We took a tour of the mines in Potosi, Bolivia, a place once rich from the silver that was mined in the area. Now its a much poorer area with mining still playing a big role in the local economy. We dawned our fancy mining outfits and headed for the ¨miners market¨ (an area where the tourists pick up ´gifts´ for the miners). The gifts were Bolivian style though and consisted of--coco leaves (which they chew much like chewing tobacco in the states), juice, 96% alcohol made from local sugar cane, and DYNAMITE (seriously they let us buy this stuff, complete with detonator and fuse for 25Bs-which is about US$3.50). The miners spend 8-14 hours a day in the mines and take few breaks. As you can imagine the working conditions are terrible. Just being in their for the 2 hours of our tour was enough for us. The ventilation is terrible, its hot, its dusty, its muddy and you constantly have to walk completely bent over because the tunnels are not very tall. It was a eye opening experience for the both of us and definitely makes you appreciate your job more.
Outside the mine we entered...
Gringoes with dynamite and alcohol...never a good combination..
Deep dark tunnels...this was one of the taller and wider ones we walked through
A picture of the workers busting their asses..,
An explosion of the dynamite that we set off...
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