Our bus ride from Sucre to Patosi involved one section of road where we climbed from 2800m to 3700m above sea level in 10 km. It was surprising to see eucalypts thriving at 3700m, which is higher than anywhere in Australia. Along the way, boron bearing mineral deposits were common in the rock along the side of the road. It is rather sad that Bolivia is rich in minerals, but they do not have the capability to extract and market it adequately so they are still a poor country. We were surprised to see productive farmland on the plateau at 3700 m above sea level. Apparently they don’t need to use any chemical fertilisers or sprays.
Our main activity for the afternoon was a visit to the working silver mine which is in the Cerro Rico (Rich Hill) mountain close to Potosi. Silver was discovered here in the mid 1500s and by 1660 Potosi was the largest city in the world with a population of 160 000. Throughout its next 300 years of silver production it propped up the Spanish Empire financially. The mine is still in production but now zinc, lead and copper are mined too. The mountain has 26km of tunnels and even today 20 000 miners still work in the most appalling conditions. It’s estimated that since the mine opened, 8 million workers (African slaves and indigenous people) have died in the mine.
On the way to the mine entrance we bought presents for the miners of coca, dynamite, absolute alcohol (Tony tested it and believed the label which said 98% alcohol was correct), cigarettes, drinks and gloves. Working conditions are extremely hard and Australian OH&S authorities would have fits. The miners work 12 hour shifts in narrow, low, wet shafts using picks and barrows. To give them strength they chew the coca leaves which are a source of cocaine. We ventured into the mine for about 500m stopping on three occasions in ore collection galleries where we could sometimes stand upright. In one gallery there was a grotesque statue of a devil (not Satan) who is worshipped by the indigenous miners so as to ward off his inflicting death to them whilst in the dangerous mine. During our 2 hour visit, our guide would frequently call out to make sure that we were not going to get in the way of the miners. Those miners we encountered were grateful for their gifts and quite accepting of our presence as most of our entry fee goes to the miners to help them buy dynamite, tools and hopefully, safety equipment although there wasn’t much evidence of this. Incidentally we were all provided with special clothing , boots and hard-hats with lights for our journey into the mine.
Potosi is the highest city in the world 4070m. At this altitude the temperature has dropped dramatically and we have pulled out our warm clothing again. We are also feeling the effects of the altitude and carrying our bags up 3 flights of stairs had us all gasping for breath. We are acclimatising and hopefully we will OK when we head to 5000m above sea level tomorrow.