Blowin’ Up Bolivia – Potosi & Sucre

Its always been a dream of ours to go deep into an active Bolivian mine and blow up some dynamite. Okay, maybe it maybe hasn’t always been a dream of ours. But it has certainly been our dream ever since we found out it was something we could actually do in the city of Potosi.

The city of Potosi exists because of the mining industry.  The Spanish founded the city in 1545 and immediately started mining silver in the nearby mountain.  In the late 19th century silver became less profitable, and the focus of the mining switched to tin and zinc.  Nowadays the mines are still in operation and are run as cooperatives that export most of their product overseas.

The beautiful colonial streets in the centre of Potosi.  The mountain called Cerro Rico looms over the city in the background.  Cerro Rico has been mined for silver, tin, and zinc for nearly 500 years.

We were in Potosi on La Dia de Los Muertos, or as we better know it The Day of the Dead.  On November 2, people throughout Latin America honor their deceased family and friends.  This was a memorial set up to remember Che Guevara, who was famously captured and killed in Bolivia while assisting the communist rebellion.  People were lined up to pay their respects.

Sunset in the second highest “large city” (i.e. more than 100,000 people) in the world.  Potosi has an average elevation of 4090 m.  The highest large city in the world is also in Bolivia: the city of El Alto, which is at an average elevation of 4150 m.

Mine tours are Potosi’s number one attraction, so there are no lack of companies to choose from.  We usually try to find the cheapest tour in town, and more often then not this results in a little extra adventure that goes above and beyond.  This time around we had a bit of an an adventure just getting to the mine.  The other tour groups we saw were in nice vans, but not us.  After suiting up in our safety gear, our guide walked us down the street and hopped onto a public bus.  The sight of two gringos riding the local bus, fully decked out in protective gear, welly boots, and headlamps definitely turned a few of the passengers’ heads.

The first stop on our mining tour was the local miner’s market.  Its basically a bunch of small stores on a street just down from the mines that sell all the supplies the miners need on a daily basis.  The miners are mostly Quechua people who worship parts of both Catholicism and the traditional Andean religions.  This unique mixture of religions is an important way of life, both at home and at work.  So when at the miners market, we bought some offerings of thanks to bring with us into the mine.

Emily and our guide in their safety gear outside one of the mining shops.

Our offerings! Coca leaves, baking soda (to activate the coca when its in your mouth), cigarettes, and, not pictured, a bottle of alcohol that our guide said was 96% concentration.

Oh and we also bought some dynamite, a bag of ammonium nitrate (to increase the explosive yield) and a fuse.  For only 20 Bolivianos (less than $4 CAD) you can buy everything you need for a good time in Potosi.

After buying the necessities at the market we hopped back onto a local bus and headed to the mine entrance.  The mine is active, though on the day we visited there was no one around because it was a holiday (the Day of the Dead).

Before entering, we placed offerings of coca leaves on each side of the entrance.  We then poured some of the 96% alcohol on top of the leaves.  For the final step we each did a shot of the alcohol, which as it turns out tastes like rubbing alcohol and/or pure burning.  The offerings are intended to satisfy Pachamama, the Goddess of the Earth (Mother Earth) worshiped by the indigenous peoples of the Andes.

The average Bolivian is quite short, so we had to really watch our heads inside the mine. Emily is not used to visiting construction sites like Doug, so she kept underestimating the extra height her hardhat gave her, whacking her head more than a few times.

In the local mythology El Tio, the Lord of the Underworld, lives beneath the surface of the earth. For the miners who spend much of their lives underground, it is important to pay respects to El Tio to ensure their safety and prosperity.  Its not at all “Devil Worship”, but more like a way to pay respect to the underground part of the Earth.  So our first order of business upon entering the mine was to head to the El Tio shrine area to pay our respects.

