But first we need to finish with my final
days in Bolivia. The reason for this rather long abstinence is the lack of Internet I experienced the last couple of days. The connection in the mines of
Potosi was bad, almost as bad as the one I had (or better haven’t had) on the
salt flats.
Let’s start at the beginning, shall we…
After the week in La Paz I had to go on to Potosi – time is running. Potosi is
the world’s highest Town, or at least one of them. At 4100m it became famous
for its gold and silver mines. The Conquistadors knew soon, that this mine
could keep their emperor happy and so they shipped a lot of gold back to Spain,
but not all of it reached its destination. Quite a lot can still be found
somewhere between Argentina and Spain, on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The
classic tourist adventure in Potosi is a visit of the mines. Compared to any
other ones you might be able to visit in Europe, those are still in use and
miners work hard with their hands – yes, no single machine is used; all man
power – to get the precious metals. I took a tour guided by ex-miners. First
thing on this tour is the visit of the miners market to get some gifts for the
workers. In a small store we bought some juice, coca leaves, cigarettes and a
stick of dynamite including fuse and propellant… Yes, you can buy dynamite
there and the whole bundle was 15 Bolivianos which is €1.50 – just imagine new
years with some dynamite ;)
When you finally step inside the mountain you can experience firsthand the hard
day to day life those men have. I think I have been able to walk upright for
about 15min in the whole 2.5h hour tour. Often we had to squeeze ourselves to
holes not much bigger than ourselves, pushing the backpacks in front of us. The
whole trip we spend walking in absolute dark just brightened by our tiny flashlights
in the warm and stifling air. Watching miners push wagons full of „dirt“ in an
altitude of over 4100m for 12h a day. The question which arises: Why do they do
it?! And the answer is as simple: Money! Apparently miners earn quite good. The
normally start in the age of 15 because the want to buy their first fancy jeans
or a bike or whatever and just keep on digging because they are getting used to
the money. Most of them quite at about 30 because the work is just too much for
the human body, but there are quite a few working until their late 50th.
We were really lucky because while we crawled through the mines we experienced
a real detonation in the narrow alleys. At the time a though the explosion was
really loud but when I checked the video late this day I realized that it was
just the pressure a could feel on my whole body and my ears – the noise was
secondary.
After the time in the dark narrow mines, I
needed some space – what would be better than the Bolivian salt flats…
I went to Tupiza to experiences the flats and the nature surrounding it. That meant
talking a 4 day jeep tour and sleeping in simple Refugios in places where the temperature
can drop below -10°.
Perfect preparation for a trip to Mongolia – right my „General“ ;)
We boarded a massive Toyota Land Cruiser at Sunday Morning. Our driver Mario
and Fortunata our cook where already waiting on the sleepy tourists. In a convoy
of 3 jeeps we started the trip. We climbed up on dirt roads until we peaked out
at about 5000m, driving through canyons and crossing rivers – I wish Mario
would have let me drive his V8 jeep J
On the way we saw lamas, ostriches, flamingos and some other animals I’ve never
seen before in the wild. There have also been smoking volcanoes and large coral
reeves without water. The last day started at 4:30 – as all of you know, this
is my favorite time to get up – the get on the island on the salt flats to see
the sunrise. It was freezing, maybe -5° and I was not really up to the challenge
– climbing an island at 3000m at 5:00 in the morning. But I managed it after
all. The reward was an astonishing sunrise over a vast land. The white salt
flats gave the sun the perfect backdrop for her show. After the sunrise and the
breakfast we headed out to the flats to get ready for „fotos locos“ as Mario
says. We spent almost 2h Mario getting crazy and taking our pictures. It’s not
as easy as it always looks, but we managed to take some nice pics after all.
Right now I’m sitting in a hostel in Salta
Argentina. I’m impressed about the effects a boarder can have to people. After
all this very indigenes looking Bolivians, I’m expiring the almost European
looking Argentinians right now.
And it’s right what they say about the women
– I’m looking forward to the rest of Argentina ;)
I think it’s time to end and drink the
other half of my 1l beer…
Greets from Salta
alex
PS: lots of pictures :)
Potosi
Tupiza and Salar de Uyuni
