Hi Ho, Hi Ho it´s off to work we go
Its been awhile since I’ve updated this so I’ve got a bit to write because have had a great week! After getting back from the Amazon I jumped on a night bus (my favourite) to head to Potosi which is further down south. After 10 hours of little sleep and almost getting attacked by dogs when trying to go to the loo behind a shed in the middle of nowhere, I arrived at 5.30am in Potosi. I had the name of a hostel but of course it was full so spent an hour driving round trying to find somewhere that had space. Maybe I should start booking ahead…anyway found a coffin sized room in a nice place that was cheap and went to bed for a few hours. I was pretty shattered after the mountain biking, going straight to the Amazon and then going straight to Potosi, but don’t have much time so its all go. The main reason for coming to Potosi was to do a mine tour. Potosi has a giant mountain that has been mined to death over the last 400 years, still being mined now and its pretty crazy conditions. Found a tour company that run these tours and the sing said: this is not a tourist mine, not for wimps. Hmmm after signing a disclaimer about safety I began to fell a bit nervous. The tour was the next day so still had the afternoon free. I had pretty much run out of clean clothes but being Easter Sunday there was no laundry places open and at the altitude things don’t dry so easy…so dirty clothes again. It’s been almost a week now since then and I only just got my clothes washed!
Sitting in an internet café I got talking to an Irish girl, Ruth, who is going on the same tour, she was super cool and we went and spent the whole afternoon sitting in a café eating cake and drinking juice. It was good just to sit and do not much. Then it was time for tea so we moved cafes and went somewhere for food. It ended up being about 6 hours in different restaurants. Great way to spend a day!
Meet for the tour early next morning, about 5 groups of 8 so big group. We got dressed in our mining gear, gumboots, headlamps, pants and jackets. We all looked totally awesome. Then it was off to the miners market to buy cocoa leaves, drinks and…dynamite. That’s right actually sticks of dynamite. It cost about $2 usd for a dynamite kit which anyone can buy. Totally crazy. The whole day you would hear these crazy conversations. ¨hey is my dynamite on that seat¨, did you drop you fuse¨, bizarre.
Also tried some of the alcohol they all drink. 96% alcohol, 96%!!!It tastes like kerosene. We spent a bit of time looking at how the minerals were processed. OSH (NZ health and safety) would have a field day at these places, sooooo unsafe and bottles of German cyanide lying around. Then it was off to the mountain and into the mines. We spent about 2 hours inside the mines and I was very glad to get out. Definitely one of those times where I wondered what I was doing paying for this! Its really hot and dusty so hard to breath and the tunnels are so small you have to climb on you hands a knees most of the time. It’s scary to think guys work down there all day every day. They can actually make quite a bit of money so that’s why they do it but most miners only live to 45 years because it’s so bad for you. We climbed right down to the 3rd level and saw miners working, it’s so hard core. I thought I might have a panic attack or something but I kept it together and made it out! So good to breath real air.
|
|
| From RTW 06/07: Chile, Peru, Bolivia |
After we got out we made bombs with our dynamite. It’s really weird, the sticks are green and soft like play dough so you roll it up and put the fuse in it. Kind of cool and I took a little video on my camera of the explosions. Really glad I did the tour but it was hard and kind of scary! Could hardly talk after I got out because of all the dust in my throat. Spent the late afternoon with Ruth again sitting in another café!! Then I got my things together to head to Uyuni on another night bus. There were 2 other people from the mine tour on the same bus heading to Uyuni to do the salt flats tour so that was good as it was the worst bus ride ever! Freezing cold, weird guy sitting next to me, the worst road ever! Bumpy as anything. Arrived at 1am and it was straight to bed.
and the bombs…
Tags: blogsherpa, Bolivia, dynamite, mines, Potosi, Travel, Videos
admin
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.