Potosi is a mining town with a capturing history till these days. Silver was mined for 300 years, bring wealth, numerous death to indigenous people and finally African slaves to secure non-stop work at mines. When silver deposits were depleted, miners were going after ore, a mix of various minerals.
Today there are about 700 mines, 400 of which are working. The mines are owned by the government and cooperatives of miners (from one to twenty people) dig out minerals, paying taxes to the government. Up until recently the tax was 25%, but with the rise of mineral prices, miners´ profits grew and so did the attention of the government. A few months ago the tax was raised to 50%. Hence, the strikes. Unhappy miners protest in the city and block all the roads, paralyzing the country for days. The strikes are going on right now not only in Potosi, but in all mining towns around Bolivia, which means pretty much the whole southern part of the country.
Due to its history, Potosi is a lovely colonial town (Potosi set on flickr). Most backpackers though come to visit the mines. They are known to shock for their inhuman and dangerous working conditions. There are 15,000 people working in the Potosi mines with about 2,000 children (illegal, but no law enforcement). The life expectancy of kids who start working in the mines at the age of 10-11 is 30 years. Adult miner´s life expectancy is 40 years.
All the tours go into the working mines (read - explosions are normal!). I chose Panda Tours with the best reputation in town. We changed into special clothing, got our helmets with a headlight and went to miners´ market to buy some gifts for miners - coca leaves, dynamite, 96% alcohol and soda drinks. After a steep climb of 500 m that left me breathless we entered level one of the mine.
Level one is quite walkable. Just hit head a couple of times. Still the smells and darkness made three out of 11 return back outside. Level two is very narrow, dark and hot. You basically crawl on your knees. It is off the level two we encountered Vasilio, a miner with 33 years of mining experience. He was preparing a 40 cm opening to insert dynamite. These kind of explotions are common during the day. Big ones are done at 5 pm to insure that everybody is out of the mine.
We went down to the third level (level 4 is off limits for tours) where miners were pushing carts on rails - 4 miners (2 upfront, 2 in the back) are pushing 2 ton cart with minerals from level 4. Others were filling up iron casks to be pulled up to level 2. I could hardly breathe there. We were down in the mine for an hour and a half and I could not be happier to be out. Thirty minutes later I had a splitting headache, felt sick and thirsty.
That night we could not get out of Potosi because of strikes. All roads were blocked and nobody knew for how much longer. An idea of getting stuck here until Saturday (miners remove road blocks on weekends) was not encouraging. So the next morning we left at 6 am determined to get to Sucre somehow. The taxi driver ensured us that nothing was leaving town. We arrived to an empty bus station with a lonely taxi-collectivo parked next to it (usually bus company agents scream destination names even outside the bus station). The collectivo driver offered to drive us to the blockage and ensured us the would be another taxi waiting to take us to Sucre. The reality was different. We walked around the first road block (1.5 km uphill), passing trucks, cars and miners that were just waking up and making breakfast. Nobody was aggressive (other stories were told by other backpackers). On the other side of the block we saw nothing but fields and the road climbing uphill. Nothing! No taxi, no cars, no people. Nothing, just the sign - Sucre 146 km. We were three, me and Lauren and a local guy who shared a can with us. Soon we were joined by another Bolivian man who told us that there was another road block 20 km away, after which there would be a cab. Sweet, just 20 km of walking with my backpack and daypack in pretty high altitude! Left with no choice we starting walking. After 2 km I could hardly keep up with locals and then we witnessed the miracle! A small bus (Miss Little Sunshine bus) was coming in our direction. It turned and picked us up! Two people upfront, four in the very back and three in the middle with backpackers on our knees. I did not really care, I would have flown above people just to get a ride. The next road blockage was quite small (just 3 trucks) and the taxi was waiting on the other side. At 11:00 we were already checking into the hostel!
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