A Sobering Day

We had already booked our £1.50 each bus tickets for the 4hr trip to Potosi. However, Carmen the woman running our B&B said that you could get a private taxi for £22.50 for the 100 mile journey. Which meant instead of catching the 6am bus we could be picked up at the B&B at 9am and taken directly to our hostel. It didn't take too long to opt for the taxi option.

The taxi didn't turn out to be a taxi but a private car, driven by Pedro, who didn't speak a word of English and was probably Carmen's brother-in-law. His driving was rather sedate to begin with. Then we stopped at a roadside place and he said he wanted a coke. Then for the remaining 2 hours he was driving like Max Verstappen, passing manoeuvres included. I soon realised it wasn't a cola he stopped for but coca leaves, which perk you up no end and now he was really on it. Though we did reach Potosi safe and sound.

Potosi is a mining city, so we had a tour of the mine booked for 1:30pm.. It is one of the highest cities in the world at just over 4,000m nearly 13, 500ft. The Spanish started extracting silver here in 1545 and at the end of that century 60% of the world's silver came from Potosi. Today, 9,000 men and 1,000 women mine silver, zinc, copper, lead, gemstones and other minerals.

First stop was the miners shop where collectively we had to buy, a small bottle of 96% spirit, a bag of coca leaves and a pack of 10 rough rolled cigarettes as an offering to the devil for protection while in the mine. As a group we also bought a stick dynamite, a bag of amyl nitrate and a 2 minute fuse. To get the feel of what's it's like when they are blasting rock. The offering was £1.35 and the dynamite £3.

The tour of the mine lasted 1 hour 30 mins, by which time I was so happy to literally see the light at the end of the tunnel and breath fresh air again. Being tall I spent 70% of the time either bent forwards, sideways or doubled over, at one point we were all on hands and knees. We had masks on for the dust but you had to pull the mask away just to get enough air in, especially at 4,250m. I can't understand how you could work in these conditions day in day out for life, however long that might be. It is a well paid job by local standards, but you're only paid if you're working.

In the old centre of Potosi, you could see from the size and quality of the buildings this was once a very rich city. We finished the mine tour by 4:30pm and spent some time exploring it's streets and buildings before holing up in a cosy little bar, El Boliche del Alan, you for the rest of the day.Read more