Sunday 17th April 2005
I prepared my gear for the four day trip to the bottom corner of Bolivia.It is a national park.
The temperature reaches minus 25 Deg. C but I was prepared. I have the same gear as I had in Tibet.
Here are a few notes that I made.
There are no flies in Potosi. Too high for then I suppose.
The meat in the market is all exposed just like Lhasa in Tibet.
Nobody smokes in Potosi. Heaven. They chew coca leaves instead.
They do not spit either.
I wandered about till I found food that I could see as I cannot read the menus.
Had a great meal of freshly grilled chicken and vegs.
After a good nights sleep in the cool mountain air I set off to find a hearty bacon and egg breakfast. No such luck. I had to settle for fruit and a white bread roll. All bread is white here. They make nice pasties but I could not find any.
The mine tour started at 9 0'clock.
There were four of us, a young couple from Santa Cruz a Dutchman and myself.
The Dutchman spoke some English. He had just arrived from Holland with his friend, a doctor with a weak heart. The doctor had decided the mine trip would be too much for him.
They had flown from Holland to Santa Cruz and he said the heat was terrible. I was there on the same day and I walked about 15 kilometres. He thought 33 was terrible. I told him it was not hot till it got to 40.
The sun in in the rareified atmosphere ofPotosi is fierce. Not like Brazil where it is not very hot on the clearest of days.
Ladies in Bolivia wear bowler hats and old time felt hats and look a bit funny to us but they need something in the sun.
Everybody is clean Very few pong and they are very friendly.
We bundled into a wreck of a van and drove to a place where we all put on yellow waterproof pants and top plus a mine helmet and gumboots.
Our next stop was the miners market. All the miners work for themselves and buy all their own material.
The idea was that we would buy gifts for the miners.
For ten Boliviaros. $1.63 Aus. we all bought:
A large bottle of Fanta type drink, a 250 ml bottle of pure alcohol and a quarter of a supermarket bag of coca leaves plus a packet of cinnamon cigarettes.
We tried the coca which you chew a few times along with a bit of ash which tastes horrible. Then you leave it in your cheek for about a quarter of an hour. The narcotic is absorbed by the gums. Not the stomach.I had half a dozen mouthfuls over a three hour period and it had no effect on me. My mouth was a bit numb initially but that is all. Although I must say I handled the altitude very well which might have been due to the coca.
It does not make you feel good. It just stops you feeling bad. Tired, in pain or hungry etc.
I think it brightens you up rather like a cup of coffee. It is pretty harmless in that state and has been used for thousands of years by most of the population in South America.
Almost all the mine workers were chewing it. Plus our guide. A 28 year old woman who spoke some English.
She said she needed it because she went into the mine every day.
Next stop, the bomb shop. Explosives and the like.
For another $1.63 we bought a stick of gelignite, some fuse with a detonator already clamped on and a plastic bag full of an explosive that looked like coarse sugar.
This completed our shopping list.
With a nice mix of alcohol, cocaine and explosives we were certain to have a good day at the mine.
We stopped to look at the crushing and separation plant where the ore is crushed and mixed with chemicals in a process called flotation. The zinc and silver is captured in bubbles like soap bubbles.
Dozens of huge machines had been made as cheaply as possible without regard to human injury.
There were no safety guards, no dust masks.Nothing. It funcioned in its lethal way.
Back in the bus we climbed the mountain to the mine.
On the way up we had a good view of the city. By chance the sun was reflecting off the windows and it looked like a city of silver. The backdrop of the snow covered Andes was absolutely majestic.
Outside the mine entrance there was no sign of timber to support the roof. They do not support the roof by any means.
The Spaniards had made some arches near the entrance and there were a few old pieces of timber here and there but that was it.
Air was being pumped into the mine via some plastic tubing and there was electricity for the motors, but no lights. The miners used battery lights on their helmets.
We had acetylene gas lamps worked by a small generator strapped to our backs. They worked alright.
There were many tunnels with 18 inch railway tracks running through them and men pushed small trolleys weighing one and a half tonnes. Some of the slopes needed two men on ropes in the front and three behind pushing the carts.
No safety gear was used and while we were there a man had his foot crushed by a waggon. He was wearing gym boots.There is no compo.
At one point the waggons were tipped out on the ground and rushed away by the team while another couple of men shovelled the ore into leather bags two feet or so in diameter probably made from the hide of a mule.
In a few minutes when the bag was full, they signalled somebody up a shaft and the bag was whisked up, emptied and crashed down again for the next fill.
The waggon was soon back and the process was repeated.
Everything was done at the run.
The mine was not too hot because a lot of miners were having the day off after Friday nights party.
The whole city had seemed to be having some sort of celebration on Friday night. I never found out what it was in aid of.
Peruvians have parties for no reason at all. Apparently alcohol has a devastating effect at this altitude.
There were about 50 miners in there instead of the normal 300 so they generated less heat.
They work a seven day week for about $30 Aus. Double the wages of a shop assistant.
We gave our presents to the grateful men All teenagers.
Boys start working underground at 12 years of age although we did not see any.
There were wooden gods down there in a sort of temple where the miners pray before starting work. They put a lighted cinnamon cigarette in his mouth and pour a little bit of alcohol on him and then drink this fiery brew themselves.
The going was pretty easy but there was one crawl.
Mud everywhere.
We were in there for about an hour and a half.
I was glad to get out into the daylight. Some parts of the roof were hanging by a thread.
Outside again our guide used a stick of dynamite and a packet of granules to make an almighty explosion that must have been heard right across the city.
A great way to finish off the tour.
After changing back into our street clothes we tipped the guide $1.63 and returned to the city centre.
The Dutchman and I went in search of a late lunch.
After that I went to my room and slept off and on for 15 hours. It was not the coca. I often have long sleeps.
Sunday 17th April
Packed my compression bags into my backpack and arrived at the Mint at 9 AM.
A marvellous old building. It cost a fortune to establish in this remote part of the world, but during the colonial times it helped mint enough coins to encircle the world twice.
On the bones of between 2 and 8 million workers.
No negros incidentally. They died as soon as they were put up here. Presumeably from the altitude
The Spanish tolerated Coca, which they called The Devils Drug because without it production fell alarmingly.
In the coin mint.The original 4 mule power wooden geared machine that was used to squeeze the silver bars into 3 mm strips is still intact.
Many coins and stamps are still there plus lots of old paintings and coins.
Also many armed soldiers. The contents of the museum would be worth a fortune.
The guide spoke more or less English.
Another really good show.
I had nice time to get the noon bus to Uyuni
It had tread on all tyres. Not always in the middle, but At least it was an improvement on the last one.
It was a five and a half hour hour trip through scrub country. Many Lamas or whatever. All with ribbons on their ears to indicate ownership.
It was a metal road all the way. Only one stop at a filthy hovel nicknamed "The Typhoid Cafe" where you could buy food if you were mad enough.
No toilets.
Everybody, men and women went out into the scrub to go to the loo.
It was an interesting trip. Up hill and down dale. Lovely scenery. Culminating in dead flat plains.
I had my hotel picked out in advance thanks to the guide book I always got out of the bus depots promptly to avoid touts and other undesireables who prey on lost souls.
I met up with my German friend from the mine tour at the hotel. The longer I was on the road the more travellers I met.
I sorted out my trip for the next days 10.30 start. Bought some supplies and had a meal of Llama, potatoes and rice. Tasted like steak.
|  | 
|
