Potosi is a beautiful city and very rich. This is because of the Cerro Rico, a mountain full of minerals and known for its silver. It is also very politically active (but so is most of Bolivia) There was at least one demonstration and/or one parade a day while I was there. The miners were demonstrating because the government wants to increase their taxes from 15 - 50%. Crazy!!! So the workers in the mines were demonstrating while their supervisors and bosses worked in the mines.
I went on a tour of the mines in Cerro Rico (rich mountain). This mountain has been mined for some 400 hundred years now. It first was mined by the Spaniards for silver. Now it is more common for zinc but there is iron and some other elements as well. The mines are now run by cooperatives with each boss having their own crew and making their own money depending on what they are able to find. But the conditions are pretty darn wretched and boy do these miners physically work hard. They work for at least 8 hours a day and sometimes pull a double shift. This is at least better than what happened back in the slave days. Back then, the slaves worked and lived in the mines for 6 months at a time. Upon their release from the mine, their eyes needed to be bandaged because their eyes had become so accustomed to the darkness that the sun could burn their eyes. Now I was in the mines for about 3 hours - with full protective clothing, helmet, headlamp and I put a hankerchief over my nose and mouth as well. I left the mine feeling a layer of soot in my throat and that was only after 3 hours. I do not know how these miners do it 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week for years on end. They have a shorter lifespan and tend to develop silicosis, a lung disease. Now if this is not depressing enough, they have about 800 children working in the mines. During the tour, I could hear and feel explosions going off, I saw the miners at work - laboring, carrying the rocks and minerals on their back in a bag weighing 70 kilos, pulling and pushing carts full of rock and minerals, shoveling the rocks into containers to be pulled up with different types of winches , pounding holes into the walls by hand to place dynamite etc. Most of the work is down by hand but there are some hoses that contain pressurized air for some pneumatic tools.
Minerals in the rock wall
Tios. Every mine has one and every miner makes offerings of coca, cigarettes, alcohol etc to it daily. It's called tios, which means uncle in spanish, because in the native quechuan language there is no d sound. They meant dios, which means god.
The spaniards introduced the tios into the mines. The indigenous were becoming restless and not wanting to work in the mines. The spanish, knowing the latinos believed in many different gods and deities, introduced the tios and told them they needed to honor this god. The ritual stuck and the belief continues. The miners have faith in the tios while in the mine and in jesus christ when outside of the mine.
I also saw my first bomb being made. It is actually quite easy. The materials are easily purchased at some local stores in town. Our guide made the bomb within 5 minutes. My own guide - a terrorist, can you believe it?? Clem and Johnny were kind enough to purchase Minnie so we could see her get blown up. Boy it was quite the explosion. I was counting down the time and had my camera in hand, ready to take a picture of the explosion. But the blast was soooo incredibly loud, I flinched and was not able to capture the moment. 2 people filmed it and they got some great footage but they flinched as well. This was outside of the mine and we were a good 200 - 300 meters away.
This mine tour was a very sobering experience. I am amazed at what humans can adapt to.
On my bus ride to Potosi, I rode next to a man who was 48 years old and who has been a miner for 30 years now. He was lucky because his coop hit a good vein. He has 5 kids and three of them are in the university. On the other hand, my guide, who had worked in the mines previously (they have started to let women work in the mines), said that there were people working in the mines who had college degrees and who could not find work elsewhere in Potosi. So their choice was to move or to work in the mines.
After the mine tour, I watched The Devli's Miner, a film about the life of a specific child who is a miner in the Cerro Rico. A good, sobering and graphic film. The tios pictured above was actually in the film. If you want to learn more, watch the film but it is not for the faint hearted.
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