T.N.T. I’m Dynamite

Dynamite – it puts a smile on my face (but more on that later). Deeanne and I arrived in Potosi after an all night bus from La Paz. We finally caught a flight out of the jungle. The reality of going from near sea level to the highest city in the world was brutal. Potosi is famous for two things: it is claimed to be the highest city in the world at 13,420 feet and it has a huge silver mine that has been in operation for over 400 years.

The city was founded as a mining town in 1546. It quickly became one of the largest and richest cities in the Americas. “According to official records, 45,000 tons of pure silver were mined from 1556 to 1783. Of this total, 7,000 tons went to the Spanish monarchy.” Under Spanish rule the city blossomed into a beautiful colonial city, many of the buildings remain to this day. After our mine tour Deeanne and I spent a pleasant afternoon wandering down cobblestone streets and visiting it’s main plaza. In 1987 UNESCO declared Potosi a World Heritage Site.

The main attraction in Potosi still remains the mines. We arrived at 6:30am and caught a taxi to our hostel where we dropped our backpacks and immediately booked a mine tour for 9:00am. Countless travelers had regaled us on horrors of the mines. Tours typically are not fun; one does a tour to see the working conditions miners have lived in for generations, not for a fun jaunt.

It was not until 1984 that the mines were turned over to indigenous laborers, prior to this it was under corporate control, and prior to that Spanish colonial control.  Under colonial rule indigenous workers were forced to work the mines as slave laborers. Conditions under company rule did not much improve as wages and conditions created a form or indentured servitude. “It is estimated that, in the past years of indigenous labor, roughly 8 million Indians died; not simply from exposure and brutal labor, but by mercury poisoning, and silicosis of the lungs. Even today miners still have a short life expectancy with most of them contracting silicosis and dying around 40.”

Today all miners work in cooperatives and labor in the mines is voluntary. Entering the mines is described as entering the jaws of hell. First, you are at an altitude of 13,420 feet. Think about climbing a Colorado 14er and then mining. Second, you are greeted with staggering heat. Third, already out of breath you get to breath noxious vapors. Prior to heading into the mines the five of us led by our guide walked through the markets in town and bought gifts for miners. Talking to tourists gives miners a break and it is customary to bring them gifts. Under colonial rule miners were not allowed to leave the mine for up to four months. Today miners typically start at 9:00 or 10:00am and leave around 6:00pm. They do not bring lunches relying on Coca leaves, 192 proof alcohol (96%), and cigarettes to get them through the day. We bought them bags of Coca leaves, soda, and dynamite. This brings me to my favorite part. How often do you get to walk around town bargaining for dynamite and cocaine unless you are playing “Grand Theft Auto”?

AC/DC’s song T.N.T. kept playing in my head as we walked around with sticks of dynamite tucked into our pants.

Cos I’m
T.N.T.
I’m Dynamite
T.N.T.
And I’ll win the fight
T.N.T.
I’m a power-load
T.N.T.
Watch me Explode

Its full name is 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene; what you actually carry around is the solid reagent. You combine this with an igniter and renitrate it with another reagent. We just threw all three into our bag. Deeanne was a little jumpy to say the least. It didn’t help that the guide joked that Bolivian dynamite is like the T.N.T. found in the Looney Tunes series with Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner (unstable would be an understatement).

 Loaded down with our dynamite, Coca leaves, and cola we headed into the mines. Our first visit was to the patron saint of the city. The second visit was to the patron of the mine - Satan. The Spanish introduced Diablo as a god “dios” to frighten the miners into working faster or face being devoured in hell. This didn’t really work, instead the miners came to adopt “Tio” (uncle), as they call him, as the god of the mine, since he is the god of the underworld. He came to be known as Tio because the indigenous couldn’t pronounce the “d” in dios. Entrance into the mine requires a stop by Tio and gifts are given to him in the form of cigarettes, Coca leaves, and alcohol for safe passage.

After stopping by Tio we made our way deeper into the mine. At this point we started noticing the heat. An estimated 400 plus miles of tunnels honeycomb the mountain. If we encountered a group of miners we would sit and chat a bit, share gifts and then wander deeper into the mines. We met and talked with three different groups of miners all working different silver veins. The conditions were not as bad as we had imagined but we didn’t go terribly deep. Average wage for a beginner miner is $40 to $60 USD a week. Even the conditions we saw were definitely not worth that wage. Sunlight was a welcome sight after spending only three hours entombed in the mountain.

I asked our guide if we could set off some dynamite and so we saved one stick. We found a spot off to the side of the mine entrance and the guide (a previous miner) prepped the fuse and lit it. We all crouched about 50 ft away. I was only slightly worried when the guide just kept walking until he disappeared over the hill back towards the bus. It was only half a stick though and wasn’t actually that much worse than the stuff I’ve bought in Mexico before and set off in front of Deeanne’s parent’s house. It would have set off car alarms for a couple of blocks but you are no worse for wear unless you are holding it.

The next morning we hopped on a bus bound for Sucre. After carrying around dynamite, the crazy roads with no seatbelts and a near total disregard for public safety didn’t seem too bad.

Tagged as: Bolivia, Dynamite, Potosi, TNT