Potosi and The Mines

Trip Start Dec 16, 2007
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Trip End Jul 09, 2008


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Wednesday, February 13, 2008

I was fortunate enough to have seen the sombering documentary the Devilīs Miner the night before I arrived in Potosi, because it gave me a bit of background knowledge on the tragic circumstances of the mining heritage that has dominated this town since the colonial times. At one point, during colonial times, Potosi was wealthier than both Paril and London. The film essentially focuses on the life of a 14 year old boy who works in the mines. The conditions portrayed in the film are so appallinng and dangerous. And because of all the dust the builds up in theor lungs, most miners die within 10 years of entering into the mine, and already 8 million men have died in Cerro Rico (which is the mountain). I also learned from the film that although the miners wosrship God when they are outside of the mines, in the mines they make offers to the Tio, which is essentially based on the idea that the devil protects them underground cause itīs sorta his turf. His mane actaully originated from God, which is Dios in Spanish, but since the local language did not have the letter D it turned into Tio new duds
new duds
 . And in order to scare the locals into essentially slavery the Spanish imposed this idea of the Tio.

So once in Potosi, the highest city in the world at 4060m above sea level, I took a mining tour to see the mines up close, it was certainly an eye opening experience. They were so dark and damp and dusty and at points we were practically crawling. It is so sad because since Cerro Rico has been mined for hundreds of years it really doesnīt produce all that much but I guess there arenīt that many other options since Potosi has always been a mining town. And so many of the miners are so young between 12-20 years old. It was such a sombering experience.

Potosi also has one of the best musuems Iīve been in in Bolivia, the Casa de la Moneda. The building itself is absolutely gorgeous and used as the mint until 1951, when other countires started minting their coins. Little interesting tidbet, Canada mints the 5 Boliniano coin, which is similiar in looks to the toonie. A major section of the musuem was dedicated to the history of the mint, appropriately enough since Potosi was a major silver producer, including coins for other countries such as Spain. The process of making the coins in colonial times was absolutely exhausting. Initially people would take a piece of silver, a mold, an anvil and just punch it with a hammer but it became too easy to fake these coins so thatīs when the crazy time consuming, labour intensive process was implemented. First the silver would be melted in huge pots and then poured into 2 cm thick block molds. Then these blocks would be taken to the press and pressed 12 times for the silver to get down to the necessary thickness of .5mm. Each machine had 4 presses which worked by a cog like mechanism that were put in motion by 4 mules walking in circles on the floor below. The pressed sheets would then get cut into coins and eventually punched with the approproate symbols and lettering. Yup ,crazy. The museum also showcased a great art collection and different artifacts such as pottery, textiles, skulls, mummies etc. There was also and extensive and chronologiacal display of different coins and silver pieces made during Colonial times such as mirrors, goblets, candlabras, ornaments etc. A very worthwhile musuem.
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