Days 198 & 199 - Wednesday 5th & Thursday 6th April 2006

After arriving in Potosi at 2am and having to search around for a place to kip, we slept in a bit. First it was a stop in a Salteña restuarant where we hungrily devoured two of the cornish pasty type treats, before we headed to a travel agency to book a trip to the infamous mines of Potosi for the following morning.

The town of Potosi was once one of the richest in the Spanish empire, owing to the mountain that looms over the south side of town. Cerro Rico (Rich Mountain) was once teeming with minerals and of course, miners to harvest said minerals. Those minerals were discovered by the Spanish almost 500 years ago as a shepherd who one evening became stranded on the mountain after losing one of his llamas. It is pretty cold in this part of the world (it is the highest town in the world at 4,100m ASL) and to keep warm he lit a fire. The next morning he noticed that the heat from the fire had melted some silver in the mountain and there was literally a small stream of silver. The Spanish heard of this tale and sent men to investigate. They found that it was indeed that rich in minerals. Within a few years there was a full scale mining operation in place.

Nowadays the mines are still in operation, but the principle extractions are tin and copper, the silver having been virtually exhuasted years ago. It is possible to visit the mines and take a trip into the shafts to see some of the working conditions, and that was the trip we had booked for the following day. For the time being however it was a look around the colonial parts of town and a visit to the Royal Mint. Or at least the building that used to be the Royal Mint. It is now a museum telling of the history of the town and the silver era. The mint in Potosi was one of only a handful of cities that were given the right to produce coins for the Spanish. The coins that were produced were known as Reals, or more commonly known to English pirates as Pieces of Eight.

The museum includes original pieces of machinery which were used to produce the money at various stages of the process. It also includes some of the coins produced in the Mint, the same ones which those British pirates would have loved to get their hands on! The mint, besides producing coins, also housed troops, workers, African slaves and senior Royal officials.

After seeing the mint we were looking forward - albeit with trepidation - to seeing inside the mines, where some 8 million people have perished in the 500 years since the discovery of minerals. The following morning we were up bright and early in time for our tour guide. Once he picked us up we were taken to the the miners market, a small market selling everything the miners may need in their quest to discover silver. Once there we bought presents for the miners including coca leaves, drinks, and the old classic - dynamite. Yep. It is freely available for all ages to purchase and enjoy….and all for only 60 pence a stick.

The mines were hideous. there is no other way to put it. As soon as we entered the first shaft we realised the sheer horror of the conditions. Toxic dusts, temeperatures of upto 40 degrees Celcius, and a distinct lack of oxygen. That is what faces the workers every day who spend 12 hours a day doing back breaking physical labour deep in the shafts of Cerro Rico. As we gave away some of the presents we spoke a kid who was working in there. We asked his age. 15. We asked how long he had been working in the mines. 5 years. Meaning he started in that hell hole job when he was 10.

The miners pay homage to a god they call Tio, who is supposed to protect them from cave in’s and also to bring them luck in finding minerals. Thus every Friday they give presents to the statue of the god that lies deep underground.

Those few hours in the mine, sweating, struggling for breath, bending double to avoid hitting my head on the ceilings were pretty shitty. By the end of it, we all just wanted to get back out into the open air and breath the fresh air again. And we were only down there for 2 hours. But that was enough. Without doubt one of the worst jobs in the world! If that wasn’t enough, the miners only have a 15-20 year life expectancy due to the toxic dusts in the shafts.

Needing to get the grime and sweat off, we paid a visit to some hot baths in the afternoon, a totally different world away from the mines of the morning. Set in the mountains we relaxed in the warm waters of the natural pool and tried to forget the poor lads who were working deep underground, and would continue to do so until they either struck silver and could retire on the proceeds, or died from Silicoisis in a few years. Nice.