Potosi

i really felt i was experiencing the real bolivia when i was in potosi. technically the worlds highest city at 4060 m... potosi is set against the backdrop f the cerro rico, a rusty coloured mountain. by the 18th century it had grown to be the wealthiest city in south america as a result of the silver found in the mountain. millions of african slaves were sent to potosi to work and die in awful conditions. although today the silver has been depleted, workers continue to brave the lethal conditions, often steered into the work through proud tradition (often from 14 years old). to keep them safe, they worship ´tio´, their devil.

the mine is not a tourist mine, it is a working mine... our guide took our group of 6 into one of the main entrances of the mine. i thought i was ready for it, but the conditions are scary. after an hour half of the group had turned back! us brave few continued in total trust of our guide, who had worked the mine for 10 years previously. we slid and crawled down three levels of the 16 level mine, where we witnessed the shovellers and the transporters.

at 4300 m it´s hard enough to breath as it is... let alne when you are crawling around dusty tunnels.

the fun part came when we got out of the mine, we got to explode some of the dynamite we had bought in the miners market - so exciting. see the video.

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