This is the shrine for El Tio. Each week the miners leave offerings that include coca leaves, cigarettes, and small bottles of that awful alcohol.  Notice the cigarette in the Devil’s mouth?  Our guide actually lit it and put it there.  We also placed the rest of our coca leaves and alcohol on the shrine.

Having satisfied both Pachamama and El Tio, it was time to get down to work with our remaining purchase: the dynamite.  We kept going deeper into the mountain, and after around 800m we descended down six rather wobbly ladders to one of the lower levels.

Heading down six ladders, or around 30m.

Once at the bottom, we helped our guide prepare the explosive.  The ammonium nitrate is placed on top of the dynamite (nitro glycerin) to increase the yield of the explosion.  Then the fuse is inserted, and everything is wrapped up in paper.

Just like in the cartoons, all you need to do is peel back the green coating at the end of the fuse and use a lighter to set it going.  The fuse burned like a sparkler for a birthday cake.

The fuse was approximately three minutes long.  Once it was lit, our guide took off down one of the tunnels to place the dynamite.  After around 30 seconds she came rushing back, and we all hid around a corner.  The explosion was loud, especially in the small space.  Afterwards the only real evidence of the explosion was the amount of dust in the air.

Back safely out of the mine, with a view over the top of Potosi. The mine experience with the explosive was definitely one of the more unusual things we have done so far on our trip.

Other than the mine tours and a small city centre with some nice colonial buildings, there isn’t much else to do in Potosi.  Like most people, we stayed only for a day and a half and then moved on by bus to the city of Sucre.

Founded by the Spanish in 1538, Sucre is one of the oldest cities in South America.  In Bolivia it is known as a city of universities, with an extremely laid-back vibe.  Apparently travelers come to Sucre for a few days and end up staying a few weeks or more.  We had been moving pretty quickly since leaving Santiago less than two weeks ago, so Sucre sounded like the perfect city to relax before heading into the next stage of our trip through La Paz and Peru. Sucre is also known as a good place to learn Spanish, so Emily especially wanted to take the opportunity to attend some classes at one of the numerous Spanish schools.

True to its reputation, Sucre proved to be a great place to slow down and relax.  Other than the beautiful downtown filled with colonial buildings, there isn’t a lot to do or see.  But the city has a really relaxed, laid back feeling that certainly doesn’t feel like anywhere else we have been in Bolivia.

Sucre is known as “The White City” for all its white-washed colonial buildings.

We took it slow in Sucre, so we don’t have a lot of crazy stories, or photos of beautiful landscapes or architecture to share.  But we did put together a small collection of photos that we think gives a brief glimpse into every day life in a big, modern Bolivian city.

Bolivia is a country of markets, and the Central Mercado in Sucre is an amazing place.  If you need groceries, this is the place to go.  Its broken into sections by product – fruits, vegetables, bread, meats, household goods, etc.  Most of the stall are run by women, who spend their day yelling loudly to advertise their goods to everyone with earshot.

This section is entirely made up of stands selling fresh fruit juice and fruit salad.  For 6 Bolivianos (just more than $1 CAD) you can have whatever fresh fruit drink you want.

In the past 11 months we have spent a lot of time wandering around markets and we thought we had seen it all.  But this was a new one for us – cow snouts.

If you’re looking for lunch, head to the top floor of the market to the “food court”.  There are 20 or so food stalls which, confusingly, all sell pretty much the same dishes at the same prices.

Each stall has a lady out front showing you all their different dishes and trying to get you to take a seat.  The food looks the same everywhere, so deciding where to eat is a bit of random chance.  But its the cheapest place to eat in town, and everything we ate was very good.

For around $5 CAD total, we had a plate of pollo piqante (spicy chicken, on the left) and chorizo sausage (on the right).  They were both good, though the sausage wasn’t really what we would consider chorizo.  In Bolivia they seem to refer to all sausage as chorizo.

Back again for another lunch.  On top is a traditional Bolivian stewed pork dish called mondongo, and below is sopa de mani (peanut soup).  The soup didn’t taste like peanuts at all, and for some reason they put french fries in it.

