Cerro Rico: Come Strike it Rich at Rich Mountain - Potosi, Bolivia, South America

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After arriving in Potosi at 2:00 a.m. and having to search around for a place, we slept in. Then we stopped in a Salteña restuarant where we hungrily devoured two of the cornish pasty-type treats, before we headed to a travel agency to book a trip to the infamous mines of Potosi for the following morning.

The town of Potosi was once one of the richest in the Spanish empire, owing to the mountain that looms over the south side of town. Cerro Rico (Rich Mountain) teemed with minerals and, of course, miners.

Those minerals were discovered by the Spanish almost 500 years ago. A shepherd became stranded one evening on the mountain after losing one of his llamas. It is pretty cold in this part of the world (the highest town in the world at 4,100 meters). To keep warm, he lit a fire. The next morning he noticed that the heat from the fire had melted some silver in the mountain causing a small stream of silver. The Spanish heard of this tale and sent men to investigate. They found the area rich in minerals, within a few years, a full scale mining operation was in place.

Nowadays the mines are still in operation, but the principle extractions are tin and copper, the silver having been virtually exhausted years ago. It is possible to visit the mines and take a trip into the shafts to see some of the working conditions, and that was the trip we had booked for the following day. We were now looking around the colonial parts of town with a visit to the Royal Mint - or the building that used to be the Royal Mint. It is now a museum. Potosi was one of only a handful of cities that was given the right to produce coins for the Spanish. The coins that were produced were known as reals, or more commonly known to English pirates as Pieces of Eight.

The museum includes original pieces of machinery used to make the money at various stages of the process. It also includes some of the coins produced in the mint, the same ones that those British pirates would have loved to get their hands on! The mint also housed troops, workers, African slaves and senior royal officials.

After viewing the mint, we were looking forward - albeit with trepidation - to seeing inside the mines, where some eight million people perished in the 500 years since the discovery of minerals. The following morning we were up bright and early in time for our tour guide. He picked us up and took us to the the miners' market, a small market selling everything the miners may have needed in their quest to find silver. We bought presents for the miners, including coca leaves, drinks and the old classic - dynamite. Yep. It is freely available - for only 60 pence a stick.

The mines were hideous, there is no other way to describe it. As soon as we entered the first shaft, we realised the sheer horror of the conditions - toxic dust, temeperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius and a distinct lack of oxygen. The workers faced this every day - for 12 hours a day doing backbreaking physical labour deep in the shafts of Cerro Rico. While we gave away some of the presents, we spoke to a child who was working in there. We asked his age - 15. How long had he been working in the mines - 5 years!

The miners pay homage to a god they call Tio, who is supposed to protect them from cave ins and bring them luck in finding minerals. Every Friday they give presents to the statue of the god that lies deep underground.

Those few hours in the mine, sweating, struggling for breath, bending double to avoid hitting my head on the ceilings were terrible. By the end, we just wanted to get back out into the open air and breathe fresh air again. And we were down for only two hours! It has to be one of the worst jobs in the world! If that isn't enough, the miners only have a 15-20 year life expectancy.

Needing to get the grime off, we paid a visit to some hot baths, a totally different world. We relaxed in the warm waters of the natural pool and tried to forget the poor lads who were working deep underground - and would continue to do so until they either struck silver and could retire on the proceeds, or died from silicosis in a few years. Nice.

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