Where the sun doesn't shine.

The salt flats were very impressive. I had two days before flying off so headed to the bus station and got a bus to Potosi. Potosi lies at the foot of a mountain referred to as Cerro Rico "rich mountain" which has a high concentration of silver ore. The Cerro Rico is the reason for Potosí's historical importance, since it was the major supply of silver for Spain. The bus journey was 4 hours but plenty to see. It would make a tour f it own, hot springs, rock formations, a fertile plain full of thousands of lamas. We gt to Potosi and I found a hotel close to the bus station. The receptionist booked me a tour for the next day with a company called San Andres Expeditions. The driver turned up early but the hotel were fine with me leaving my stuff in the room so we set off. The driver only spoke Spanish but we picked up a guide who spoke good English. He explained that three Germans who had booked on the tour had fallen ill so I was on my own.

First stop a shop where the miners buy their equipment. They had helmets, shovels, coca leaves for chewing for the altitude, and dynamite. Anyone can buy dynamite here but you are limited to 12 sticks! He put a detonator into one stick and offered to take a photo of me holding it, I declined.

We drove to a lockup and put on protective clothes and wellies. He gave me a helmet and with light and a battery pack on a belt. It didn't go round me, must have been a small one, so he searched for a bigger one for me. Next stop the processing plant. The guide knocked on a metal gate and an old guy opened it suspiciously. He gave him a bag of coca leaves and he let us in. Having worked in a chemical processing plant I was fascinated to see how they did things. A lot of it was manual and health and safety was not to the fore. There were piles of rocks lying around and he picked a piece and split it open and I could see the metal glinting within. He explained that it can contain not just Silver but Copper and Lead. He also said bronze, to be researched! A sample of the rock is powdered and split into samples, one for the laboratory, one for the miner and one for the company. This is analysed and the results determine what the miner is paid. In he boom years he commodity prices were high mines earned fabulous wages and they christened Potosi Hummer-city as this was the vehicle of choice. There were other machines that refined the crushed rock, settling tanks, chemical extraction that involved Cyanide. He explained that the operator was not allowed to stay in that area for longer than two minutes as a precaution. We had been there for about that long (!) so I showed an interest in the next machine and quickly moved on. It felt like I was touring a museum showing how mining was done a hundred years ago not working mine.

Back in the tuk tuk  and up the hill to the mine. The entrance was small and unimpressive. Once inside I found the height was not made for westerners but for the short ass locals and I was constantly having to dip and bend.

The guide explained that the walls contained arsenic and a little later he pointed out the asbestos sitting on the walls. Why bother with digital, just come here!
A little way into the tunnel was an effigy of the devil. The miners perform a ritual before entering offering coca and alcohol to mother earth to keep them safe. Women are not allowed to work the mine in case mother earth gets jealous.

We moved further in and found a truck filled with rock. These are still pushed by hand and there are still accidents with runaway trucks severing limbs and causing death. My guide's brother was forced to retire from the mine because of silicosis. I could not help but draw comparisons with the tales of the south Wales mines.

There were no miners working that day due to elections. When we got out the guide went over to a group of miners and gave them their cut for allowing the tour to take place. In Bolivia the piper is always paid. I think I was expecting something like Wookey hole but this was much rawer, this was reality for 5,000 miners.