If you’re looking for something fancier (i.e. more expensive) to eat, Sucre has no lack of western and higher-end restaurants.  We were surprised to find that a number of them are actually owned by western ex-pats, like the popular bar/restaurant Florin which is owned by a Dutch guy who has lived in the city for the last nine years.  These sorts of places aren’t cheap, and you can easily pay more for a bottle of IPA than for two or three entire meals back at the central market.  But they seem to do very well, especially with those travelers who aren’t brave enough to tackle the food court in the central market.

Watching the Manchester United game and introducing Doug to some fantastic Dutch bitterballen at Florin. This was definitely the place for foreigners to be on Sunday afternoon, as it was packed before and during the game.

Parts of Sucre are surprisingly modern, and sometimes its easy to forget that you’re in the middle of one of the poorest countries in South America.  There are plenty of western amenities, like a shopping mall complex just down from our hostel that has a movie theater showing the latest Hollywood films (all en Español, unfortunately), and also a food court filled with Bolivian fast-food chains (Rather refreshingly we didn’t encounter any of the typical western chains – McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, etc – anywhere in the city.).

Surprisingly good buffalo style chicken wings from the mall food court, complete with veggies and blue cheese dip.  These would be considered pretty decent wings back in Canada.

The shopping mall also has a large western style supermarket, for those who don’t feel like fighting the crowds over at the Central Mercado.  There are relatively few imported goods, and most of the items on the shelves are proudly labelled “made in Bolivia”.  Now if only we could find some cheese powder to go with these noodles…

Worcestershire sauce is literally translated to “English Sauce”.

We have found ourselves commenting that the feel in Bolivia is remarkably similar to the poorer countries in Southeast Asia, like Burma or Laos.  The level of development is quite similar, and despite the obvious language and cultural differences, they have a remarkably similar “vibe”.  And much like Asia, Bolivia’s stores and markets are filled with hilariously off-brand and knock-off products.

Just in time for the new Star Wart movie coming out next month.

Teenage Mutant Ninja….Tortoises?  Maybe this one makes sense – after all, this part of Bolivia is extremely arid so there probably isn’t enough water for turtles to survive.

The streets of Sucre are filled with Chinese-made cars and trucks.  It makes you wonder how long it is until one of the Chinese brands finally breaks into the North American market.  We also saw one of the local armored car companies making a delivery downtown.

Not quite as intimidating as the Brinks trucks at home.

They do have a pretty sweet Institute of Forensic Investigations though…

We’ve noticed that South American countries have lots of bookstores and street-side book stalls, and Bolivia is no exception.  Maybe its because web-based mega-companies like Amazon are not as popular down here yet (we’re sure there is a joke in here about Amazon not being popular in South America, but its escaping us at the moment…).

In one roadside book stall in downtown Sucre we found a copy of the Bolivian constitution.  In such a politically charged country, perhaps this shouldn’t come as a surprise.

The people in Sucre seem a fair bit friendlier than elsewhere in the country.  There is much more smiling and friendly nods are typically returned.  This may be something to do with the city’s relatively high standard of living and reputation as a great place to be in Bolivia.

Earlier in the post we commented that the average Bolivian isn’t that tall, at least not by North American standards.  Sometimes Doug feels like a bit of a giant, especially in crowded areas such as the markets.

The men are often short, but the women can be very short.  This lady won’t be riding any roller coasters any time soon.

Sucre proved to be a great city, and after spending five nights here its easy to understand why so many foreign travelers end up staying longer than expected.  Feeling recharged, we are now heading north to the supposedly crazy city of La Paz to meet our friend Jon, who will be traveling with us for the next few weeks through Peru. If what we hear about La Paz is true, we may find ourselves wishing we were back in Sucre sooner than later!

• Doug and Emily / November 7, 2017 @ 4:32pm / Sucre, Bolivia @ Egil Quechua B&B Hostal