Potosi is a silver mining town. It is one of the few places you can tour an actual working mine. It is a bit of a sad situation though because the people work very hard in very dangerous places. Often times very young children (10 years old) are working to earn money. The more they mine, the more money they get so it's a never ending cycle. We were at a restaurant and happened to see the documentary on this mine. It's called The Devil's Miner. Check it out if you can, its so interesting and sad! The miners have a very short life span because of the dust. They also worship the devil because they believe that God can not enter into the depths of the mine. So they present offerings to an idol devil in the mine that they would be kept safe.
Fun cobblestone streets!
Main plaza
hmm, cow anyone?? These markets are so fun to walk through! The things you see, better to not go before dinner haha
Potosi is the highest city in the world! 4,060meters
Casa de Moneda was a musuem we went to that showed how they made the coins from the silver they were mining. It was very neat!
Coin stamp machine
A kitty in our hotel who came and visited us :)
Happy momma and Pooh Bear baby :)
Beginning of the mining tour. We happened to be there on the miners festival so no miners were actually working because they were all dancing and lighting off dynamite haha It was a bummer because Landon really wanted to see some actual work being done but I"m kind of glad because it's so dangerous!
First stop on the tour was the miners market where they buy all the things they need. Tourists are required to take a "gift" to the miners like dynamite, beer, or cigarettes. Sounds dangerous right!?
We bought some dynamite for the miners, although Landon wishes he could have set one off
The miners market
Getting ready for the carnaval
This is where they extract the chemicals from the materials they extract, it was super toxic stuff that was just splashing everywhere!
This huge grinder crushed all the rocks/material into powder so they could extract the silver
Silver
A view of Potosi
This is like a little resting area/home for the miners
The tour was 2 hours inside the mine. I only lasted 10 minutes because the dust was so intense my throat was closing up! Not to mention claustrophobic and dark! Landon went the whole time and really enjoyed it. He was so hot and sweaty when he got back because it was a lot of walking!
This is the devil idol that the miners worship. They call him Tio (uncle) They sprinkle coca leaves on him and pour a can of beer on him and ask for safety. The green bags are what the coca leaves come in.
Little bit toxic...
Landon had to wear his sweater like a dust mask because it is super strong down there
A little cramped..
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