Since I was traveling with two australians (Mietta and Naomi) we had to celebrate Australia day. I never heard of this day before, but they said it was just about hanging out with your friends, drinking some beers and having a good time, so I was in for it. We went to the supermarket to buy some groceries so we could have a good time cooking some nice food and drinking wine. On the way back from the supermarket we passed some australians and Mietta chooses to say "happy australia day mate". They were excited! They told us they were gonna throw a bbq at the hostel and have some beers, we were welcome to join in. We gave one of the guys some money and he bought beers and meat for us.
In the evening they fired up the grill and we started to get to know each other over some nice australian music. More and more people joined during the evening and we had delicious food. As a desert we had lamingtons. Lamington is a sponge cake that you dip in chocolate icing and roll in coconut - thumbs up for Australia on this one. We also played heaps of drinking games.
In one of the games, everybody needs a fuckname. You start the game of by yelling "hands in the middle, down with the shizzle and fuck" and then you start making a melodi with knocking the table twice and clapping your hands twice. First person mentions their own name, says "what the fuck, how about a" and sends it on to someone else. I taught everybody the game and it was a great success. Half of the people that evening I only know by their fuckname like "sensuel fuck", "aussie fuck" and "squirrel fuck". After way to many beers of playing this game, we decided to catch the happy hour at a bar near the hostel.
The happy hour was 2 cocktails with plenty of alcohol for 15bolivianos (around 2$). Here we continued playing drinking games, this time ring of fire where you place a lot of cards around a bottle and every cards has a function that makes someone drink. If you break the circle of cards you have to finish your drink. Four cocktails later we thought it would be a great idea to find a karaoke bar. That is how the night ended, beer and karaoke until we were about to faint.
When I come back to Denmark, I will definetely start celebrating Australia day!
Besides an awesome Australia day in Sucre, we also walked around the city. It is a really beautiful and calm city and the market might have been the best I visited so far. It was very clean, the food was fresh and delicious and the people were nice. You got to try cheeses, fruits etc. before you bought it.
We bought some fresh bread, cheese, tomatoes and salsa on our last day and had a lovely picnic in the park before we left for Potosi.
We found a great cheap hostel in Potosi called The Koala Den. There is two of them right next to each other, where the one of them is cheaper. It was a very cozy place with a great breakfast included! The best hostel breakfast so far. We booked a tour to the mines through the hostel which was just as cheap as anywhere else and we got a great guide!
I went in a group with Mietta and an elder couple from France. First we got our clothes, headlamp and boots for the mines and then we went to the miners market. It is optional, but common, to buy gifts for there miners here. We bought some dynamite, water and juice for the miners and went back into the bus towards the mines. On the way up, the bus stopped and we got to have a great view and take pictures of Potosi from above.
We entered the mine with our guide. He was young and loved to joke which was great. He called our group "the sexy llama fuckers". There is heaps of different mines and levels inside the mountain and the tunnels are usually very small. Most of the time you need to walk with bended legs and back. Sometimes you need to squeeze yourself up against the wall when the miners come running with a wagon filled with rocks and hopefully for them silver. The wagons are too heavy for them to stop if it goes just a bit downhill, so if you see a light coming towards you quite fast, you better go up against the wall.
We walked through the tunnels and into a small place with different statues. One of them of "El Tio" - The devil of the mine. You have to offer a sacrifice to him and we could see that many people put a cigarette in his mouth and threw some coca leaves in front of him. I believe this is for luck and protection.
We then moved further into the mine and down two levels. Our guide told us that on this level people worked with machines, but on the level below, they only had a hammers and nails, dynamite and shovels. We decided to go down there. It is incredible how they work! There was one guy with a big nail and a hammer trying to make a big enough hole in the mountain to place some dynamite. It would probably take around and hour if not more to finish this hole. Not only that, but it was also getting really hot down there, and he had to work for 8 hours.
Our guide pointed out to us, that they were all very happy that tourist came to visit the mines. He put it like this "You buy an expensive flight ticket from your country, you travel around, stay in hostels and eat out most of the time. You paid 100bolivianos to go on this trip and still you bring presents for the miners!".
