The Rich Mountain - Potosi

Pictures have been updated for our latest two stops. We are currently in Sucre, a nice colonial city in central Bolivia. We have been spending our time here relaxing after traveling so much lately, only breaking our relaxation once to visit a near by dinosaur “park” that boasts a large wall full of various dinosaur tracks.

However exciting dinosaur tracks may be for some people, we wanted to share an experience we had at the town before this one, Potosi. Potosi is one of the highest cities in the world at 13,420 feet, every foot of which you can feel as you get out of breath walking up the stairs, and spend the nights shivering under every layer of clothing you own. However, Potosi is more famously know for the nearby mountain of Cerro Rico (Rich Mountain). Starting in the 1500s, the Spanish extracted unbelievable amounts of silver through indigenous labor, turning the city into one of the wealthiest and most powerful in South America. The conditions of the mines cost thousands their lives.

Presently, most of the silver veins have dried up and locals continue to mine for other minerals, always on the look out for smaller silver deposits. Uniquely, local agencies lead tours of the active mines. This allows others to experience the conditions of the mine and meet those who work there. The tours go into the mines while work is being done (although they steer clear of blast areas) which inherently poses some risks of injury from cave-ins or accidents. However, it is such a unique opportunity, we could not pass it up.

Don't worry moms, it turns out that the day we signed up for the tour was actually a once yearly festival day for the miners. We were able to tour the mines while they were not working, but partying inside.... much safer as long as you don't partake too much of the rubbing alcohol quality liquor being passed around. We started our tour up by dressing up in safety equipment, very stylish if we do say, and heading down to the miner's market. As part of the tour, you bring gifts to the miners as a thanks for them sharing their workplace with you. Normally, you can bring cigarettes, water, or even sticks of dynamite. However, being that the day was a festival, the market was filled with beer, balloons, and streamers. On this day the miners celebrate the brotherhood of the mining community, spending the day with their particular work group (4-12 people) drinking and chewing Coca leaves. Once we purchased our gifts (deciding against the dried lama fetus that is said to bring good luck for the coming year) we headed up to the mines.

Each area in the mountain is “owned” by a particular mining team. There are several mine access points, and each of those may be worked by a handful of teams, each working a different tunnel or area. Each team is paid by what minerals they extract from their areas and each team pays for their own equipment. As you can imagine, it is extremely important for them to find a good vein to be able to make money. Once we arrived to our entrance we met one team that was preparing to enter. They were sharing drinks, first pouring a little on the ground in appreciation of Pachamama (mother earth), taking some, and passing to the next person. They were also playing drums and pan-flutes, to which our guide pulled Kendra into for a dance.

We entered the mine, hunching over to avoid hitting our heads, and it was pretty much everything you would expect. Very dark, wet due to the rainy season, tracks for the carts, and various tunnels to get lost down. We spent some time with another group that was already in their area decorating. They also spilled a bit of their drink to the ground, but this time to their fellow miners, and also poured some on their tools, as a sign of importance for the tools. Interestingly, there were two areas inside the mine that they had set up alters. The first was close to the entrance were they set up a shrine for the miners' saint. The second was further back where they had a statue of Satan, who they refer to as “Tio” (“uncle”). It was explained to us that this duality between the alters to both saints and Satan started when the indigenous mixed Catholicism with their experience inside the mines (fitting pretty close to what they imagined hell to be). The miners feel that once you enter into the mine, you are actually under Tio, who can bless you with silver or curse you with an accident. Therefore, small offerings can be made to the statue in request for blessings in the following year.

We have to say that this was definitely a unique experience. We expected the experience to be very dark, to see these poor locals working in unsafe conditions for what we would consider pocket change. To be fair, the conditions are very unsafe and the workers scrape by to feed their families. However, we were surprised to be able to celebrate with them, to sit down and see them joke with each other and talk with us about their families. We were able to see their care for each other and their hopes for the coming year. We saw their pride in their work.