Silver Fever

               

Cerro Rico over my left shoulder

A couple of weeks ago, I took a little trip to learn more about some of Bolivia’s past.  My first stop was in the city of Potosi.  Potosi, founded in 1545, was once one of the wealthiest and largest cities in the world.  It all started once silver was discovered in a mountain (Cerro Rico).  It is said that a man was on the mountain and made a fire to keep warm.  After the fire had gotten so hot, a shiny liquid began to flow from under the fire.  Afterwards, the Spanish came to exploit the mountain for the shiny metal.  This city prospered greatly as did the Spanish with every ship load of silver that arrived in its harbors from Potosi.  The city continued to grow and the mines as well. They brought in African slaves to work in the mines.  Many did not last a year in the mines because of the horrible conditions, many that still remain today.  But as all good things, they must come to an end.  After the collapse of the silver market, many left Potosi and the city lost its wealth.  The Africans that were brought over to work, left the cold high altitudes of Potosi and made their ways to the Yungas near Coroico to be in a more tropical climate.  For those who stayed in Potosi, life was a struggle and many stilled mined silver and tin to try to make a buck.  The mines in Potosi have been and continue producing silver since the 1500’s.

 

View of Potosi from above

                Potosi is a descent sized colonial city in the southern part of Bolivia and also ranks as one of the highest cities at 13,420ft above sea level.  Upon arriving at the bus terminal, I commandeered a taxi that took me to the main plaza.  It was around 7 in the morning and extremely cold.  I walked around a bit shopping for a nice cheap hostel that I could spend a couple nights.  Finally I was able to find one and I quickly made my way to my room and jumped under the covers to get warm.  I decided it was best to take a little nap before I started my day off.  After my rest, I took a shower and made my way out into the city to figure out what I was going to do the next couple days.  My first plan was to schedule my trip to the silver mines which was the main reason I wanted to stop in Potosi.  So I found a place and scheduled a visit for the next morning.  I then asked for a few suggestions of things to do.  They suggested two convents and the casa de móneras.  Since the Casa de Móneras is closed on Mondays, I decided to go to visit the convents.  The first convent I went to was the Convento de Santa Teresa.  Here in this convent, families would give their second daughter to God.  The girls would leave there families to live in this community where they would learn to serve God and never see the outside world again.  They would make crafts and other things to sell to the people on the outside to support the convent.  It was a very beautiful and interesting place.  I could never imagine entering this place and never again to see the outside world or my family again.  Even after they died they were buried underneath the floor of the convent. 

 

View from the roof of Convento San Francisco

                After the tour I decided it was lunchtime and I went to find me a place to eat a bit of lunch and watch some of the World Cup.  In the evening I went to visit the Convento de San Fransisco.  I was able to take photos in this convent.  The tour was more focused on the art of the convent.  After viewing a bunch of paintings and sculptures, we made our way into the sanctuary which was very beautiful.  Next we went down a small locked staircase to the catacombs underneath the sanctuary.  Underneath people would be put into a room for a few weeks until their meat was dried and coming off.  Then the remainder would be peeled off the bones.  The bones from the dead would then be put into a box and stored underneath the sanctuary so they would have a more direct path to heaven.  Most of the bodies were taken out of the catacombs and buried in the cemetery by orders of a president because the smell was becoming very strong in the sanctuary.  A few skeletons still remain as reminders of the history in the convent.  Afterwards, we climbed the spiral staircase to the roof of the convent where we had an amazing view of the city and Cerro Rico. 

 

Inside Convento San Francisco

The Altar in San Francisco 

Where they left the bodies to rot off their meat...

Some Leftover bones and skulls

The next morning I made my way to the agency where I had scheduled my trip to the mines.  The first stop we made was the miners market.  Normally, people buy gifts to take to the miners in the mines because it is still an active mine.  Kind of a way to show them respect which opens them up to talking about their job and life.  In the market I bought them a 2-liter of Coca-Cola, some Coca leaves, and some dynamite with a bag of nitroglycerin.  I was pretty surprised at how cheap the dynamite was and shocked that it is legal to buy here for anyone.  We then made our way winding up the mountain to the entrance of the mine.  The workers are very superstitious when it comes to the mines.  Outside of the mine belongs to God, but below the surface belongs to the Devil.  They call him “Tio” which means uncle.  If they appease the devil than he won’t mind if they take his silver and he want allow a collapse of the mines.  At the entrance to the mine, they sprinkle Llamas blood as a sacrifice for safe passage.  Once in the mine, there is a statue of Tio where the miners give him alcohol, cigarettes, and coca leaves to show him respect.  Also another superstition they have is that women can’t enter the mines.  The reason is that Pachamama (mother earth) will get jealous of a woman if she comes into the mines to work and that it can cause all sorts of problems.

