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Potasi
After a 5 hour bus journey from Uyuni we arrived in the former capital
of the Americas. At one time this town provided the silver that
fuelled the Spanish empire. Now, the Spanish and the Silver are gone
and the locals have a tough choice. Live a long life in poverty or a
short but wealthy life as a miner. We only spent one day here and
visited the mine. On the way we bought a bag of gifts for the miners.
I dont think I´ve ever bought such a strange present - a stick of
dynamite, a bag of coca leaves, crackers and a bottle of 96% alcohol
(they like to drink this on Fridays).
A few feet into the mine and you are in complete darkness and the dust
is choking. Its pretty horrendous to think people work here everyday.
The average life expectancy of a miner is between 28 and 33 years of
age. We bumped into a 12 year old boy who had just started working in
the mines. All very sad. At the end of our tour around the mine we
observed 2 dynamite explosions. You dont know loud until you´ve been
50 feet from exploding dynamite.
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