and a donkey. Beside us a Bolivian couple had also stopped for lunch and the woman was washing their clothes in the river and spreading them out to dry in the sun on the smooth granite rock. Apparently this is a weekend custom for Bolivians living in small towns. We drove through numerous small settlements of mud caked adobe houses with thatched or tin rooves, often built like missions to allow the cattle to graze within the mud walls of the courtyard.
Arriving in Potosi around 4 p.m. we parked the truck in a truck park and took a small tourist bus through the narrow streets to the Hostal San Marcos where we stayed two nights.
Potosi is a sad town. It was formally established in 1545 by the Spanish and due to its silver mines founded in Cerro Rico, it became the largest & wealthest city in the Americas and was rivalled only by London, Paris, and Seville. In Inca times the mountain was considered to be sacred & was not to be touched but the Spainish changed all that. It was also the single source of silver in the world. Times were good, and the population peaked at around 150,000. The city suffered some decline between 1650 and 1730 when silver production picked up again.
The result is that all of the riches of the past are gone, leaving a city full of poverty, unfinished buildings, and decay. Some of the Colonial buildings remain, and some have been renovated to perfection, such as the Convento-Museo Santa Teresa, a wonderful colonial church and convent with a fine collection of colonial religions paintings and sculptures and insight into the life of the nuns in the colonial era. Due to the rich architecture, the city was declared a UNESCO site in 1987.
The City is built around Cerro Rico which is rich in minerals such as tin, zinc, lead, antimony. But as we discovered when we took a tour of one of the mines, mining methods have not changed since Colonial times. Since the government privatized the mining in 1985, about 50 cooperatives & about 200 private operators are set up to collect the minerals mined by the individual mining families & to then sell them either to the cooperatives or the smelters who there are many. The individual families have the mining rights to their own part of the hill. Men, as young as 13, (and yes, they are supposed to be in school, but no-one polices the mines) enter into the mine with a chisel and hammar & mine the minerals which they push out in brightly coloured wheel barrows to be collected by jeeps and taken to the co-op. The average number of years in a mine is 15, and age expectation is around 35. The men die from silicosis. They are paid for what they individually mine - and this is hardly subsistence. In order to maintain the energy to sustain themselves through the 9 - 10 hours, 7 days a week, under arduous conditions crouched in narrow passage ways with the miners (except the children) they chew coca leaves and drink the 96% alcohol that we saw in the miner´s shop. They also smoke cigarettes, probably like marijuana, which are readily available in the market. Needless to say many of the miners work "drunk". But they are proud to be mining families.
It is said that the amount of silver taken out of Cerro Rico by the Spanish could build a bridge from Potosi to Madrid. The veins were so rich it was almost unbelievable. Although the main veins have been taken there is always still the hope by each of the miners that they will by some luck hit a rich vein & achieve financial security. Under the Spanish rule the total number of miners both Native & African slaves who died mining for the Spanish is estimated at 8 or 9 millon an ubelievable toll.
Potosi is supposed to be the highest in (altitude) city in the world and it stands at 4070 meters & one really notices this altitude when you visit there. We did a mine tour & were equipped with waterproof gear, rubber boots & miner´s lamp. We were all geared out in town & then proceeded to drive up to the mine entrance which is up the mountain. When we entered the gate we were at 4,670 meters over 15,000 feet above sea level. We continued up I would say maybe another 100 to 150 meters to a chapel on the mountain for the miners & then up maybe another 50 to 100 meters to the tunnel entrance. It is custom for tours to purchase numerous supplies for the miners coca leaves, 96 proof cane spirits, dynamite, wicks, cigarettes & blasting caps as well as biscuits etc. Our group entered the mine & everything was OK until I was about 300 to 400 meters in & felt a great lack of breathing ability, I took off my mask thinking that it was restricting my breathing & when that didn¨t help I had a compulsion to turn around which I did & Elizabeth came with me as well as one of the guides. I have never experienced anything like this in my life & I am not certain if it was the altitude or maybe a claustrophobic reaction. I turned & said I was not able to do it & that I was out of there.
Currently, the government is considering ways of modernizing the mining since the hill is still very rich in silver and other minerals. The method proposed by the government is to cut the top off the mountain and have open seam mining. However, the inhabitants of Potosi and UNESCO are against this as it will spoil the beauty and culture of the city. UNESCO favours a more expensive method of drilling a new main shaft and moderning the underground mining methods. Most of the residents & miners of Potosi favour the UNESCO proposal as it would take maybe 200 years to finally run out the mine & not destroy its beauty which I must admit I wasn¨t able to really see. The government¨s method would probably only last for 20 years & there is a great mistrust by the miners of the government as they have been let down as in 1985. Our guide indicated that there are currently about 18,000 involved in the mining & there are 20,000 shafts cut into the mountain.
Our group who continued on the tour related some of the rituals that the miners have in their quest to strike it rich or merely survive on the income they can create by subjecting themselves to such horrendous conditions & decreased live span which is most likely. Being Catholic but when it comes to mining they have a ritual in each of the shafts where they have a depiction of the devil or some replica who they don¨t worship but pay respect to each week by putting smokes some food at the statue as well as a deposit of 96 proof on its eyes, forehead, penis etc. They do this as their view is that it is Satin who is giving up the minerals which they mine & take from the mountain.
Whatever the answer ends up being, it is clear that current conditions are dangerous and inhuman and something needs to be done to improve the quality of life for the mining families & the residents of Potosi. There is very much a hatred towards the Spanish for what they did in taking what they did & there is also a enormous hatred conveyed towards Bush. One of our guides had great delight when demonstrating how to set off the dynamite by using a pawpaw by installing the dynamite & fertilizer in the fruit & then carving GW¨s face in it before lighting it & handing it around to those who dared hold it (3.5 minute wick) before placing it a safe distance away & watching it explode. I am not sure that I will want to return to Potosi anytime in the future.
