Mines of Cerro Rico

mitchww@me.com
First Reviewer
4 out of 5
Avg. Member Rating
2
Reviews

Potosi mine tours

  • June 25, 2002
  • Rated 4 of 5 by JemmaT from Cambridge, United Kingdom
A tour of the cooperative mines is a shocking experience. You will be taken down into the mines through the cramped tunnels, and meet the miners who have to work in these conditions all day long.

We were lucky enough to meet a miner who had just completed a hole for dynamite, so we got to see an explosion. The fuse was lit and we had one minute to get far enough away to hear the explosion from a safe distance. You could feel the explosion shake the ground.

Before going into the mine, we were encouraged to buy the miners presents, such as dynamite, coca leaves, or cigarettes. I would recommend doing this as well; just buy something. It is inexpensive and gets you some interesting stories!

Be prepared to get dirty. Protective clothing is provided, but the mud still gets in, and you will have to crawl on the floor and squeeze through some holes in the wall.

From journal Breathless in Potosi

Editor Pick

Mines of Cerro Rico

  • September 10, 2000
  • Rated 4 of 5 by mitchww@me.com from Chicago, Illinois
It's like nothing you've ever imagined. The small tour group's first stop is at the miners' markets where visitors and miners purchase supplies. The supplies turn out to be alcohol, cigarettes, coca leaves and dynamite. After another quick stop to don rubber rain coats, boots and miner helmets complete with lamps, your bus takes off for the mines.

Entering the mines is a step into the past. Miners still work by hand cutting small shafts in which to place their dynamite. The air is thick with dust which vibrates with each groundshaking dynamite explosion. Thousands of miners work through the mountain with no central control or plan. Collapses are common. Visitors watch miners drunk on alcohol and stimulated by coca leaves (to ward off hunger) cut at the stubborn rock faces in search of zinc and tin and the rare vein of silver. In Spanish times Cerro Rico was known throughout the world for its silver deposits which are now mostly played out.

We visited with the miners and gave them the gifts we had purchased in the market. Many tours can be quite challenging physically including crawling through tight tunnels and climbing ladders up tight shafts.

Our guide showed us how dynamite is prepared and then had us huddle in a rock alcove as he set off an explosion which blew out our lamps and left us cowering in the dark!

The last hour of the tour was spent sitting in a dead end of the tunnel with the rock idol of the miners, Tio. Our guide recounted the horrors of working in the mines today and in colonial times when over 8 million slaves perished at the hands of the Spanish colonizers.

From journal The Highest City in the World

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