Potosí‘s Silver Mine - Buying Dynamite

We had a long travel day ahead of us. First, we took a 4h bus from Copacabana back to La Paz, followed by an 8h very comfortable night bus to Potosi, where we would visit the (in)famous silver mine and then hop on another 4h bus to Uyuni. But first things first.

After a surprisingly comfortable night bus to Potosi, we grabbed a little breakfast at a local market before joining the tour into the Cerro Rico silver mines.

Now, here are a few things to know about the silver mines:
1) First of all, it is an active mine with thousands of miners still working in the mines. The conditions are horrendous with hardly any advanced technology. Just imagine working in a dark and dusty mine and now also add the altitude of at 4780m above sea level. Your breathing is gone!
2) Second, the silver mine fuelled the Spaniards riches in times gone by and Potosi is said to had been one of the richest towns in the world - now it is very poor due to the exploitations of the conquistadores.
3) Thirdly, the mines started to operate in the mid-16th century and since then more than 8m people are said to have died in the mine. To this day, our guide told us that around 100 people still die in the mine every year.
4) Fourthly, life expectancy of the miners is just around 40 years due to a proliferation of lung cancer.

So why on earth would we want to visit this place? Well, it provides you with a unique perspective and the experience will likely question your attitude to work and will shine a completely new light to the value of life and capabilities of human-beings. Moreover, to understand the resilience and hard-working nature of the miners must be second-to-none and during our tour we will have a chance to talk to some miners. And lastly, any tourism dollar that pays for the tour is good for the local economy and a part also goes to the miners directly. In addition, we buy supplies ahead of going into the mines to give them to the miners and make them maybe forget their ultra-hard life for a brief moment.

Anyway, Maria, I and the rest of the group cramped into a minivan to drive to the depot to get a proper miner's outfit incl headlamp, pants, boots, jackets, buff, etc. Afterwards, we headed to the 'miners' market', which is essentially a small shop in which we could buy supplies to bring with us into the mines and give to the miners.

Here, we also learned about dynamite - and, of course, bought some. In Potosi, it is legal to buy dynamite for anyone from the age of 7 or 8. That also applies to us foreigners and there is no need to show any proof of identification or anything.

A stick of dynamite incl Nitroglycerin for a bigger BOOM, the detonator, fuse, etc. costs a total of 35 Bolivianos (around $5). At the market/shop our guide (and also ex-miner) told us how the miners use the dynamite and some of the accidents that can happen. In addition, popular items that the markets sell are cocoa leaves, cigarettes, fruit juice and 96% alcohol (!) - we took a little sip and it tasted strong, but not horrible. But yeah, we drank some high-percentage alcohol before going into one of the deadliest mines in history armed with explosive dynamite... what could possibly go wrong?

In the end, Maria and I decided to buy fruit juice, cocoa leaves, a bit of the lower percentage alcohol and I, of course, had to buy a stick of dynamite! Armed with those supplies we hopped back on the minivan to drive into the mine. Watching the Cerro Rico mountain and its mine tower above us gave us a weird feeling, but at the same time we were excited and intrigued to experience what life is like in the mine - even though we know it wouldn't be a comfortable 2-3h.Weiterlesen