If you kids don't behave.....

......it'll be down the mines for you.
We arrived in Potosi and got ourselves set up in a hostal. No mean feat considering there are no street signs. That and we had a couple of stairs to get down with bikes to get them parked up securely.

Nope, not much fun at all.

So the next morning we head off to the mines. You've seen the adds, jolly Welshmen talking about pot noodles. Not this bunch. After getting kitted up in miners jackets, pants, boots and hard hats, we head off to the markets. Apparently it is customery to bring gifts of soda, cocoa leaves or dynamite to the miners, we opt for the soda and Mike can't resist the temptation to buy some dynamite. So we head up to Cerro Rico, a mine that has been in opperation from the arrival of the Spanish over 500 years ago and claimed over 9 million lives - moslty African and the local Indian slaves who had to spend 6 days a week working, eating and sleeping down in the mines, allowed out only one day a week.
It is a mountain at the top of Potosi and currently has 14000 miners working in it. The conditions are apalling and there is no Work Place Health and Safety, life expectancy is just 45 years for the miners. Boys from as young as 14 years old work in the mines, pushing trolleys weighing more than a tonne, from the depths of the mountains to the exit points, no electricity for winches, for over 10 hours a day. All for the equivlant of about $6 a day. We were down the mines for less than 2 hours and that was more than sufficient. With the arsenic fumes, cramped conditions and having to leap to safety, out of the way of hurtling trolleys, although enlightening, I couldn't wait to get out of there. If you ever hear me whinge about work again, remind me that anything is better than working down a mine in Boliviar.
As a side note, since leaving Boliviar, the Government has agreed to immplement a plan for better working conditions for all miners. They've only been waiting since 1985 for this.