Potosi is the world’s highest city and formerly the richest in the Americas. The latter was because the surrounding mountains have lots of silver, as well as zinc and lead. The thing to do in Potosi is go on a tour of the silver mines. So that’s what I did.
The first step is to get dressed up like this:
Wanna buy some ore?
Next you stop in the miners’ market to buy presents. The mines are all cooperative, which means the miners basically work for themselves. Tour groups buy soda, coca leaves, and dynamite to give in appreciation of the miners allowing them to interrupt their work day. Most tours also buy a little extra dynamite for later. Blowing stuff up is never not fun.
You also visit a facility where they process the ore and separate the waste. This involves a lot of chemicals that can kill you and a lot of spinning machines. Which can also kill you. Come to think of it, there are a lot of things on this tour that can kill you.
Finally you go down into the mines. It’s pretty easy in the beginning. There’s even a museum in a cave. But then it gets smaller and hotter and deeper. I turned back halfway along with two other people from my group* and a few from other groups. I didn’t have a problem with claustrophobia, but the heat and dust made it very hard to breathe and I was uncomfortable going further. And I’m man enough to not be ashamed about it.
*The big group was broken into smaller groups of seven. Ours had the most outstanding name by a mile. The others were called “Gringos” and “Backpackers.” We were the “Llama Killers.”
After the journey into the center of the earth you get to blow up the extra dynamite you bought earlier. The guide preps it, lights the fuse, then everyone takes pictures holding a live, smoking grenade. Then it explodes.
I made sure to visit the museum in the old mint before I left since I felt guilty for skipping all the museums in Sucre. It was pretty good and combined a lot of the subjects of Sucre’s museums plus lots of coins and minting machines.
Also, in the copious downtime that resulted from tour and bus schedules, I applied for grad school. W00t! There are still a few odds and ends that have to be submitted, but the big task is done. Now I can obsessively check my application statuses instead of obsessviely checking for when they become available. And next year I can obsessively do school work again.
IRA ——– please – watch your language. I never heard anything like this before.
You look like Don Quixote