Day 63 – Potosi

Mosquito infested swamps, death roads, can it get any worse? Yes it can as I now found myself in Potasi a city I have recently read is considered to be one of the most polluted places on the planet – this is almost entirely due to the enormous Silver Mine around which the city was built. The majority of the silver has long gone, taken by thieving Spanish colonialist (it makes a change for it not to be the British the locals despise) but the mines continue to operate for zinc, tin and aluminium.

Which brings me nicely to the reason I am here as not only is the mine still fully operational but enterprising ex-miners will show you the full operation in exchange for a few sheckles and the odd bribe to the working miners. As the tour is meant to be as authentic as possible, after decking us out in hardhat, overalls and boots our tour guide David took us to the miners market to stock up on essential items.

So it transpired that I found myself paying $3 for a stick of dynamite, a bag of nitroglycerine, a three minute fuse and the detonator. David assured me that without the detonator the dynamite was harmless – he then prooved this by sticking it in his mouth, lighting it and strolling around the shop like a slightly less scary-looking Jimmy Saville. Our next stop was for a $1 bag of Coca Leafs which the miners chew constantly both to alleviate hunger and to ensure they can complete the shifts of up to 24 hours, 'Are they not all out of there heads?' I asked David 'No, that is what this is for' he replied handing me a 96% proof plastic bottle of miners whisky, which costs $1. So with my bag full of high explosives, narcotics and hard liquor it was off to work we went.

As I was still at an altitude of over 4000m it was hard enough to breathe to start with, it got much harder as we crouched through dusty and pitch black tunnels (the owners will not pay for lights) and descended vertical ladders 100m deep into the mountain. Coming from a country where Health and Safety regulations are seemingly written by pencil-pushing cretins for the benefit of fellow work-shy cretins the tour was a real eye-opener as to what happens when an employer has no obligation to worker safety, indicating a cable running along the ceiling, within easy reach David gasped 'I forgot to say, don't touch that it's live, touch it and you will die'.

We talked to a group of workers and handed out our stash of dynamite, Coca and booze for which they were most grateful and shared the whiskey with us – there are not many places I would drink 96% proof whisky at the best of times 100m below the entrance of an industrial mine would certainly be amongst the last of my choices. Still it would be rude not to.

There is no age limit for working in the mine, kids start working as young as 13, deaths from cave-ins are common and life expectancy is 35 but the money on offer $150-$200 a week is five or six times what an average Bolivian earns in a month so for the workers the appalling conditions and risks are worth it. As David told me 'No one forces us to work here'.

After four hours our tour was done and we were exhausted and If any of you have some troublesome teenagers at home, get them over here I can introduce them to David and you'll make a nice few quid.