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Bolivia! Where beauty is involved with exploration...



The beauty of Lake Titicaca, seen from the island of the Sun.


Presidential Palace in the city of La Paz (height 4650m)


Panoramic de La Paz

Death Road, that's how it is known in Bolivia as "Excerpt from the Camino a los Yungas".

We rented a taxi that was already mature and with an extremely cheerful driver... Today it is only suitable for cyclists with mountain bikes or light cars. Let's go back to our driver who served as a guide and with the intention of demobilizing us and returning to La Paz. "On this bend last year two Danish cyclists did not see the bend and with the fog they went straight, no one else saw them!" And it was from this rigmarole that João Vicente and I had to disconnect. We lived the landscape up to Coroico, the unevenness of the road walks approximately 1200 meters from La Paz, the precipices go up to 600 meters.

This road was built in the thirties of the 20th century by Paraguayan prisoners. It was the only road that connected to the capital. The car going up the road and when a car appeared going downhill, both changed, inverting directions, to allow what went up, if the engine went down and slipped, had the slope on its side, those who went down were only concerned about keeping the wheels safely. This never prevented a few cars from crashing into the cliff every year, causing dozens of deaths. In 1983 a bus with 100 passengers crashed and was never seen again.

Today it's a tourist attraction for 2-wheel vehicle drivers, pumping the adrenaline to death. Whoever makes this route supported by tourist agencies must sign a liability waiver that completely frees agencies and insurers. But the landscape is undoubtedly very beautiful...


Laguna Colorada, beautiful landscape of BOLIVIA (2012)


But the city of Potosi and the mine of Cerro Rico marked and brought back memories of past times, of hard working relationships in which the term "eating bread that the devil kneaded" is perfect and fits like a glove. Mining exploration is done in cooperative ways, but its production is purchased by mining consortia that establish market prices. I will not address this topic because its dimension transcends me, although the result is always the same. Power overwhelms work. What I saw, breathed and walked inside the galleries we walked through, told me everything! This mine has 17 levels with elevator access that descends to 240 meters. The temperature we were subjected to during the two hours that we traveled through the three levels of galleries, was around 37º to 40º.

Miners daily extract 40 tons of rock and earth to extract some silver. The extraction of silver in Potosi, which is 3967m above sea level, started in 1545 by the Spanish occupants The equipment they work with and the conditions and means they have to move the ore reminded me of Emile Zola's literary work "Germinal". These are conditions of slavery!! I left feeling disgusted and sad, I felt ashamed of my complaints for the transport that was making our bodies worse. In a few days in the comfort and convenience of my life, I will forget the discomfort of the mini-bus. But Rolando, now a guide and his fellow workers at the Cerro Rico mine, will continue to live and work in conditions that disrespect every human condition.


João Vicente and I live it. Our faces will say more than words...


Miner coming from a lower gallery...





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