 

Yea I bought some Dynamite!

El |Tio (Devil)

Once in the mines, things begin to get crazy.  The main tunnel into the mine is where the workers push the heavy carts in and out of the mine on tracks, hauling the precious ore or debris out of the mine.  It is extremely hard to stop a full cart, so if you are in the tunnel and see or hear a cart coming you have to run as quick as possible to find a place to get over to the side and out of the way.  It is an adrenaline rush when you know you have to hurry to find a safe place.  After dodging a few carts, we stopped to see Tio and give him some sacrifices.  We then made our way deeper into the mines to find some miners at work.  In the tunnels of the mines are many places where there are drop-offs up to 100ft down into the mountain.  So you have to carefully make your way through the tunnels where we encountered our first set of miners.  We were able to talk with them a bit and learn about their work in the mines.  We gave them some gifts and made our way deeper into the mines.  In order to reach the next group of miners, we had to get down on our stomachs to crawl through some small passageways.  Once we reached the miners, we had the opportunity to do some work.  I quickly volunteered.  I made my way back into their work area and began shoveling silver ore and debris down into a cavern below.  It was hard work but I enjoyed.  I could have stayed there the whole day and worked with them.  I truly enjoyed it.  Then we made our way to another worker who was above us and preparing to chip away in the caves above.  To reach him we had to crawl through more small tunnels and up through switch backs climbing up to where he was.  It wasn’t the safest of passageways but we made it up there.  We talked to the miner a bit then I helped him assemble his chipping machine.  Noticing what time it was we had to make our way out quickly because many people were detonating dynamite at 1 and we only had a few minutes to get out.  So we said farewell and quickly made our way back through the tunnels.  Once we finally made it to the main tunnel, we ran dodging many carts full of ore on the way out.  Finally, we saw day light and made our way out of the mines. 

 

Chilling in the Dark

Doing a Lil' bit of work (Notice all the dust flying around)

Chilling by the Carts

I had an amazing time in the mines and really could have spent the whole day down there.  But, the reality is that these mines are very dangerous.  Many people enter these mines everyday because there is no other option of work in the city.  Many start at young ages of 15 or sometimes less.  Many miners, unless they take care of themselves and are cautious, don’t live more than 15 years after entering the mines.  The mines employ around 15,000 workers.  The mines have claimed up to 8 million men since the discovery of silver.  The men who don’t die in the mines usually suffer and die from extreme cases of Silicosis from the dust and toxins they inhale day-in and day-out.  The conditions in the mines are rarely improved.  The mountain has become known as “The Mountain that eats men”.  If the mountain doesn’t get you the silicosis will.  In reality, once you begin working in the mines, you have signed your death sentence.  It is a tragedy that this is the only option for many young men.

After we had left the mines and made our way back to the city, I went over to the Casa de las Moneras to take a tour of the Spanish mint.  The Spanish empire ordered that a mint be built in Potosi to coin silver for the empire.  Once the king received the bill for the mint, his remarks were, “that mint must be made out of Silver”.  In this mint millions of coins were minted from the silver ore that was extracted from the mountain.  Many slaves from Africa and indigenous from Bolivia were forced to work in the mint.  There were many harsh conditions that went along with the work there.  In the mint were 3 large machines that were used to flatten and cut coins out of silver.  At first they were powered by 4 mules below that would turn a post that gave force to the machines.  Since the mules would die after a few months from all the work, 20 African slaves were used to turn each machine because they lived longer.  The history of this city that built the Spanish Empire is a long and sad past.

