Today we leave the Altiplano and head across the Andes to Potosi, This is a beautiful new road with fantastic scenery as we ride through, unfortunately the same fault has occurred on the same 2 bikes which cause a 30 min delay, it seems like these 2 bikes are not charging the batteries, These were fixed later this afternoon by replacing the alternator.
This afternoon I made an optional visit to the medieval silver mine of Cerro Rico, Well its something I can say I've done, but wouldn't do it again. We had to get kitted up in overalls, boots and mining hat with light, then purchase a gift for the minors, Food & Drink or explosives, yes you can buy dynamite right on the street, or cocoa leaves. Then we were driven to the mine.
The mine is 300+ years old and was pretty rough, very little in the way of roof support, in many places I had to stoop very low to get through, and the air was not good, its amazing what some people will put up with and do to make money in these places. I went into the mine which is carved into a mountain side for about 500 mtrs and watched some of the mine workers pushing very heavy loads along the tracks in the mine, the whole operation was primitive. There were some interesting stalactites and stalagmites, one I saw was black.
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