Mar 24 - The Dynamite Day !!

Bolivia 24 March

Today we leave Uyuni and head to Potosi.

This is the end of our 4WD off road experience and as we swung on to tarmac roads again we all felt more than a bit sorry to be leaving the wonderful wilds of Bolivia behind despite the bumpy roads and the lurching over river beds and rock canyons despite the varying degrees of altitude sickness.

David our guide told us we had been very lucky as the tracks had been redone recently and in another month with some more rain the roads would be back to pretty hellish again instead of a bit hellish !!  

Our trip to Potosi took about 3 hours on good roads which was a real treat. The scenery was just beautiful as we climbed back up to the dizzy heights of Potosi at 4000m. 

Every turn of the road there was a new view of mountains and then valleys, rainbow colours, local people in traditional clothes and llamas by the hundred.

We arrived in Potosi at lunchtime and David took us for one of the local specialities Rock soup.

The story of this was similar to the parable of the loaves and the fishes. A stranger arrived and knocked on doors asking for food and was turned away. He went into the mountains and built himself a fire and a soup pot and when the locals came by they asked what he was making. He said the best Rock soup in the world but it would be better with a little corn. The local agreed that they could share it if he gave some corn, so he did so. Another local came and was told the same about potatoes etc etc until the Rock Soup contained all the best local ingredients and he then shared the soup out.

Rock Soup is now a local speciality and they turn it into a little volcano by using volcanic river pebbles, heating them to a very high temperature and then adding the soup which then bubbles just like a volcano. Great theatre !

After this big lunch, Paul, Mandy and Janette were ready for a nap, never mind their walking tour with David than our guide and Steve was about to head off for one of the major highlights of his trip (and the reason for the Dynamite in the blog title) – A trip down the Potosi Mine !

He had seen on a Michael Palin travel programme about 25 years ago that you could go to this Silver mine in Potosi which was once the richest mine in the world and made all the Spanish coins but now the miners are very poor because the seam is all but finished.

The miners were so rich back in the day that one of them ordered the first production Hummer from the USA !!

All you need, Dynamite, Nitrate and a
detonator -total cost around £4

Sat beside Steve in the car, the explosives,
1Kg Coca and some "special" cigarettes...
and a bottle of Fanta orange....
not like your usual weekly shop !

To go down the mine with the miners, you first have to go to the Miners Market and buy them gifts. One of these gifts is Dynamite !!  Hence the blog being the Wine, Dynamite and Penguin tour………….







Now, we know a lot of you are saying why didn't you light it.......!

Steve had asked David our fun laid back guide to arrange this for him, so at 2.30pm Steve was collected at the hotel by Oscar another ex miner who took him to the market to buy gifts. This haul included Coca leaves, nearly pure alcohol (96%),  a stick of dynamite, detonators and of course a bottle of fanta, obviously required to drink after the coca 

Miners in Potosi are unable to bring food into the mine due to the high level of Arsenic present so all of these stimulants are used instead of food.

The ultimate selfie - "Dynamite Cigar"

Its been nice knowing you all !

The mine entrance - the only one!

Gifts ready, they headed to the mine where Steve was kitted up with boiler suit, lamp and hat and off they set into the mine. Now, as you might expect, things are a little harder and different here.  First, the oxygen level at 4100m is pretty low at the best of times and in the mine there are no air pumps so after about 150m in, breathing is like being asphyxiated with a carrier bag.

Health and safety does not exist and these mines are run by co-operatives of local people who now mine about 120 tonnes of ore each week.  

The mine god "Dao"...on the left !

Safety is controlled by the mine all knowing God “Dao” who proudly sits at the shaft entrance about 20m in.  Everybody has to pray to him and leave offerings including some of my coca leaves, a lit cigarette and the some of the pure alcohol poured over Dao’s very large penis which apparently protects the fertility of the miners...undoubtedly necessary after all the coca leaves, alcohol, hashish type substances and frequent 20 hour shifts.

Walking through the flooded mine was compelling and its not possible to convey the severity of these conditions of human misery but the donation helps them keep their job and a little tourism is vital.

A small roof fall about 150m in was enough to persuade Steve that he should return to the mine entrance where he noticed a half lorry of beer.  

Just a few bevvies on the way home from the office....
the brewery delivers direct on Friday.
only counted about 20 miners !!

Apparently, it was Friday and the miners get paid and have a good session and who wouldn’t.

Steve’s challenge met, he hopped on the bus to meet up with Janette, Paul and Mandy on their cultural tour.  He was glad he was breathing again…just and his big challenge met.

The walking tour was a gentle stroll round the colonial centre of Potosi which has a central square with some lovely colonial buildings. David then took us to one of the 3 main churches in Potosi but not for a religious tour, he took us up onto the roof which had some of the most spectacular views over Potosi.

We climbed up the narrow stairs to the entrance to the roof and thought we were done, but in true Bolivian style we should have known better. We then walked across the centre of the roof with a single low rod to hold onto and then up 2 more flights of narrow stairs to rach the top of the cupola. (Well we did tell you health and safety hadn’t reached Bolivia !) the view as promised was great and we could see where Steve’s mine was – another 300m above where we were on the roof.

Crossing the roads in Bolivia is a minor challenge (but no problem to these veterans of Ho Chi Minh City). We have now asked 4 guides to explain who has right of way at a junction and none have been able to answer !!  

















There are so many accidents involving pedestrians that in Sucre & La Paz they have implemented a novel way of dealing with it.

It started off as them having people in Zebra costumes working on the zebra crossings to educate the people & cars, along with a donkey who follows people or cars who don't obey the rules and make fun of them. 

All fun & friendly and a great idea. Somewhere along the line a copyright problem was encountered, so in true Bolivian style they changed them from Zebra's to White Tigers !!  So, they now have White Tigers patrolling the main crossings.

By this time at this altitude we were completely done, but our last venue on the walk was the Royal Mint and it was another fascinating hour. Steve fresh from surviving the trip down the mine, joined us for this.

Because Potosi had the richest silver mine in the world during the Spanish occupation, Potosi was the first location that was made to produce silver coins for the Spanish and so the Mint here is one of the earliest in the world. The original mint which used totally manual processes became too small and couldn’t produce enough coins, so the Spanish upgraded the mint and moved its location. The new equipment used included huge wooden wheels used to turn the presses below. These were sent from Spain and because of the dryness and altitude in Potosi, these are still intact today while in all other locations they have rotted away or been destroyed.

Stiking a souvenir Silver coin 

There are examples here of silver coins right from the beginning as well as catholic church alterpieces, fine silverware for house and table for the very rich Potosi silver dealers in its heyday.

The city now is in a very different situation, the miners are extremely poor as the seams only give mixed ore of silver, zinc etc and the silver quality is very low. The city itself while poor has a very nice vibe.

We were completely exhausted by 6pm between the climbing and the mine, so Paul and Mandy flaked and Steve and Janette went for one beer and some chips at a local bar call 4060 because that was the exact altitude where the bar was. Its was not long before we too were in bed.

8.00pm and desperate for beer and bed