Mule powered Machines from inside the Mint

Some cool looking Scales

This place was built like a fort

The next day I went back to the bus terminal and quickly caught a bus to Sucre which is only 3 hours away.  Sucre is the real Capital of Bolivia and has been known by many names.  The names before were Charcas, La Plata, and Chuquisaca.  It now is also known as the White City because all the buildings in the city are white and it is illegal to paint them any other color.  It is a very beautiful city to relax in and enjoy the colonial architecture and narrow streets.  Since Sucre is at a lower elevation of 9, 220ft, it has a warmer climate than Potosi.  This appealed to many of the royal and wealthy families from Spain who were in the silver trade.  Many Spanish lived here as well as a prince who built a traditional castle near the city.  It was a pretty happen place which is why it became the Constitutional Capital of Bolivia.  Now it is only the seat of the Judiciary branch of the government because the President Evo Morales, wants to move everything to La Paz.  But that’s a long story I don’t want to get into…

 

Municipal  Building from the center

 Once in Sucre I quickly met a guy who took me to his hostel.  It was a pretty decent place with a nice Villa on top with couches and a huge TV as well as a great view of the city skyline.  I dropped my things in my room and showered before making my way down to the market to grab a late lunch.  As soon as I found the comedor of the market I sat down at a table and the lady brought me a plate of food.  It was amazing.  I sat there for a little while talking to a couple gringos and then made my way towards the city center to walk around a bit.  There is a large beautiful plaza in the center of the city.  It is like a small park with fountains and may large trees with park benches underneath.  It is an amazing place to relax and watch the busy people around you go about their days.  Afterwards, I walked around the city a bit more exploring looking for interesting things to do.  There isn’t much but there are a few things outside the city to do if you wanted to do a day trip.  I spent the evening relaxing and went to eat a nice filet mignon in a French restaurant before turning in for the night. 

 

View from my Hostel. (Notice all the White)

The city lights up at night!

The following morning I set out from my hostel to see if I could discover how to get to the overlook above the city before lunchtime.  I walked a few streets climbing the hills towards where I thought it should be.  After about an hour, I discovered a plaza high up on a hill with a church/museum on one side and a beautiful overlook on the other.  It was an amazing view of the city as you could see the white buildings with red tile roofs and narrow roads all throughout the city.  I winded my way back through the city towards the market to eat a plate of Mondongo, a famous plate that the region is known for.  It consists of a piece of pork cooked with red aji and yellow corn.  It was good but I’m sure there are better ones around the city.  Afterwards, I went back to the hostel to rest and watch some more of the World Cup.  In the evening I waited for my friend that I had met in Uyuni to pick me up.  She lives in Sucre so I figured she would be a great candidate to hangout with and learn more about the city.  The first place she took me was to the dinosaur park on the outskirts of town.  Years ago when they were clearing land for their cement production factory they were using dynamite.  On one mountain, the dynamite blew and a slab of the mountain slid down revealing hundreds of dinosaur footprints.  Apparently, millions of years ago, where Sucre is, use to be a lake and many dinosaurs trekked through the mud leaving their footprints.  With the seismic activity, the lake dried up and the muddy footprints were pushed up into a mountain.  It is pretty interesting and the people of Sucre are pretty proud of their dinosaurs and their park.

 

Beautiful Overlook for the city

Footprints of Dinosaurs

T-Rex trying to sneak up on me

Sun Setting over Sucre

After touring the park she took me on a tour around the city showing me the sights and the countryside.  It was really nice just to ride around and see the city.  Next we walked around the city seeing it lit up at night and we went to a park that I hadn’t been to yet.  It is called Parque Bolivar.  We were lucky because upon arriving, there were many college students practicing many traditional dances for a parade that they would be having a few days later.  So we just sat there and watched the band playing and the people dancing for about 30 minutes.  It was pretty awesome to watch.  Finally, we walked around the park which was cool because the whole park has a Paris theme except for the kids’ park right next to it which has a dinosaur theme of course.  We then went down to the central market to have buñuelos and tojori.  This is a traditional thing for many people to do in Sucre in the evening.  Buñuelos are kind of like a funnel cake and Tojori is a corn drink and they are both very tasty.  I could get use to having it every evening. 

 

From Parque Bolivar ( I think it is the Eiffel Tower?)

The main path through the park

Judiciary building overlooking the Park 

The next day I decided should be a restful day.  So I packed my things and then went to the bus station to buy my ticket to return to La Paz.  I then went back to my hostel and talked to the manager for a bit before walking down to the market to have some chorizos for lunch.  Afterwards I returned to the hostel and went up to the villa on top to kick back and watch some of the World Cup and relax drinking some Mate.  Later that evening I went back to the market to again eat Buñuelos and drink some Tojori before heading to the bus terminal.  I couldn’t think of a better way to end my vacation!