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We had an early start to the day in Potosi, as we were going to visit the infamous Potosi mine, situated in Cerro Potosi (a 4800m mountain). According to official records, 45,000 short tons (41,000 metric tons) of pure silver were mined from Cerro Rico from 1556 to 1783, and Potosi became one of the richest town in all of the Americas. Nowadays, a small amount of silver is still mined, but it is mainly tin, lead and zinc. Unfortunately Bolivia is too poor to process these materials themselves, so they pay extraordinary amounts to have it processed in neighbouring countries, and rarely see any monetary benefits. Our guide said Bolivia is one of the richest countries in terms of natural resources, but with no ability to mine them to a large extent, they are being exploited by other countries. Poor wee Bolivia.
We dressed up in overalls and a headlight and hard hat and drove to about 4300m, where we would enter the mine. We bought coca leaves and coca cola for the miners - who work in some of the most awful conditions on the planet, for up to 17 hours at a time. They never eat anything while working, they just chew huge wads of coca leaves, so they all look like they have tumours in their cheeks. Sometimes they will stop to have some coke or juice but no food. It´s the properties of the coca that enable them to work for so long without eating anything - it is an appetite suppressant and also gives an incredible amount of energy and stamina, and the quantities these miners chew essentially renders them high all day, every day. Afterall, coca is the leaf that they extract the alkaloid to make cocaine, and in large quantities, you are going to get a cocaine high from these leaves. The mine is 4km into the mountain, and we were only going in about 800m, something I was really glad for once we got in there. For starters, the mine was built for only Bolivians to enter, and they are about a foot shorter than me, so I was bending over almost 90 degrees the whole time, and combined with the fact that we were going into an extremely confined space, at a high altitidue, made the breathing very difficult. I didn´t think I had an ounce of claustrophobia until I got in there, at one point the track was so small, we literally had to crawl on our hands and knees to get through. Dawn panicked at one point and wanted to get out, and I must admit I had had enough after only 30 minutes or so. It was such an eye opener to see the horrendous conditions that these men had to work in every single day, even children were sent to work here, if the family was too poor to sustain itself, some as young as 10. The life expectancy of these miners is 40, because most die in either accidents with dynamite or silicosis or asbestosis of the lungs. I heard so many of them coughing and I felt sick thinking what their lungs would look like. They all work and risk their lives for a measly salary of around 80 Bolivianos a day ($10US). Makes your job look pretty appealing now doesn´t it!
As we walked through, the workers were pushing heavy carts along a metal track, filled with rocks weighing over a tonne. Often the carts would derail and these small humans had enough brute strength to lift them back onto the tracks and keep going. As we walked futher, the mine because extremely hot, where most of the workers were using simple pick axes to mine along the veins of ore. It gets up to 45 degrees celcius in the deepest part of the mine - with not a hell of alot of oxygen! The miners regularly strike in the town of Potosi, and for fair reason. They will often throw dynamite down the streets as a protest for the terrible working conditions, something I heard a few times in my 2 day stay in Potosi. I felt sick as we left the mine, knowing that some 16000 people are working in what seemed like close to hell to me. I felt even sicker to learn 8 million slaves and workers had lost their lives in this mine since the 1500´s.
We were left with alot to think about, and none of us felt like doing anything for the rest of the day, so we just hung out in silence. It will be a day that I will never forget, and I deserve a smack if I ever whinge about my job ever again!
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