Mines of Moria

The mines...

There are worse things dwelling in the deep than orcs or goblins.

Although we didn´t find any dark demons or Balrogs, the mines of Potosi were filled with a horror of their own.

We did a tour of the mines through Koala Tours from our hostel the Koala Den. We started 8AM in the morning. They were very professional and thorough, all the guides being ex-miners and English! We were taken to one of the miners´ home where we donned our mining clothes (the touristy kind), overalls, boots, hardhat and a genuine old fashioned headlamp. Nobody here have heard about superbright LED´s, so they still use the type with the big batteries you put on your belt.

After this it was off to the miners´ market. This is were the miners buy their tools and equipment. Remember from the previous post I said that the mines are operated cooperatively. This means that each worker works for himself. They work in groups of between 8 and 25. Many of these are families. The government does not supply the workers with anything. No tools, subsidies, engineers or anything. The workers must pay a 20% tax on everything they earn. In return for this, workers get a small pension if they have worked in the mines for more than 10 years or their lung capacities drop to below 50% because of silicosis or they simply become to sick to work. If they die, their widows may collect these pensions.

We spent our time at the market to buy some gifts for the miners. We bought some dynamite!, cooldrinks and coca leaves. It is possible to buy dynamite at a street market with no regulation whatsoever for R17! This includes the stick, fuse, detonator and ammonium nitrate (to get a bigger bang). The coca leaves the miners chew to help against the effects of altitude, hunger and thirst.

From here we went to the mines stopping briefly at one of the refineries. The refineries are privately owned and this is where the miners sell their ore. The ore, although once pure silver during the Colonial rule, are now depleted and rarely produce more than a 30% combination of silver, lead and zinc. The refineries separate the waste from the minerals and then exports the combination for separation to Europe. They lack the facilities and funds to do this themselves. The waste is then dumped in the river. It seems the Bolivian motto is: "it´s bad, but what can we do about it".

We finally arrived at the mines at 4500m above sea level. We put on our lights and finally braved the dark. The mines, without going into to much details, were horrible. We struggled to breath properly because of the dust (containing silica and asbestos) and the altitude. There are no engineers to assist the miners in where to dig, how far or anything. This is done by expert miners. You become an expert by working for 30 years or more (something that happens rarely). The conditions were terrible, it was hot, the passage were narrow and claustrophobic and looked quite dodgy. There were quite a few tunnels where we had to crawl to get to other parts. We talked to many of the miners and they seemed reserved to their lot. Just shrugging it off as tradition and as having no choice. Many of the miners we saw were very young, as young as 14 (illegal, but nobody checks or cares). The life of the miners are very tough and they work long hours in these terrible conditions. They joke around to lift their spirits. According to the guide, few miners become old, the average life expectancy is around 40. Most die of silicosis or cave-ins.

We ended the tour with a bang, with a dynamite demonstration. Lloyd actually held the lighted dynamite a few seconds before the guide rushed away with it!

I wouldn´t describe the experience as pleasant, but it was worth going to. Sometimes we don´t realize how lucky we are...

Now, on a more positive note.

We are currently in Sucre. This incredible colonial town is known as the most beautiful city in Bolivia. It is also sometimes called the White City or The Athens of South America. The city is filled with amazing Spanish architecture and was declared a UNESCA World Heritage site. It´s nice being a lower altitude again (although 2700m is still pretty high) and the lush greenery and temperate climate that goes along with it. We spent our time here in a much more European way, earning a well-deserved rest. Walking through leafy plazas, stopping for coffee and freshly squeezed juices at lovely little hidden cafés and restaurants with great views and pretty gardens, enjoying the many beautiful churches and old buildings and buying traditional handcrafted souveniers.

The afternoon we went to a site where the local cement factory found more than 5000 footprints of about 320 species of dinosaurs. This was changed to an attraction and will soon be declared a World Heritage Site as well. The park contains many dinosaur models built to the scale of the actual dinosaurs (according to the footprints). The largest of the footprints are 80cm coming from a 27m diplodocus. It was a pretty interesting experience.

After that we visited a local museum. Hundreds of BORING paintings from the 17th century depicting Jesus and his disciples. Though the deformed skulls and mummified children section was gross and interesting! We rounded off the evening with a few beers in a VERY trendy and cool little Dutch pub.

We were supposed to leave for La Paz tonight, but Lloyd suddenly came down with high fever. Don´t know what caused it, but a few hours sleep and two myprodols seemed to fix it. We should be able to continue tomorrow.

Cheers, Neil