Boys and their dynamite toys
Trip Start
Jun 26, 2008
1
28
103
Trip End
Jun 2009
Potosi,
Bolivia
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
We spent the first day investigating tours of the Salt flats and exploring. The next day the boys both returned to being little boys and wanted to "buy dynamite and blow it up". Since none of us were interested in actually going into the mines themselves we headed to the miners Market. Alanna and I were secretly hoping that they would a) come to their senses (what happens to people's sensibility when they travel?)
B) not find any dynamite to buy
C) not find anywhere to set it off.
When they found a vendor and bought not 1 but 5 sticks all hope of A and B disappeared and I decided to have a little tantrum and tell them that I thought that their plan was irresponsible and juvenile. Maybe the reality was starting to kick in as GT, the instigator of the plan, was too woosy to carry the sticks and gave them to Kingsley. Alarmingly at the entrance to the mine, the lady selling jelly was very eager to take them round to hill behind the church to play demolition. Luckily they hesitated ( guess we should have given them more credit) enough for a guide to arrive and explain that the police had stopped explosions due to risk to miners ( duh). They gave the dynamite as a gift to a delighted miner and were content just to have been able to buy some!!
That afternoon we left the Taylors to enjoy the sunshine and visited the Mint museum. It was a fascinating tour and interesting to learn mire about this city that used to be bigger than London and a centre of such wealth and power for Spain.
That night we decided to go to another movie before our next 6 days in remote landscapes. The cinema was in an old theater with the same staff member running from ticket office to sweet stall to ticket tearing. we were the only people in the balcony (if not the whole theater). When the movie began we were plunged into a pitch black eeriness. To allay my nervousness I joked that it was like a scene from a horror movie. Big mistake as it gave the boys the idea of teasing Alanna who is terrified of horror movies. Thankfully the movie shut them up.
The next morning there were big celebrations in the square and fire crackers (a South American favorite that are set off every day in every town at all hours for any excuse). The march to Congress in La Paz had been successful in changing the constitution and the native people were partying. On the way out of town we saw more nice squares and colonial buildings and realized that there was even more to this lovely city than we had had time for.
