Freezing in Potosi... and some mines...

• Christianbjork's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Potosi

  Potosi, Bolivia
Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Yesterday apparently there were some confontations between the cops and some protestors in La Paz. I saw a huge march going down the street when I walked around a bit in the afternoon with people yelling and waving banners. Iīll post the pics soon.

I hung out at the hostal after eating lunch, relaxing a bit, and then around 6.15pm I headed out towards the bus station. As usual, there were lots of call-guys/girls trying to convince me to take their companyīs bus, and I ended up going with "El Dorado" which was leaving at 7pm and cost 40 Bolivianos. Sure enough, it left around 7pm, but then, since there were a few open seats left, we made a stop in "El Alto" (the city that has surged up on the valley outside of La Paz) waiting for other passengers. About 30 or 40 minutes later, we were finally on our way again.

So anyways, didnīt sleep too well, since it was FREEZING on the bus, so my upper half was ok, since I had my nice thick jacket, but my legs were pretty cold since I only had jeans. So we finally arrived in Potosi, around 4am and it was COLD cold cold. At first I didnīt know what the heck to do, since practically nothing was open. Oh, and interesting fact: I took my big backpack out of the bus storage and set it down on the ground. On top of a fresh little puddle of pee, yaay. It seems that whenever the bus stops people like to get off and pee aruond the bus like stray dogs. Anywho...

So I ended up following some Bolivians to a hostel near the bus stop, went in and killed some time for a bit, pretending I was going to stay (which I had no intention of doing, since I plan on leaving today towards Uyuni around 8pm). So anyways, I found a bit of a laundry area with some rags, so I went ahead and washed off the area of my backpack so it wasnīt quite so dirty, and that made me feel better. After another 10 or 15 minutes, the hostel guy was onto me, and I let him know that I didnīt really want to stay, and he kicked me out, hehe... really friendly.

After getting kicked out, I headed to an outdoors breakfast area, where a lady had a fire cooking water and some other stuff, so I promptly sat there, warming myself as well as I could, and had some Camomille tea and a couple pieces of bread with butter and jam. A bit pricey for 6 bolivianos, but it helped for a bit.

After sitting there for a bit, killing time, I took a taxi for 4 bolivianos to the plaza de armas. It was still way too early though, so I went walking around for a bit, quite cold, and found an open Church, where I sneaked in, and hung out during the mass that started a bit later. Finally, it was around 7.30am, so I walked back towards the Plaza de Armas and found a travel agency that was open.

Once there, I went ahead and booked a tour for the mines, where you see the miners work, learn about the harsh working conditions, history, etc., etc. I think it was slightly price at 60 Bolivianos, but Iīm pretty sure thatīs what the guides say it costs. So after that, I went walking around a bit, and found this internet cafe, so here I am updating my blog, as usual.

After the mine tour, Iīll try to check out a few museums and/or churches, and then catch the bus to Uyuni tonight.

1.45pm

So I survived the mine tour in Potosi... pretty crazy...

First we went to a midway house and changed into our mining clothes, helmet, and headlamp. Then we went up by Cerro Rico (I think thatīs the name) and got to blow up some dynamite, which was fun. Then we headed into the mines.

So yeah, if any of you out there is claustrophobic in the least or has asthma, I would *not* do this tour. It was really fun, but really crazy and kind of scary at times. You go through really narrow and low tunnels in pitch dark, and get to avoid the mine carts that are being constanty pushed around.

We also climbed up and down ladders; the last one was pretty scary, since it went down 15 meters straight down, and was kind of wobbly at times. Then, as we were leaving, you could hear dynamite being blown up in the distance, and then a bit later a lot closer. It was pretty fun but scary at the same time, since we were way deep under the mountain, and it sounded really close and would make the earth shake a bit, and you could see some rocks falling down some of the chutes.

So anyways, here I am updating my blog real quick while I had lunch, waiting for a museum to open up, then Iīll go vsit it and maybe somehting else, and check out the situation on the buses to Uyuni.

till next time...

PHOTOS