The Devil of the Mines

Story continues, this time in Potosi, Bolivia. And in reality already couple of days back... Yep, turtle speed, I think its an impact of Iquitos, about which I still wanted to write some comments... That in the last post a little later.

After our "death road" adventure we jumped on the night bus to Potosi, a mining town. Potosi is known for its 1800th fame - the richest city in the world, thanks to the silver mines, the hill forms part of the coat of arms of Bolivia. They say, that Spain was salvaged from bacrupcy thanks to Potosi mines... And, that the silver that was exported to spain could make a bridge from Potosi to Spain (one way) and the bones of the people that died in those mines would make the return bridge to Bolivia. Could be true, since they say since the mines were opened in 15xx (sorry, forgot the right numbers...) some 8 million people have died there.

Potosi as the city reminds a little about its rich past, but its not well maintained. Maybe if I had more than 1 day there, I would learn to appreciate it, but it was pretty run down place. Nice, but leaves to wish for more restauration to appreciate it better. The 2 main reasons why to visit it is to go to the mines, and the other less important reason - to see the "casa de monedas", the plave where Bolivian money used to be made.

The mines - there are 3 things about them - silver, the devil, and child labour. All 3 valid up to date. I bought a film about the child labour in the mines but have not seen it yet. But we did see children going in to work there.

Well, in "chronological order": the silver. Seems like the mineral is getting less and less, and a proposal has been to clear the hill, and start diggin into the ground to get more. This was protested, since it has also a simbolic value. Apart from silver, they get some 7 other minerals, but zinc and silver are the main ones. What surprised me was the work mode.. Except the hight of the tunels, it seems that nothing has changed since 18-hundreds... Pure manula labour, from pulling teh wagons to winching up the baskets with minerals. What was weird, when we asked the guide why - she said that it requires lots of investment and the miners dont have it. But, its not anymore the miners who own the mines! Even "cooepratives" are not anymore real ones, but the former miners are the owners of the rights to explore certain parts of the mines, and they hire cheap labour to dig. Basically, it seems like on one hand there is certain pessimism about "we cant do it" in a more modern way, but also that there is some "we like it like it is" and almost a wish to show the victim side of it. As we left the mine, we saw 3 wagons being emptied. This was an example where not much "investment" was needed to make the work more efficient: first they emptied the wagons on the ground, then there were 3 other people with showels putting it in the truck! All of that could have been done by rather simple contrcution being made where the wagon could be pushed slightly more over the edge and the contents emtied direclty into the truck... That does not require high ingeneering skills! So, my observation was, that some of it is kept as "toursit" attraction, but at the same time it did seem that the people were really earning living that way.

The other aspect, the child labour. As we walked in the mine, we saw few minors going in to work the shift. I have to see that movie. Should be a good one, and while its not documentary, it is reflecting reality. This is illegal actually in Bolivia (child labour that is), but again the guide was partly right (although I disagree with half of it) that well, instead of sending them to study, somebody has to get bread on the table. Thus, the kids (i think they are at least 10 years old and most are older) do work in the mines.

Finally, the devil. That used to be one invention of the christians (spaniards) who wanted indeginous people to work there, using the Inca principle of shared labour for the community. When people refused to go into mines they invented the "devil" good "tio", a combination of "good" and "pachamama" (mother earth) as protective symbol of the miners. So, "pachamama" traditions still continue - putting some coca leaves, pouring alchohol in 4 directions (inca tradition) as a symbol of protection.

Well, that was "potosi". The money house I will have to leave for later.

My trip is ending today. In an hour am borading the flight to Madrid, but promise to finish the stories about AMAZING BOLIVIA. I loved it, and wish I had spent more time in Bolivia than in Peru.

The most dangerous road in the world...

Travelling and writing blog updates turns out to be not that easy as thought... So, after some silence need to update you on our travel. Those reading Latvian have already had some facts from my brothers blog, but here is my version on the "death road" or the most dangerous road trip outside La Paz.

Firstly - I did it... Joined the group of 10 guys on mountainbikes to get down the something like 50 km with 8 km uphill. Have to say also, that I did half of it on the bike, the other with the bike on the minivans roof and me in the front seat enjoying the scenery. Yeah... first part of some 20 km or even more on the paved road was GREAT! You just sit on the bike, feel the cold, wind, and with me taking it little easy - I also managed to enjoy the scenery at 4600 M altitude. Great mountains! Snow tops and black cliffs, slowly changing to greener landscape as we were descending. Well, in short, I loved it. Even the uphill part was not that bad. Only in one part with gravel I had to get off the bike, otherwise it was easier to peddal than walk.

Then however the second part started... Gravel, downhill, with so little stability that after a while I decided enough, I dont want to join the group of 7 tourists that have died on that road falling off the 200m-300m steep mountain edges, and got in the minivan following the group. Had my adrenaline experience trying to control the bike for some 10 minutes on that road, and then sat back, enjoyned ever changing scenery and took pictures.

What was amasing - the change from the hardly green to luch clloud forests - nice mountain jungle that looks so inviting. Waterfals on the way, the driver being so kind that he stoppped at many nice places so that I can take pictures, while the guys were racing down...

To be true - some guys after experiencing uncontrolled skidding and 20 cm off the edge, changed their positions from the front to the back of the group. So, it was not that easy after all, but I guess if there was no pressure to go fast (guide have to say was not the best one to encourage steady downhill ride... instead wanted me to get in the car) then I would have joined the group on the bike. Heard that for 15 USD you can rent a bike and go down the hill on your own. That would suit me well.

But the main thing - I have done the "death road" in my own way and managed to enjoy it even. Thus can reccomend the ride to others. Pictures you will have to check out later, as I will upload those later on the web when internet is faster.

From La Paz and the bike ride Karlis and I headed to Potosi, the big silver mine city. That however you will have to wait a little to hear about. Meanwhile enjoy latest updates on the Boliva photos.