Mr Hodges - Dads Army

We'd been told that it was 'traditional' (expected) that visitors to the mine would take a gift of some kind, be it cigarettes, bottle of fizzy drink, coca leaves etc. Having browsed around the mining supply store Jose and I decided to buy some Dynamite... and Coca Cola. Possibly a strange combination, but happy with our purchases we joined the others and carried onwards to the mine.

Once a the mine we handed over our 'gifts' and were very pleased to be offered a demo of "blowing something up" with our Dynamite. However, being inexperienced in the art of shopping for explosives, Jose and I had bought the sticks of Dynamite and the fuses, but we didn't get the little detonator that joins the fuse and dynamite together. School boy error! I guess i'll know better next time I buy some Dynamite (can't imagine when that is likely to be!) What I found most disturbing was the fact that Jose wanted to KEEP the Dynamite so we could buy some detonators after the mining tour and try it out on our own later. "How hard can it be?" The fact that it was probably very easy didn't make his suggestion any more appealing and after a little reasoned arguement he agreed to leave the explosives with the miners and we started the tour. A result!

A short way into the mine we came across the statue of a rather odd looking creature with horns, as it turned out, that was the adopted strategy for mining safety. Basically you visit the statue, say a few words (probably along the lines of "PLEASE don't let me die today"), splash a bit of almost pure alcohol around the base of the statue (always a good idea to have a decent supply of alcohol with you before starting work in a dangerous environment!), and then hope for the best. I'm sure we could all learn something from this and maybe implement some similar safety measure in the mines in the UK - if only we had any left.

Free At Last!

After descending into the depths of the mine, the guide sat us down and regailed us with stories of "The Thieving Spaniards" and the importance of splashing Llama blood at all the entrances and exits in order to ensure productivity. With the tour complete, we made our way out, blinded by the daylight and happy to be able to stand upright again. After searching Jose for any explosives we left the mine.

The subject of 'The Thieving Spanish' which was basically refering to the days of The Spanish Conquests in South America (let it go people!) had already been brought up during our mining tour and it came up a couple of other times. One time in particular was in conversation with a slightly drunk local who all but accused Jose of stealing HIS silver. It was from that point onwards that Jose decided to drop his Spanish heritage and masquerade as a Venezuelan.

The timing of our visit to Potosi coincided with a series of miners protests, one of which resulted in the blockading of all entry/exit roads to the town. The indefinite duration of these blockades was beginning to cause a problem for us as having visited the mine, there was nothing left to keep us in Potosi. However, the reports we were getting indicated that it wouldn't be possible to leave the town. One such report came back as "The miners have Dynamite and they're not afraid to use it!" It almost made me wish we'd kept ours.

So, through a mix of different stories, we decided that the only way to be sure was to go out there and find out for ourselves. We packed the bags and caught a taxi to the first blockade. Things seemed peacful enough. The road was certainly impassable to any traffic and there were a large number of miners 'manning' the blockade - many of them playing football or sitting around with their families.

Nobody seemed to mind as we walked through and out the other side. The main problem was that the roads were not just blocked at one point. So, another 10km further down the road was another blockade. Fortunately, we managed to find a ride (which had been used to transport miners) to take us to the next blockade. Similarly, all was peaceful here too and again we were able to walk on through. There were 5 blockades in total on the exit road and each time we were able to walk through and find transport to the next one. Our luck continued as we cleared the last blockade and saw the open road to Sucre ahead. I approached a man who I thought was a taxi driver, but it turned out that he was from Sucre and had driven down trying to visit some relatives in Potosi. Somehow he hadn't heard the news of the blockades. Anyway, he was just about to turn around and head back to Sucre. "Did we want a lift?"

So, we managed to escape from Potosi, we got a ride to Sucre, and nobody threw any Dynamite at us. I'd call that a pretty successful day...