Cocamama en la Pachamama...or...La Hoja de Coca NO es Droga

Although my becoming slightly addicted to the lovely dullishness produced by sticking several hundred coca leaves in the side of my mouth is funny...the mine I toured in which I used the leaves was far from a laughing matter.

----


Potosí, situated at a mere 4,100 meters (and claiming to be the highest proper city in the world), has been mined for over 500 years. It has a rich, bloody, triumphant and sorrowful history. Unfortunately, the circumstances for the miners has changed very little. Honestly.

Touring the La Mina Rosario (one of several hundred small mines on the mountain) was a humbling experience for lack of better words. We crawled up and down small chutes to get to blasting areas and watched in awe as miners manually pushed and pulled multi-ton carts of rock along rickety tracks.



Some men pushing a cart.

Carlos is 15 and has already worked in the mine for 2 years. He said he no longer plans on returning to school. Because the mine is a co-operative, there are very few restrictions about child labor.



In one month miners earn roughly $800 Bolivianos, or US$100. I earned that amount of money daily while roofing when I was 16 - and I wasn´t working in conditions where my life expectancy was roughly 15-20 years after entering the working area.

Potosí was once larger than New York or Paris in terms of commerce. It was the richest city in the world thanks to its huge silver reserves. It and the surrounding indigenous peoples were exploited by the Spanish.

And the sacred coca leaf (which cocaine is produced from - %50 of worldwide consumption is in the US!), is a main reason that people can work in such an excrutiating atmosphere. The leaf dulls the impacts of altitude, hunger, and long hours, but does not give a high like cocaine. Trust me...I only say this because I know!

Now the Potosí mountain is mined for several other minerals because the silver reserves are quite low.



Large pieces are brought to sorting plants that break them down and eventually extract the elements.



-----------



We still had fun. Me with Adam and Alex.

If I had known how insanely huge the explosion from that tiny bag would be...there´s no way in hell it would have been in my mouth. Our guide put it about 60 yards away and we could easily feel the shock wave from it. Oh...and that entire dynamite system was bought for a mere US$2!