Potosí Local Customs

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Antes de entrar a la parte de la mina donde está el Tío , pasas por una especie de altares donde guardan a sus "dioses menores" y los recuerdos de la mina
efore going to the mine area where is the "Tío" , you pass an area where are some kind of altars to keep their "minor gods" and the memories of the mine

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Dentro de la mina los mineros tienen un lugar muy especial para el Tío , que es una representación del demonio o deidad poseedora de las minas a quien se reza para sacar el metal de sus entrañas , a la que respetan y los viernes por la tarde a parte de hacerle ofrendas de tabaco , coca ... se toman con él unos buenos lingotazos de alcohol
Inside the mine the miners have a very special place for the Tío , that is a representation of the devil or a god owner of the mines to whom they pray to get more metal of his entrails , they respect and on Friday evening besides making offerings of cigarettes , coca... they take with him some alcohol drinks

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Durante y después de la visita les dimos la coca y los refrescos a los mineros que no coincidimos con ellos en la mina , como a D. Julián
During and after the visit we gave the coca and the drinks to the miners that we did not meet in the mine , like Don Julián

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Entrar a la mina no es fácil , tiene algunos accesos difíciles y como decía una sobrina nuestra es una lección de humildad ver en las condiciones tan duras que trabajan en estas minas
To go inside the mine is not easy , some parts are difficult and as our nephew said it is a humility lesson to see the hard working conditions in the mine

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El paso siguiente es prepararte para entrar poniéndote botas , buzo y el casco con su linterna
The next step is to prepair to go to the mine putting your boots , overall and the helmet with lantern

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Las minas se pueden visitar y en ellas se pueden ver las técnicas que utilizan que son muy similares a las utilizadas en la época de la colonia
El primer paso es ir al mercado de los mineros a comprar coca y refrescos que se les dan durante la visita a los tajos
También puedes llevarles dinamita
Los mineros no suelen comer durante las 8 horas de trabajo pero están constantemente mascando coca , lo que ellos llaman "pichar" pues quitan el tallo duro de la hoja para evitar atragantarse
The mines may be visited and on them you may see techniques they use that are very similar to those used in the colony days
The first step is to go to the miners market to buy coca and drinks that you will give to the miners during the visit to their working positions
If you want you may take also Dynamite
The miners do not use during the eight working hours but they are constantly chewing coca ,
what they call "pichar"as they remove the hard "bone" of the leaf to avoid choke

Mining methods have changed very little over the years,The Miners still work ten hours a day in the most appaling conditions, Childen still work crawling in to the smallest places where adults can not go, The miners keep going by chewing Coca leaves, two thirds of the population suffer from respiratory ailments

Had I visited Potosi 400 years earlier, I would have been in one of the largest, richest cities in the world. Well, half the city was rich. The wealth was all based on the mountain of silver, Cerro Rico. Even more then than now, the river, La Riberia, divided the poor Indian miners from the rich Spanish owners. This picture was taken from Arco de Cobija, one of the gates between the two sides. Above the curved wall in the foreground is one of the older remaining mine buildings. La Riberia runs just to the left of it below the stepped wall. You can see present day miners' housing in the background (south of the river). Iglesia de Copacabana is in the left background. The base of Cerro Rico looms in the right background.