The famous silver mines in Potosi brought the city it´s incredible wealth in colonial times, but now, with it´s silver resources depleted (and lack of imported slave labour) the city has diminished somewhat. Now the mines are worked for the minerals it produces, and the workers submit to extremely harsh working conditions to scratch a decent living. Dust filled holes? Narrow passages? Extreme heat? Sounds great, thought Matt and Jorge as they took themselves to the mines for a fun day out.
The Llama "lovers" and their dynamite
Into the mines
Jorge in a hole
Our guide, the "Master of Disaster"
Matt pulling his weight
It takes 4 hours to drill a hole for a stick of dynamite using this method -
hammer, twist, hammer,twist, hammer, twist...
The holes got even smaller than this
Tio, the devil god who watches over the mine,
he enjoys his offering of 96% alcohol - just like the miners!
After surviving the mine it was time to see those dynamite sticks in action!
The Master of Disaster living up to his name
yes it is lit...
Matt returned to the hostel after a hard day at the mines to find Jenny,Vicky, Annie and the supposedly sicky wicky Benny in floods of tears over Dirty Dancing. Next stop Sucre!
3 comments:
One of those miners looks awfully like you Matt...Porbably spent too long underground ;) I was going to suggest you bring some dynamite back as its good memorabilia size but maybe not huh!!!
It agree, very amusing opinion
Many thanks for the information.
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