December 13, 2013

Potosi, Potosi, Potosi! A prompting chant sung throughout the bus terminal prior to boarding with such a nice ring you’ll be singing it for days. So with this catchy chorus ringing in our ears, we made our way from Uyuni to one of the highest cities in the world. Potosi, Bolivia. Sitting pretty at 13,420 ft, Potosi is home to much of Bolivia’s history and famous for the mines atop Cerro Rico.

When we arrived it was late afternoon and pouring down rain. We were traveling six deep with some friends we made during our Uyuni tour and were lucky enough to secure a six person dorm at the first hostel we went to. We settled in, made use of the wifi, and signed up for the mine tour scheduled to leave at 8 am the next morning. We spent the rest of the evening making plans for the next few days, getting our money in order and happened to pick up the best Lomito sandwich for 6 bolivianos or $1 right down the street.

We made a point to get to bed early and unbeknownst to me (thanks to my earplugs), it turned out to be a rather eventful evening in our dorm. We had some unexpected guests who were made very happy with our leftover snack bag from the bus. Unfortunately, our mice friends also made themselves comfortable in one of our friends backpacks and made quite a ruckus knocking things over and scurrying around the room. Again, thank you earplugs. The next morning we were pleased to find a really nice sit down breakfast complete with pancakes, eggs, toast, fruit, hot chocolate, and juice. Pretty stellar for a hostel breakfast and it made for some good brownie points after our unexpected latenight friends. We finished just in time to meet our guide and get suited up for a morning in the mines.

We slipped into some well-loved work wear, galoshes, and hard hats before heading to the miners market to load up on some dynamite, coca leaves, and 96% grain alcohol. These are given as gifts to the miners and I’d like to think its one of the benefits that tourism brings to the miners. They are technically independent contractors and responsible for their own supplies. So after buying several
rounds of dynamite we all load back on the bus and head for the refinery and Cerro Rico. All the while I’m thinking about the massive explosion that would occur should any sort of fire happen.

We had a quick tour of the refinery, saw some pigs eating an entire dog, and took in a final few solid breathes of clean air before entering the depths of the mine. I have to admit, upon entry, I wasn’t so sure I was going to make it through the whole tour. Being at 13,000 ft already makes you out of breath and then you walk into the hot, claustrophobic, sulphuric hell that is the mine and there are no reassuring deep breaths. After some mental pep talks and 30 minutes in, I had conquered the impending urge to have a total panic attack. We had already crawled through some pretty tight spaces and I had excepted the conditions. As we were crawling through the mine, we would stop temporarily to help with some of the work. These chores ranged from shoveling rocks to pushing steel carts through the shafts. In doing all of this, I will say that there are no words to describe how much I admire those that work down there every day. That is an incredible commitment and sacrifice they make to earn a living. Respect.

I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking for the rest of our experience in the shafts of Cerro Rico.

We finally finished the tour around 1 pm and made a bee line for the central market for some good eats. We rounded out the afternoon with a nap before making dinner with our Uyuni pals and heading the closest metal bar for a night cap and a taste of the local bar scene.

The next day we were headed to Sucre, so we used the morning the explore the city, visit the historic colonial mint, and have one last meal at mercado central.

Potosi I like you.