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Potosí
So we left the dust and salt of Uyuni behind, and set off through the red mountains again for Potosí. The journey coming back didn't seem as long as it had on the way there, and we felt fine with the altitude, thanks to our little pills.
From a distance, Potosí looks like a shanty town, sprawling accross the hillside at just over 4,000m and down into the valley, but it was once the wealthiest town in South America. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Spanish colonialists used slave labour to mine the vast seams of silver in the Cerro Rico, the hill which dominates the town. The silver was taken by mules to the pacific coast (as Bolivia wasn't landlocked in those days) shipped to Panama, then taken across to the other side by another mule train and shipped to Spain from there. Once you get right into the town, it has a lot of colonial buildings and beautiful churches which are a reminder of its past glory. In contrast, it also has a lot of poverty, with dilapidated adobe houses and the usual packs of dogs, pigs and donkeys roaming around the streets.
The mine is still working, but is now a cooperative, with about 26,000 miners.
They usually work between 4 and 12 hour shifts, and at any time there are about 500 men underground, mining silver (although there is not much left now), copper, lead, tin, zinc, antimony, and countless other metals and minerals. The buyers come every Saturday morning, and the miners only get paid according to the quality of the loads they have excavated.
You can visit the mine, which is what we did yesterday morning. First we were taken to get kitted out with wellies, protective clothing, hard hats and lanterns.
Then we went to a small market to buy presents for the miners, mainly coca leaves, bottles of fizzy drinks, sweets and dynamite. The mine entrances, of which there are over 500, are at 4,300m, so luckily we were driven there in a minibus, as the slightest exertion leaves you gasping for breath.
I found the 2 hour visit physically challenging, due to walking hunched over with bent knees, sometimes ankle deep in slippery mud and water, the 42 degree heat and lack of oxygen. It was also quite harrowing. All the mining is done by hand, with dynamite, picks and shovels, the excavated material loaded into wagons which hold about 1.5 tons, then hauled and pushed by 3 men (one at the front, two at the back), along rails leading uphill to the surface. They work in temperatures of anything from freezing, to 50 degrees, depending on the area of the mine they are in, and the air is full of dust and noxious gases. The average life expectancy of the miners is just 40. In spite of these horrendous conditions, the miners we met were very cheerful, and pleased with their gifts. We spoke to the oldest miner, who is now 63. Others let the men in our group help with their work, carrying 40 kilo sacks of rubble to where they were piled up waiting to be taken to the surface. Each man would normally fill and carry over 60 sacks per shift. When we made our way back to the surface, it was such a relief to come out into the fresh air and sunshine. It was also lovely to get back to the hotel for a much needed shower and a bit of a rest.
Later in the afternoon, we went to the St. Teresa Carmelite Convent museum. There is still a small convent in an annexe, with just 7 nuns, but the large museum, in the original convent, houses an astonishing collection of statues, paintings, books, ornate altar pieces, and displays of hand embroidered vestments and other handicrafts made by the nuns over the last 300 years.
I think one of the most shocking things was that next to the infirmary, was a choir room, which doubled up as a cemetery!The nuns bodies were simply laid in the cavity under the wooden floor, which had numerous trap doors in it with large handles, and covered up with lime! Part of the flooring had been removed and replaced with glass, so you could look into the burial chamber below, and see one horrible skull and a pile of lime, that was all that remained of the last nun to be buried there. Apparently the body of the founding reverend mother is still under there too, and her body has never decomposed, but we didn't get to see it!
Tomorrow we head off to La Paz, about a 10 hour drive, where we stay for 2 nights before crossing the border into Peru. Two of the group are leaving in La Paz, as they've both been to Peru before, so that's a shame, but I'm sure we'll keep in touch when we get back home. We've got a shopping trip in the witches market planned before they go. I'd better try to get some sleep now......
Goodnight.
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