Heading underground in Potosi, Bolivia

Today was trying and intense, and for the first time in a week those challenges were not generated from travel issues. Hopefully, we have left those behind us and are now forward looking, anticipating the wondrous and unique country we find ourselves in: Bolivia.

We got across the border yesterday and then took a night bus from the border town up to Potosi. At one point, this city was the richest in the Western Hemisphere, due to the insanely rich vein of mineral wealth contained in the mountain that dominates it skyline, Cerro Rico (Rich Mountain). This has been mined for more than four centuries, and has yielded and continues to yield tin, silver, rare earth metals, and tons and tons of toxins for the men (and sometimes boys) who make it their livelhood to extract the precious ore.

Potosi is also known as the highest city in the world, checking in around 4000 meters above sea level, or 13,123 feet. By way of context, that is higher than almost every ski mountain in the continental US. While we were living in Breck, i took some pride in living above 10,000 feet down at the base of the resort. But Potosi sits above the top of Breckenridge Ski Resort. And that is the town, so yes, air is hard to come by. It was especially hard to come by when we arrived at the bus station around 6 am and had to brace against the piercing cold temps. Brrr, it was bone chilling and also somehow woke me up from a shabby bus ride and fitful sleep of the night.

A couple of hours later and we were heading out with other backpackers on a mine tour of a collective mine up on the Cerro Rico. The business model for the mines have them run as collective, a bunch of little businesses contained within the mountain, all told there are roughly 15,000 miners toiling away to dig out debris, drive in blast charges and blow up the TNT, moving the debris around the mine and getting the minerals to the surface, where the ore is bought based on a scientific reading of its mineral composition.

This is terrible work, with large swings in temperature topping out at 110 degrees Farenheit in the deepest parts of the mine. The mine shafts are highly erratic and confining and miners can go days without seeing daylight, as my understanding is that they pay the government fee for mineral rights just once upon entry and hence can save money by staying and working through the night and not reseting the fee schedule created by the government. Beyond the physical challenges, there are unseen dangers in the form of incredible debilitating substances that are within the rocks and released - arsenic, asbestos and silicon dust particles that cause silicosis. All are fatal with prolonged exposure. We were told the life expectancy of miners is 45 years, and more due to these unseen and persistent dangers than anything else.

Then there is the danger from the inherent instability of the mine. There are serious physical dangers from mine shafts collapsing, TNT going off too early and many dangers i can't even comprehend. These dangers can cause lose of life instantly, or crippling injuries, as well as trapped miners. It was hard not to think of the Chilean miners that spent 68+ days underground, and the hundreds of miners around the world that are trapped and do not have the world's sophisticated efforts and attention to rescue. Dying underground in a mine has to be among the worst ways to die, with finite and necessary resources dwindling to zero, including the very ability to breath.

The Mine Tour

Back to the tour, we first stopped at the miners market to get gifts for the miners, basically soda and coca leaves. The coca leaves help them ignore hunger, give energy and help with altitude. They are also illegal to export to the US as part of the drug war. Then it was on to a warehouse where we got dressed up in the necessary gear for crawling around in the mud, rocks and sludge - think of it as rain gear with a helmet and head lamp. We were relived that this was all part of the tour so our stuff did not get destroyed. Then we were on to a processing plant with a mix of physical and chemical processes in place to separate out the precious metals from the debris. There was a distinct smell at the open air processing plant, one that brought on near instantaneous queasiness.

Finally, we were on to the main event, heading into the actually mine. I decided that we should do the tour in spanish to help with our language skills. This was an interesting choice, as there were a few semi-vital instuctions delivered during the 2 hours underground and we could not be completely sure that we had understood. Still, the required increased concentration to follow the explanations acted as a counterbalance and i think i got about 80% of the info.

We headed down the main shaft to this small cooperative operation, which had a set of tracks down the middle. I had to start ducking pretty much right away, as the pathways are certainly not designed for someone comfortably over six feet tall. The support system holding up the passageway was in various states of disrepair, and some poked down quite far. I hit my head a ton, thankful for the helmet. In general, it was hard for me to gauge just how much space there was in the mine, was i one inch from that beam? or 1 foot? or about to smack it with my forehead? I never could tell exactly, but considering the claustrophobic environment, that is pretty minor problem.

The air was quite dusty and felt very unsafe, its effects also were additive as my lungs felt like they were accumulating the junk in the air after awhile. Mu was using a bandana, while i was sporting a soccer team's scarf as a mask. Having seen the method deployed effectively in the student protest we saw in Santiago, i thought it would do the trick. But, it did not work well for me and i eventually had to abandon it due to my glasses fogging up constantly.

Soon, we left the main tunnel for a passage where 3 miners were toiling away. This required us squirming through quite small cleft in the rocks, moving downward and then shimming along the ground. Again, my height proved a disservice as it seemed to take me longer than anyone. I do not think that spelunking is going to be a pasttime in my future. Still, we all got to a little rest area and then went two by two to the end of the passage way where this man was working with his teenage son and one other miner. They had been in the mine since 7 am and would be there all day.

These men were representative of the thousands working in the mine that day, and every other day this year. Their work had a lineage back nearly 500 years. MIllions have lost their life in this mine, and mountain, and still there is precious minerals that make it worthwhile for thousands to work the rocks with no sign of stopping.

Where did all that silver go?

This mine has been producing for centuries and for a long time was a source of money minted for Spain. It is boggling to think about money being made in landlocked Bolivia in the 1600s and then transported via land and water throughout the Spanish Empire. We went to the museum, Casa de Moneda, where this was done and it has the two-story mule powdered machines used to make the coins brought over from Cadiz, Spain hundreds of years ago. Estimates of the amount of silver extracted from Cerro Rico come in between 20k and 60k TONS of silver. That is one rich mountain.

In the same museum, we saw plenty of precious objects that you expect to see made from silver, such as jewelry and religious icons. We also saw tables made entirely from silver, picture frames, large jugs for serving cold drinks and pretty much every type of household object. Potosi was swimming in silver in its heyday and hence it was easier to make these items from what was around.

Sadly, after minting the money for the richest civilization on earth at the time, Potosi and Bolivia no longer even manufacture their own money. Now, the moneda (coins) are produced for Bolivia by Chile and the paper money is printed in Brasil. An inglorious decline from a keystone in the macroeconomics of the Spanish Empire policy to a lack of monetary independence and security.

 

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