Arriving in Potosi around 4 p.m. we parked the truck in a truck park and took a small tourist bus through the narrow streets to the Hostal San Marcos where we stayed two nights.
Potosi is a sad town. It was formally established in 1545 by the Spanish and due to its silver mines founded in Cerro Rico, it became the largest & wealthest city in the Americas and was rivalled only by London, Paris, and Seville. In Inca times the mountain was considered to be sacred & was not to be touched but the Spainish changed all that. It was also the single source of silver in the world. Times were good, and the population peaked at around 150,000. The city suffered some decline between 1650 and 1730 when silver production picked up again.
The result is that all of the riches of the past are gone, leaving a city full of poverty, unfinished buildings, and decay. Some of the Colonial buildings remain, and some have been renovated to perfection, such as the Convento-Museo Santa Teresa, a wonderful colonial church and convent with a fine collection of colonial religions paintings and sculptures and insight into the life of the nuns in the colonial era. Due to the rich architecture, the city was declared a UNESCO site in 1987.
The City is built around Cerro Rico which is rich in minerals such as tin, zinc, lead, antimony. But as we discovered when we took a tour of one of the mines, mining methods have not changed since Colonial times. Since the government privatized the mining in 1985, about 50 cooperatives & about 200 private operators are set up to collect the minerals mined by the individual mining families & to then sell them either to the cooperatives or the smelters who there are many. The individual families have the mining rights to their own part of the hill. Men, as young as 13, (and yes, they are supposed to be in school, but no-one polices the mines) enter into the mine with a chisel and hammar & mine the minerals which they push out in brightly coloured wheel barrows to be collected by jeeps and taken to the co-op. The average number of years in a mine is 15, and age expectation is around 35. The men die from silicosis. They are paid for what they individually mine - and this is hardly subsistence. In order to maintain the energy to sustain themselves through the 9 - 10 hours, 7 days a week, under arduous conditions crouched in narrow passage ways with the miners (except the children) they chew coca leaves and drink the 96% alcohol that we saw in the miner´s shop. They also smoke cigarettes, probably like marijuana, which are readily available in the market. Needless to say many of the miners work "drunk". But they are proud to be mining families.
It is said that the amount of silver taken out of Cerro Rico by the Spanish could build a bridge from Potosi to Madrid. The veins were so rich it was almost unbelievable. Although the main veins have been taken there is always still the hope by each of the miners that they will by some luck hit a rich vein & achieve financial security. Under the Spanish rule the total number of miners both Native & African slaves who died mining for the Spanish is estimated at 8 or 9 millon an ubelievable toll.
Potosi is supposed to be the highest in (altitude) city in the world and it stands at 4070 meters & one really notices this altitude when you visit there. We did a mine tour & were equipped with waterproof gear, rubber boots & miner´s lamp. We were all geared out in town & then proceeded to drive up to the mine entrance which is up the mountain. When we entered the gate we were at 4,670 meters over 15,000 feet above sea level. We continued up I would say maybe another 100 to 150 meters to a chapel on the mountain for the miners & then up maybe another 50 to 100 meters to the tunnel entrance. It is custom for tours to purchase numerous supplies for the miners coca leaves, 96 proof cane spirits, dynamite, wicks, cigarettes & blasting caps as well as biscuits etc. Our group entered the mine & everything was OK until I was about 300 to 400 meters in & felt a great lack of breathing ability, I took off my mask thinking that it was restricting my breathing & when that didn¨t help I had a compulsion to turn around which I did & Elizabeth came with me as well as one of the guides. I have never experienced anything like this in my life & I am not certain if it was the altitude or maybe a claustrophobic reaction. I turned & said I was not able to do it & that I was out of there.
Currently, the government is considering ways of modernizing the mining since the hill is still very rich in silver and other minerals. The method proposed by the government is to cut the top off the mountain and have open seam mining. However, the inhabitants of Potosi and UNESCO are against this as it will spoil the beauty and culture of the city. UNESCO favours a more expensive method of drilling a new main shaft and moderning the underground mining methods. Most of the residents & miners of Potosi favour the UNESCO proposal as it would take maybe 200 years to finally run out the mine & not destroy its beauty which I must admit I wasn¨t able to really see. The government¨s method would probably only last for 20 years & there is a great mistrust by the miners of the government as they have been let down as in 1985. Our guide indicated that there are currently about 18,000 involved in the mining & there are 20,000 shafts cut into the mountain.
Our group who continued on the tour related some of the rituals that the miners have in their quest to strike it rich or merely survive on the income they can create by subjecting themselves to such horrendous conditions & decreased live span which is most likely. Being Catholic but when it comes to mining they have a ritual in each of the shafts where they have a depiction of the devil or some replica who they don¨t worship but pay respect to each week by putting smokes some food at the statue as well as a deposit of 96 proof on its eyes, forehead, penis etc. They do this as their view is that it is Satin who is giving up the minerals which they mine & take from the mountain.
Whatever the answer ends up being, it is clear that current conditions are dangerous and inhuman and something needs to be done to improve the quality of life for the mining families & the residents of Potosi. There is very much a hatred towards the Spanish for what they did in taking what they did & there is also a enormous hatred conveyed towards Bush. One of our guides had great delight when demonstrating how to set off the dynamite by using a pawpaw by installing the dynamite & fertilizer in the fruit & then carving GW¨s face in it before lighting it & handing it around to those who dared hold it (3.5 minute wick) before placing it a safe distance away & watching it explode. I am not sure that I will want to return to Potosi anytime in the future.
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