More rocks and gravel of Bolivia.
I was bound and determined to take the tour into a real mine (zinc, tin and silver), since I missed the real dinosaur footprints the day before. Tom wanted to go to the mint museum to see how they printed and minted their monies, since he was a coin collector from way back. I wanted to see the mine — even though we were only allowed to be inside the mine for 30 minutes due to the horrid air quality inside.
It was me, a 60-year old, and two under-40’s. But it was SO WORTH IT!!
We were picked up by a guy who had worked in the mines for 12 years and he took us to his house on a non-assuming street. It apparently was his basement and it was filled with miner equipment. We donned, pants, a coat, rubber boots and a helmet with a light.
I had the hardest time with the boots. They were rubber and a little large, so I had no foot support in climbing the mountain with the loose gravel and dust. I did make it into the mine with the helping hand of our guide on the steepest parts.
There were moms and little kids milling around because apparently a school was near. We asked a mom to take our picture. Seeing her finger in this and another picture, I knew she wasn’t a professional photographer. Too funny.
Our tour guide paraded us through the mining part of the city. No one else had these outfits on and we stuck out like the tourists we were.
It was all fascinating. This was a woman with a little booth where she sold cocoa leaves, 96% alcohol, packs of 6 cigarettes and some black edible rubber stuff. The miners filled one cheek with loads of cacao leaves that they would leave in that cheek for hours. It was an appetite suppressant, since they worked 8 hours without a lunch break, but it would give the miners a stomach ache. The black rubber stuff was eaten in little pieces to relieve the ache. The alcohol was 96% pure; representing and thanking the mountain for providing 96% pure minerals. It was used to pour on Pachamama, the religious idol they thanked every Friday afternoon for keeping them safe. The cigarettes were just because the miners smoked.
Pachamama is a goddess beloved by people of the Andes Mountains. She is also sometimes known as Mother Earth. Pachamama represents the earth’s fertility. She rules over the planting and harvesting of crops, as well as the mountains. She also causes earthquakes.
Years ago, when the Christians came and insisted the locals become Catholic — or die!! — the locals were not dumb and became Catholics. The Catholics destroyed all the idols from the locals’ old religions. But how do you destroy a mountain? or a river? or the sun? The locals worshiped, the land, the mountains, the earth, etc. Today their country constitution allows for religious freedom of any religion and many Bolivians are a combination of Christianity and their original beliefs. Statistically, 70% are Catholic.
While in the town, we bought the bags of cacao leaves, alcohol, cigs. We also bought small triangular bags of fresh water and some cookies.
It was unusual for tourists to come into the mines, so on the way up the mountain, we would pass out cacao leaves, alcohol and water to whomever we met. They were very appreciative and therefore didn’t mind our intrusion.
A family with kids live in one of the shanties near the mine entrance to protect the mines during the night. We gave the mom cookies for her kids.
The green tubes are the cords they attached to the TNT to blast some of the mountain away.
The mine we were in did not use TNT, and that is why those miners could smoke cigs in the mine.
Surabhi with a couple bags of water and some dog friends we met. The mine entrance looked a little iffy to me.
Here Cole was handing out water and cacao leaves.
I tried to look like a serious-minded, real minor. I guess with the long fingernails and the eyelashes, I wasn’t fooling anybody.
This is what these guys did 8 hours a day. And without a mask!! Filled, the tram weighed a ton – 2,ooo pounds.
Here our guide shows us how they honor Pachamama with the alcohol and how they give thanks to her for a safe week.
Only headlamps lit the way. And note the fat cheek filled with cacao leaves.
There was no lighting inside and no directional signs and the only light we had was our headlamps. We all turned them off at one point and realized how scary it would be to be in that dark cave! The spotlights were just us looking at the veins of metals in the walls.
In this particular mine they were pulling out silver, zinc and tin. Interestingly, silver doesn’t shine like the rest of the minerals.
Just a creepy walk into the mine.
Veins of minerals in the walls.
After the mine we had lunch. This was a special soup that kept boiling in your bowl! Turns out there were very hot rocks put in the bottom of the bowl that kept the soup steaming and bubbling hot. Cool!!
The best part of the trip is yet to come — salt flats!!