In the morning, we visited the mines of Potosí. In earlier times, the mines were famous for the amount and quality of silver they yielded. Today, only little silver is left. What the miners gather instead is called complex - a combination of lead, tin and silver.
The mines are located at/in Cerro Rico, the rich hill. 15.000 people work there, and another 20.000 in the refineries that separate minerals from rock. These are some of the refineries:
Waste water from the separation process is fed straight back into the river of course...
The separation of the minerals lead, tin and silver from each other is not done in Bolivia; everything is transported to Chile instead. I guess this may be one of the reasons why Bolivia is so poor: they sell cheap primary materials and leave the refinement and production of goods to others. During the Salar de Uyuni tour, our guide pointed out several times that Bolivia lacks the technology for further processing - I wonder what they are doing to try and overcome this obstacle?
Before visiting the mines, the tour guides make the participants buy gifts for the miners at the miner's market. Possible gifts include coca leaves, juice, soft drinks, working gloves, and dynamite. The miner's market in Potosí is one of the few places in the world where you can buy dynamite, and everything else needed to procure an explosion, without any regulations on a street market. I didn't buy any, but the guide had some we could fool around with:
After the market, we went on to the mines. The black hole behind us is the mine entrance - or more precisely, one of them:
The working conditions in the mines are harsh. Most of the work is done manually. These miners are hauling up bags with minerals using a manual winch:
The contents of the bags are then put into a wheelbarrow, which is emptied into a small rail-based wagon that is pushed and pulled manually by three miners:
The paths are low and narrow, often not high enough to stand up straight. The stairs often didn't deserve the name, resembling a rock climbing adventure more than actual stairs:
In addition, the miners don't eat during their 9 to 10 hour day in the mines because of toxic arsenic dust that accumulates on fingers and food. Instead, they put coca leaves into the sides of their mouths. This is said to reduce hunger and sleepiness, and improve the body's oxygen intake. The last item especially is important considering that the mine entrance is at 4160m above sea level. Of course, not eating all day results in miners becoming slimmer over time. The miners explain this by saying that the mine itself eats.
What's more, when asked about accidents in the mine, the guide couldn't tell precise numbers, but made it sound like there were accidents on a daily basis.
Despite all this, the miners cannot form trade unions to improve their condition because they are all self-employed. The state-run mine was closed in the eighties, and since then the state has been giving out concessions to the miner's collective. This way, each miner has a small area in the mine that they are free to exploit in exchange for a payment to the state.
To cope with these daily risks, miners ask for protection from the underworld god Tio and the earth mother Pachimama. This is done at one of the Tio statues in the mines.
At least once a week, miners come here to deposit offerings to Tio: two cigarettes that are lighted and put into the statue's mouth, and some 96% alcohol that is sprinkled over Tio's rather large penis (to symbolize fertility for the mine, i.e. more minerals) and the ground (Pachimama's protection), and then downed by the miner.
The reason why people put up with work in the mines is that it is relatively well-paid. Miners can earn as much as 100 bolivianos per day, or 2400 per month, while restaurant staff, for example, get only 1500 per month. To put this into perspective: 100 bolivianos are approximately 11 euros...
To relax after the intense experience of visiting the mines, we visited a nearby hot-spring-powered lake, called Ojo del Inca - the inca's eye. The hot water was very relaxing, the mud on the lake's bottom served as a natural mud mask, and the scenery around the lake was again simply beautiful.
Just to think that the miners have to cope with the dark and harsh conditions in the mines every day, without being able to escape to hot springs after three hours...
The mines are located at/in Cerro Rico, the rich hill. 15.000 people work there, and another 20.000 in the refineries that separate minerals from rock. These are some of the refineries:
Waste water from the separation process is fed straight back into the river of course...
The separation of the minerals lead, tin and silver from each other is not done in Bolivia; everything is transported to Chile instead. I guess this may be one of the reasons why Bolivia is so poor: they sell cheap primary materials and leave the refinement and production of goods to others. During the Salar de Uyuni tour, our guide pointed out several times that Bolivia lacks the technology for further processing - I wonder what they are doing to try and overcome this obstacle?
Before visiting the mines, the tour guides make the participants buy gifts for the miners at the miner's market. Possible gifts include coca leaves, juice, soft drinks, working gloves, and dynamite. The miner's market in Potosí is one of the few places in the world where you can buy dynamite, and everything else needed to procure an explosion, without any regulations on a street market. I didn't buy any, but the guide had some we could fool around with:
After the market, we went on to the mines. The black hole behind us is the mine entrance - or more precisely, one of them:
The working conditions in the mines are harsh. Most of the work is done manually. These miners are hauling up bags with minerals using a manual winch:
The contents of the bags are then put into a wheelbarrow, which is emptied into a small rail-based wagon that is pushed and pulled manually by three miners:
The paths are low and narrow, often not high enough to stand up straight. The stairs often didn't deserve the name, resembling a rock climbing adventure more than actual stairs:
In addition, the miners don't eat during their 9 to 10 hour day in the mines because of toxic arsenic dust that accumulates on fingers and food. Instead, they put coca leaves into the sides of their mouths. This is said to reduce hunger and sleepiness, and improve the body's oxygen intake. The last item especially is important considering that the mine entrance is at 4160m above sea level. Of course, not eating all day results in miners becoming slimmer over time. The miners explain this by saying that the mine itself eats.
What's more, when asked about accidents in the mine, the guide couldn't tell precise numbers, but made it sound like there were accidents on a daily basis.
Despite all this, the miners cannot form trade unions to improve their condition because they are all self-employed. The state-run mine was closed in the eighties, and since then the state has been giving out concessions to the miner's collective. This way, each miner has a small area in the mine that they are free to exploit in exchange for a payment to the state.
To cope with these daily risks, miners ask for protection from the underworld god Tio and the earth mother Pachimama. This is done at one of the Tio statues in the mines.
At least once a week, miners come here to deposit offerings to Tio: two cigarettes that are lighted and put into the statue's mouth, and some 96% alcohol that is sprinkled over Tio's rather large penis (to symbolize fertility for the mine, i.e. more minerals) and the ground (Pachimama's protection), and then downed by the miner.
The reason why people put up with work in the mines is that it is relatively well-paid. Miners can earn as much as 100 bolivianos per day, or 2400 per month, while restaurant staff, for example, get only 1500 per month. To put this into perspective: 100 bolivianos are approximately 11 euros...
To relax after the intense experience of visiting the mines, we visited a nearby hot-spring-powered lake, called Ojo del Inca - the inca's eye. The hot water was very relaxing, the mud on the lake's bottom served as a natural mud mask, and the scenery around the lake was again simply beautiful.
Just to think that the miners have to cope with the dark and harsh conditions in the mines every day, without being able to escape to hot springs after three hours...
