Mine Crawling

Along with our new friends Paul and Elody, we headed north to a city called Potosi to visit the famous mines.

The bus trip to Potosi was an interesting 7 hour ride that was truly Bolivian at heart. Bumpy dirt roads, quick stops for people to pee on the side of the road and our personal favorite, the tire change.

Potosi was once a thriving city, founded in 1546 as a mining town, it soon produced fabulous wealth, becoming one of the largest cities in the Americas and the world with a population exceeding 200,000 people.

It is from Potosí that most of the silver shipped through the Spanish Main came. According to official records, 45,000 tons of pure silver were mined from 1556 to 1783. Of this total, 7,000 tons went to the Spanish monarchy. Indian labour came to die by the thousands, not simply from exposure and brutal labor, but by mercury poisoning: in the patio process the silver-ore, having been crushed to powder by hydraulic machinery, was cold-mixed with mercury and trodden to an amalgam by the native workers with their bare feet. The mercury was then driven off by heating, producing deadly vapors.

To compensate for the diminishing indigenous labor force, the colonists made a request in 1608 to the Crown in Madrid to begin allowing for the importation of 1500 to 2000 African slaves per year. An estimated total of 30,000 African slaves were taken to Potosí throughout the colonial era. African slaves were also forced to work in the Casa de la Moneda as acémilas humanas (human mules). Since mules would die after couple of months pushing the mills, the colonists replaced the four mules with twenty African slaves.

After 1800 the silver mines became depleted, making tin the main product. This eventually led to a slow economic decline. Still, the mountain continues to be mined for silver to this day. Due to poor worker conditions (lack of protective equipment from the constant inhalation of dust), the miners still have a short life expectancy with most of them contracting silicosis and dying around 40 years of age. It is estimated that, in the past years of indigenous labour, roughly 8 million Indians died, "eaten" by the mountain Cerro Rico (Rich Hill)

PS - The city of San Luis Potosí in Mexico was named after Potosí in Bolivia. In the United States, the name Potosi was optimistically given to lead-mining towns of Potosi, Wisconsin and Potosi, Missouri, and also to the silver-mining town of Potosi, Nevada.

HISTORY LESSON OVER =)

Arrival to Potosi takes your breath away, it is claimed to be the highest city in the world at a nominal 4,090 m (13,420 feet).

We found a great hostel (Koala Den) for super cheap with cable and HOT water! It was central a a short walk to the main plaza and pedestrian mall. The next day we hooked up with Elody and Paul to go on the mine tour.

First, they dress you in a smashing yellow getup, including a matching hard hat. The first stop was at the miners market, where the groups buy gifts for the miners. The miners chew coca leaves by the pound, which helps them work longer hours without eating or resting (to learn more about coca chewing: http://www.cocamuseum.com/htm/chewing.htm ). We bought a bag of coca leaves, cigarrettes, cookies (for the kids) and because a mine visit would not be complete without it, dynamite.

On arrival to the Cerro Rico, we are shown how the mines are divided into cooperatives and the various roles people play on the mountain. Women and children work outside the mines, cleaning and preparing minerals. The indegenous custom does not allow women to work inside the mines, because of the strong connection to Pacha Mama (mother earth). Pacha Mama would get jealous with too much female energy! However, exceptions are made for tourists.

The men work in groups of 10 to 12, each with specific roles. Level 4 and 3 miners work the shit jobs pushing carts and all hard labor, while level 2 miners handle dynamite and work meters below the others and level 1 miners ar usual the cooperative owners and often do not work at all, just supervise. The richer the cooparative is, the more tools they can afford. A poor cooperative works only by hand. To add to the misery of the working conditions, only the cooperative owner gets government covered health care and the workers are left undeclared. (note that the life expectancy of a miner is 40 years)

After the dynamite show (which turned out to be much more explosive than we all expected), we headed towards the mine entrance.

After going down just one short flight of stairs, I began to feel my chest tighten and my heart picked up. Both Paul and I looked at each other and said, ¨It´s cool, we will wait for you guys up top.¨ The guide did a good job at convincing us this was a once in a lifetime experience and we took a deep breath (seperated so we would not scare each other) and climbed down further.

As it turns out, I could comfortably work in a mine. While Greg and the others strained their necks to bend down through the small passages, I strolled along with my head held high.

Inside miners work tediously away by hand with picks, pushing trolleys, and shoveling minerals into bins to be lifted up. Others climbed up and down through small holes barley large enough for me to climb through. It was an interesting but upseting expereince, as one cannot imagine these working conditions could exists today.

I am not sure how long we were down in the mine, but the entire group breathed a sigh of relief when we climbed back out into the blinding light.

Still curious? check out these links.....

http://www.thedevilsminer.com/index_new.html

http://www.docsonline.tv/Grito%20di%20piedra/index.htm

http://www.slate.com/id/2149482/