After we explored the little shops we were free to explore the area. There was absolutely nothing to see aside from the three shops, so I just took pictures of these really old ladies. Old Bolivian women are so interesting. They all wear these different sized hats; have very long pig-tail braids that go down past their waist and have these things attached to the end of their breads (they look kinda like the knots at the end of a deadly whip; they all wear sandals and these thick skirts; most of them wear an apron; are really bundled up; and they are all really tan, have leather skin, and are over weight.
While I was standing there, I started talking to one of guides. He was surprised at how much it cost me to get into Bolivia, I said, "well the Bolivian government doesn't like the United States," to the he said, "the Bolivian government is sh** my friend, look at this town... What does the government do for its people?"
We then made our way to the mine and met our mine guide, his name is Loco, which means crazy in Spanish. As he was describing what we would be doing in the mine, he looked at me and said, "your f***ed, your way too tall to go in a mine," great news! We shall see. So the mine in the Cerro Rico mountain is home to some high producing mines and silver foundries. These used to all be owned by the government and mainly worked by local and African slaves. The silver boom lasted about 100 years in the 17th century and really put Potosi on the map. It was said that you could build a bridge from Potosi to Madrid, Spain with all the silver that was mined, yet you could build one there and back with all the bones of the death miners. The miners would have to stay in the mine for weeks at a time to meet quotas and in 1626 4,000 people died. And our Unions are struggling to hash out deals... Now the government doesn't run the mines so anyone can go in and out. He said now if you want to go in drunk and play with dynamite, go right ahead. The miners mine in groups, whenever they see another miner or group of miners mining in their area, they might throw rocks at them, get in a fight, or even throw little things of dynamite near them (seriously).
In the beginning it wasn't too bad, but it eventually became pretty bad, I was constantly in the squatting position, getting few breaks to stand upright. I'm not really sure why, but Bolivians hate Chileans. Our guide kept going on and on about how much he disliked them. When we stopped to check out this really concentrated area of arsenic he started telling us about it. "If you want to give some to the Chileans, I'll help you bag it up."
We eventually got to the area where there was a big mining operation going on.
We climbed up this rickety ladder and then up this dirty pathway that lead to an even smaller pathway then to an even smaller one. Eventually, I couldn't fit, I was too tall to get around the bend; only one of the girls in our group could fit through the hole. So we all waited while she went up to the mining spot. We waited for quite a while, I was constantly thinking that some explosion would go off and everything would cave in. We eventually decided to cut off all our head lamps. Pitch black dark. After a while I was trying to wave my hand right in front of my eyes to see if I could see maybe the movement, nothing. We just sat there in the darkness, pretty freaky. Then we started hearing some rumbling, we turned of our lights, and these rocks came tumbling through the opening above us. Luckily, we were got out of the way in time. Got to stay on you toes in here.
Eventually, they made it back. One of the girls was already starting to freak to because it was hard for her to breathe, the other girl was to considerable to get through any holes, and the guy wanted to leave. So it was just going to be me and that other girl, but our guide said the next one was even smaller and I definitely wouldn't fit through the whole. So we all headed back. I was pretty upset, I didn't even get to see a mining operation, why didn't they tell me about this before hand, or have a sign that says "you must be this short to enter."
On our way back, Loco said we were going to set off some dynamite. We all huddled around at the end of a tunnel as loco prepared the dynamite.
Once he lot the fuses, he just stood their and started drinking the alcohol. We were all getting pretty nervous about it exploding in our faces. He eventually walked away and shortly returned. He had us cut off our headlamps and wait. Two of the girls started to freakout, complaining, and yelling "I'm scared!" Granted I was a little scared as well, but the best was to scare everyone is to verbally express your fear. Eventually, boom! and a shockwave rippled down they tunnel. A couple seconds later, BOOM! an even larger explosion rippled through the tunnel. It was pretty cool to feel the two varying powers of the dynamite! I can check blowing dynamite up in a mine off my bucket list.
We then proceeded to make our way out, passing by a rikity elevator that went 15 "floors" down.
We then made it out of the tunnel. Man was it great to see the light at the end of the tunnel!
We ended up having to wait for some other people for quite a long time until we finally got to return to the hostel. Once we got back, I got out of the miner clothes washed off and got ready to catch a bus to Sucre. Sucre is the actual capital of Bolivia and is called the White City because of all the white buildings.
The bus ended up taking twice as long as it was supposed to. I don't know what's up with these bus schedules. The hostel that I'm in is really cool; it run by a German man, so it caters to tourists much better than the Bolivian run hostels. It is a large restored mansion, so there's a big center courtyard, bar and restaurant, classroom to teach Spanish, and the dorms have lofts. Not to mention the weather is better here, it's still cold, but better. We are also no longer above 10,00ft, so I can breathe normally.
Since I got in rather late, I just unpacked, talked with a group of Irish people in my dorm until I fell asleep.
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