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We've been bad to the blog... guilty as charged. The photos are disordered, they have no description, and nothing has been writen about the wonderfully exciting things we've been doing recently on our newest adventure.
We're three countries in three weeks and still moving.
We spent an amazing 4 or 5 days in San Pedro de Atacama, sandboarding and riding bikes into the Atacama desert to watch the sunset. We crossed the border into Bolivia and visited the Uyuni salt flat (don't forget to check out the new photos- you can get real creative with this landscape and a small prop). We visited the world's highest city (Potosi, Bolivia) and decided to climb even higher and enter Cerro Rico where we went 3 levels down into a mine shaft. Unbelievable. I sent an e-mail to my mom about this one, and since we're lazy travellers, I'll just copy and paste it:
"Mining makes the main economy in Potosi- this city used to be the richest in south america in the 1500's when the Spanish came and starting extracting all the silver- the streets were supposedly lined with it. Our tour guide told us that back in those years, they mined enough silver to build a bridge from Potosi to Spain... The Spanish also didn't actually work in the mines, but rather they made the indigenous, local, and black people do the tough jobs- 8,000,000 died.... our guide added that the amount of bones could have made another bridge from Potosi to Spain...
First we put on jumpsuits, boots, mining hats and lights. We then went to the "mining market" where we bought the miners juice, coca leaves, dynamite, and a 98% alcohol that they drink on fridays when they pray to the diablo of the mines (called Tio). We drank a capful with a group of miners at our last stop in the mines and I could swear it's pure rubbing alcohol. We then went and visited the factories where they refine all the minerals (we couldn't stay long in some rooms because the air was toxic), but Ronaldo (el guia) filtered some of the water into a pan, and sitting on the plate was silver- he wiped some of it on our faces (a good excuse not to wash up for the next week). Then we went into the mines.... hunched over, we descended a bit and entered a small tunnel where the sculpture (if you can call it that) of the diablo sits. He's a very masculine scuplture- gender is important in the mines. Basically, women weren't and arent allowed to work because we're "bad luck" and scare away all the good minerals and cause problems. After visiting with their devil, we continued the descent into the mines. I was the only girl of the group of 7, and it felt great to be small because entering the 2nd level means scooting on your hands, knees, and belly through a small tunnel. A lot of the bigger guys were having trouble with this, and we actually later heard that many turn around because it seems impossible (others turn around from heat or altitude sickness). BUT YOU WOULDNT BELIEVE THE WORK THESE MEN DO. We met two men (one was over 60 years old) who were working that day from 7 AM 'til midnight, with one 15 minute break where they don't even eat lunch (they rely only on coca leaves for the energy). The work they do is excruciating: they dynamite the walls, shovel minerals into piles, push 2 ton trolleys filled with the minerals to other sections (and they don't stop- we had to run to get out of the way once or twice). I didn't want to try the shoveling because I didn't want to ruin the luck of the mines or cause something bad to happen, but Sarge was wiped out when he helped. The hard work plus the altitude.....impossible. Although mining is bad for the environment and UNESCO is trying to close down Cerro Rico (they believe if the men keep mining deeper, the entire mountain may cave in on itself), it was such an interesting tour. Really mind opening, especially the fact that some boys enter the mines around 13 years old (and the average life span of a miner is 40-50...).
We're now in Sucre, relaxing in warm weather with some friends we've been travelling with for a bit. We visited a Dino Park and saw hundreds of dino footprints alongside a mountain (the mountain was flat, but the tectonic plates moved it vertically), shopped in the mercados, ate saltenas (the Bolivian empanada), and are still in awe that almost every Bolivian women really does wear the traditional outfit.
We love Bolivia. Beauitful landscape, beautiful people, beautiful new types of food.
Sadly, we must get rid of some things, which includes the computer. We're going to chunk the books and become true backpackers (without a rolling bag on the side filled with bus goodies). This weekly blog might become a monthly blog, but if the cibercafes are fast and reliable, we'll update when possible.
Next stop: the Amazon river.
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