http://www.thedevilsminer.com/Trailer/Trailer.mov
Hi All,
Yesterday was an interesting day! :)
I got up early for a big breakfast....4 eggs etc...and found a mine tour that left at 2pm. Potisi is a mining town...it's silver bascially funded the Spanish empire from the 1500's on. Back the3n the indigenous people were forced into the mines for 6 months at a time...thats 6 months without seeing daylight! Friggin incredible to think people can treat people that way!
These days Potisi has 20,000 miners (all men) aged from 12 to about 30that would 12 hours a day and often 7 days a week in the mine. The chew coca leaves and drink pure alcohol to stave of the discomfort...they typically don't live for more then 10-15 years after entering the mines...lung disease is the big killer. All this to make about US$6 a week and provide the rest of us with pretty jewellry. After spending a few hours undergraound with them I will never look at silver and copper the same way...folks pay a terrible price for it.
I got hooked up with a tour group with an Aussie, Dutch, English folks - very good people!
The tour cost about US$10 and we were also told to buy some gifts for the miners...we brought a" grab bag" containing a stick of dynomite, coca leaves, detonators and some food and perhaps pure alcohol.
We got kitted out and taken to the mine with 2 guides...the mine is a wicked place...often 3 foot ceiling and lots of exposure to danger...deep holes 30-40ft deep with just a narrow ledge or plank to walk on. Far more dangerous then any caving section in any adventure race i've ever done.
There is about a 30ft drop :(
Another 30-40ft drop...no discalimers get signed in Bolivia
The mines seem cray dangerous...tonnes of loose rocks held up by a few timbers
Bacically you hammer and chissel a hole for a stick of dynomite and blast away :)
We got introduced to a few miners and got to see how the worked...bascially following a silver rich seam as best they could by drilling holes for dynomite with hammer and chissel and then carting out the minerals by wheelbarrow. They get paid per tonne of minerals they extract.
The guide was very imformative and we learnt about the history of the mine and how the Conquistadors had used religion to enslave the locals...they were told the devil lived in the mountain and they must not risk risk angering the deveil. To this day they still make offerings (ciggarettes, coca leaves etc) of to an idol of the devil in the hope of making him happy and therefore having him have a good "relationship" with the Challpata (sp) Mother earth which would produce more silver in the mine.
The trip was fill of adventure...we got to light our own stick of dynomite underground...while standing around the corner to shelter from the blast as the minors do...the resulting shockwave was terrifying.
Yep, there is a stick of dynomite (balled up) surrounded by Ammonium Nitrate to give it some extra kick...and yes the fuse has been lit :)
We also got to light a stick above ground...you get to carry it on the hopes you make youtube's top ten dumbass videos...the kind where some dumbass losses his arm ;) I do have a short video of the resulting explosion...but its a pain to upload on a slow connection...no flying limbs so it would be a hit on youtube :(
Anyway...Bolivia is not your typical country and certainly offers your not so typical adventures! :)
All the best and cheers,
Neal
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