After being in Potosi for a couple of days visiting the lovely architecture, I decided to book on a tour to the mines, and where better than Potosi, where the number one attraction is the mine. I have never been to a mine before, so for me this was something really exciting. And after strolling around town I soon found the company that suited me and booked the tour for the afternoon.
When our tour began at 14:00 I was joined by two Bolivian girls, we took a short taxi ride to the “miners market” in town, together with our Spanish speaking guide. There was a selection of gifts that we could have chosen from, this is customary for tour groups to bring for the miners. This included dynamite and Coca Leaves. No worries there, we went for the safest option. Just in case we blew ourselves up before we got there! So we each bought a bag of coca leaves and large bottles of soft drinks for gifts. After buying our gifts and slipping into our finest mining gear of rubber boots, rain suits, helmets and a head-lamp we continued our tour to the Co-Operativa mine. This started with a walk through a tunnel that looked more like going into a black abyss. There were rail tracks below our feet, these were being used for the trolley’s to dump their loads outside, along with mud and puddles, there was also some wooden supports around us, some air compressor lines loosely strung above our head, and the air was thick and humid and there were drops of water/acid coming from everywhere. The actual tunnel was so low and cramped with cables, wooden gates that I had to keep a crouched walk for the entire tour as I kept bagging my head most of the time, not that I am that tall but these mines are built for Bolivians and they are not the tallest of people!
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