It was a very interesting experience and I don´t think you can understand the life of a miner unless you decide to visit a mine yourself. Even after that it can be hard. They start working in their teens and in most cases they die around 20-25 years later. This means that most of them wont turn 50. It is different from mine to mine how much they have and how well equipped they are, but it is usually not well enough.
In the evening they fired up the grill and we started to get to know each other over some nice australian music. More and more people joined during the evening and we had delicious food. As a desert we had lamingtons. Lamington is a sponge cake that you dip in chocolate icing and roll in coconut - thumbs up for Australia on this one. We also played heaps of drinking games.
In one of the games, everybody needs a fuckname. You start the game of by yelling "hands in the middle, down with the shizzle and fuck" and then you start making a melodi with knocking the table twice and clapping your hands twice. First person mentions their own name, says "what the fuck, how about a" and sends it on to someone else. I taught everybody the game and it was a great success. Half of the people that evening I only know by their fuckname like "sensuel fuck", "aussie fuck" and "squirrel fuck". After way to many beers of playing this game, we decided to catch the happy hour at a bar near the hostel.
The happy hour was 2 cocktails with plenty of alcohol for 15bolivianos (around 2$). Here we continued playing drinking games, this time ring of fire where you place a lot of cards around a bottle and every cards has a function that makes someone drink. If you break the circle of cards you have to finish your drink. Four cocktails later we thought it would be a great idea to find a karaoke bar. That is how the night ended, beer and karaoke until we were about to faint.
When I come back to Denmark, I will definetely start celebrating Australia day!
Besides an awesome Australia day in Sucre, we also walked around the city. It is a really beautiful and calm city and the market might have been the best I visited so far. It was very clean, the food was fresh and delicious and the people were nice. You got to try cheeses, fruits etc. before you bought it.
We bought some fresh bread, cheese, tomatoes and salsa on our last day and had a lovely picnic in the park before we left for Potosi.
We found a great cheap hostel in Potosi called The Koala Den. There is two of them right next to each other, where the one of them is cheaper. It was a very cozy place with a great breakfast included! The best hostel breakfast so far. We booked a tour to the mines through the hostel which was just as cheap as anywhere else and we got a great guide!
I went in a group with Mietta and an elder couple from France. First we got our clothes, headlamp and boots for the mines and then we went to the miners market. It is optional, but common, to buy gifts for there miners here. We bought some dynamite, water and juice for the miners and went back into the bus towards the mines. On the way up, the bus stopped and we got to have a great view and take pictures of Potosi from above.
We entered the mine with our guide. He was young and loved to joke which was great. He called our group "the sexy llama fuckers". There is heaps of different mines and levels inside the mountain and the tunnels are usually very small. Most of the time you need to walk with bended legs and back. Sometimes you need to squeeze yourself up against the wall when the miners come running with a wagon filled with rocks and hopefully for them silver. The wagons are too heavy for them to stop if it goes just a bit downhill, so if you see a light coming towards you quite fast, you better go up against the wall.
We walked through the tunnels and into a small place with different statues. One of them of "El Tio" - The devil of the mine. You have to offer a sacrifice to him and we could see that many people put a cigarette in his mouth and threw some coca leaves in front of him. I believe this is for luck and protection.
We then moved further into the mine and down two levels. Our guide told us that on this level people worked with machines, but on the level below, they only had a hammers and nails, dynamite and shovels. We decided to go down there. It is incredible how they work! There was one guy with a big nail and a hammer trying to make a big enough hole in the mountain to place some dynamite. It would probably take around and hour if not more to finish this hole. Not only that, but it was also getting really hot down there, and he had to work for 8 hours.
Our guide pointed out to us, that they were all very happy that tourist came to visit the mines. He put it like this "You buy an expensive flight ticket from your country, you travel around, stay in hostels and eat out most of the time. You paid 100bolivianos to go on this trip and still you bring presents for the miners!".
It was a very interesting experience and I don´t think you can understand the life of a miner unless you decide to visit a mine yourself. Even after that it can be hard. They start working in their teens and in most cases they die around 20-25 years later. This means that most of them wont turn 50. It is different from mine to mine how much they have and how well equipped they are, but it is usually not well enough.
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