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Hello,
Sarah again. Just a quick one to inform you that we are alive and made it safe and well out of the mines today and have arrived in Uyuni. This is the town from which we will set out in 4 wheel drives tomorrow to see the much anticipated salt flats.
Day 30
Before heading to the mines today we first had to stop off along the way to get all our gear. Hilariously enough we had to walk through a butchers shop to what appeared to be someones back yard to claim a very fetching red outfit of coat and trousers, yellow helmet and if you were lucky a set of wellies. Along with that was a a belt with a battery pack attached to the wire to the large lamps to be worn on the front our helmets. Lovely! Just you wait to see the photographs...We were then driven up to the entrance to the mine, which was encouraginly splattered in old blood stains from the sacrifices miners had made to the mountain god, or Tio, with freshly killed Llama blood. Encouraging! We entered the small tunnel quite timidly as it was certainly very small and dark. We were given a tour around some of the nearby tunnels and shown the progress miners had made in the 400 years there had been workers there. Most important to the miners was the statue of the Tio that is placed in every mine. This statue is celebrated and offered presents of alcohol, cigarettes and coca leaves every friday for luck and is much feared. We very gingerly gathered around it for photos! Then our tour continued deeper and started to require greater acrobatics with us clambering up a somewhat rickety ladder than spidermanning down a sheer face with a rope. Scary stuff but good fun all the same! Perhaps most terrifying was when the miners offered to show us an explosion. This involved the drilling of a hole into the rock and the insertion of a stick of dynamite. The fuse was then lit and we all scampered away to a safe distance. Im sure this would be against health and safety rules if there were any! fascinating all the same. We also met real miners along the way and learned that many of them work 12 hours a day 7 days a week and earn only 50 dollars a week. And this is a good Bolivian wage! Sobering stuff. Altogether a great, inisghtful visit although we very glad to see sunlight again.
Right must dash as an early night before the salt flats is required. Love to all, Sarah x
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