I think I'm getting the black lung, Pop...

Potosí is the highest city in the world, at 4090m above sea level. It was founded when the Spanish discovered silver in the “Cerro Rico” mountain, besides which the city now sits. There was so much silver in the mountain that Potosí became the largest and wealthiest city in South America. Hundreds of thousands of indigenous people and African slaves were conscripted to work in the mines, but conditions were terrible and it's estimated that 8 million died there during the three centuries of Spanish rule. 

Potosí street with El Cerro Rico in the background

The mountain is still being mined today, although the silver is severely depleted. Potosí is a shadow of its former self, and its sad to think about what will happen to the city when the mines close, which is likely to be within the next 20 years. Mining drives the whole economy here, as not only does it provide work for 10,000 people from local communities but it also brings money and jobs from tourism.

Tourists visit Potosí because you can actually go down into the mine to meet the miners and see the conditions they work in. Lots of other travellers had warned me that this is an intense and challenging experience, so I was a little bit apprehensive at first, but it turned out to be completely fine.

Having donned our protective clothing, boots and headlamps we entered the mine at one end of the mountain and then walked through the tunnels for around 3.5km to exit on the other side of the mountain. We were underground for around 2 hours. It was very dark, very damp and very hot in places, and most of the time I was bent over as the tunnels are quite low. The air was also thick with dust which made it hard to breathe, and of course there’s a lack of oxygen underground anyway. I was thankful for coca leaves, yet again!

The mine's newest recruit!

It’s a real working mine and we actually met a few miners working. It was a Saturday so there weren't too many - they work for themselves so can choose their hours. They’re relatively well-paid compared to most people in Bolivia (the lucky ones can make a whopping £450/ month) but obviously there’s huge health problems attached and life expectancy is low. The miners we met were in their early 20's and had been working in the mines since the age of 14. They work in small groups (usually family members) and each has their own designated area to mine. Each group’s area must be respected, so if one group were to uncover a huge supply of silver in their area, the other groups would have to leave them to it and continue on in their own potentially much less lucrative area. 

Miner in the mine

Prior to arriving at the mine we’d visited the local market to buy gifts for the miners: orange squash and coca leaves. You could also buy sticks of dynamite, and bottles of 96% alcohol, of which the miners drink copious amounts, to get them through the day. Much like dynamite, it almost blew my head off when I tried a tiny sip!

Within the mine, we also visited a statue of the miner’s devil God, El Tío (the Uncle). At the end of each month, the miners make an offering of alcohol and coca leaves to Pachamama and El Tío, to ask for good fortune in the mine. 

El Tío, with his alcoholic offerings

We also visited the processing plant, where deposits from the mines were cleaned. The output is a mixture of silver, zinc and lead, which is then sent to countries like the US and China for processing, so Bolivia doesn't actually make any money from the end product.

The tour operator I used, Big Deal, is a really small company of ex-miners, who got fed up of working for the big guys (who don’t give any of the takings to the miners themselves) and decided to set up their own cooperative. A great cause and a great company - the guides had so much passion and were good fun. They brought along a couple of local school-boys, who they are encouraging to learn English and Spanish (their native language is Quechua) and start to understand about tourism, so that they hopefully don’t have to work in the mines when they’re older.

That said, the miners are really proud of their work, and their role in driving the economy of Potosí.

We made it!