Potosí and mining in Cerro Rico

Potosi competes with other cities for the title: highest city in the world, at 4060m above sea level. Remember Litang in China, 4200m above sea level? One could say that Litang is more of a village whereas Potosi is a real city but this discussion I leave to the experts. As a result, Potosi has the highest restaurant, the highest brewery and probably many other highest things as well. Potosi’s history is closely linked to the mining industry and Cerro Rico, where silver was found in the 15^th century. Since then, millions of people have worked in the mines, and millions have died there as well due to accidents or poor working conditions. Today, the silver deposits have all been extracted but more than 20.000 miners still work in the mountain to extract other minerals such as zinc. The conditions have improved a little with the use of electricity and the protection equipments, but they are still appalling: most of the work is done by hand, temperatures are extreme and the workers are exposed to noxious gases.

After visiting the city, I book a tour to the mines…

Johnny, our guide, is an ex-miner. He has worked nine years in the mine before becoming a guide. Before setting off, we get a full miner’s outfit: boots, solid pants, a jacket and a bag in which we can keep our water and gifts for the miners: lemonade, alcohol and coca leaves. Then we enter the mine… It is dark, muddy and narrow. Our guide moves quickly, we try to follow through the many tunnels. Up a slippery rope just next to a 30m deep hole, down a ladder standing on one leg. No wonder there are accidents here. Then Johnny asks us if someone bought dynamite. Yes, someone did, niiice, we can set it off. One of the miners dig a hole in the rock, prepares the explosives and asks us to move away. We wait, then we hear a huge bang and the whole mountain shakes. I shake too… The rest of the visit we socialize with the miners. They open up the bottle of 96° alcohol, mix it with some lemonade and share it with us. We are not allowed to say no, that is an offence. A little bit for Pachamama, the rest for us. The miners also chew coca leaves, every day a bag. It helps against altitude sickness and helps them concentrate. One miner is called Spaghetti, he has worked 15 years in the mine. Another one has basically dedicated his whole life to the mine, 35 years, and when we ask him if he likes it, the answer is YES, he needs the money to support his women, he has 5 of them.

The boys start working in the mine when they are strong enough, somewhere between 14 and 16 and when they don’t die of lung diseases or accidents, they continue as long as they can.

Before leaving the mine, Johnny show us a statue of El Tio, the spirit owner of the mountain. According to miner’s traditions, he rules over the mines, simultaneously offering protection and destruction. Miners leave offerings for El Tío—tobacco, liquor, coca leaves—in hopes that he will spare their lives.

Have a look at the film: Devil’s miner if you are interested.

photos Potosí

Uyuni salt flats tour

I am not going to share the 700+ photos that I took during this 3 day tour through the Bolivian Altiplano… All I can say is that it was amazing! We left the Bolivian border in a 4x4: Fred, Jasmine, Laurie, Camille, Elke our driver and guide, Simon, and me of course.

On our first day, we visit lagoons of different colors, caused by algae and minerals in the water. Then, we stop at Dalí desert where we can literally imagine the melting watches hanging from the rocks. Nothing is better than a bath in thermal waters before lunch, then geysers Sol de Manaña in the afternoon. Laguna Colorada is our last stop for the first day. A lagoon with red water and full of flamingos, I have rarely seen anything as beautiful. We go to bed at 8, and sleep at once after this very tiring day of seeing beauty in its purest form.

The second day is if possible even more beautiful than the first one. A Stone tree and other rock formations, a volcano, strange plants, and flamingos, my new passion. We arrive in the evening at the salt hotel, the floor is covered in rough salt, and the walls are built with salt blocks. Just look at the photos, I think they speak for themselves, although reality was even better.

Day three: the Uyuni salt flats, the world’s largest salt desert, formed over the years with lakes drying out and rain draining the mountains of their minerals. It is situated 3600 above sea level and measures 150X100km. There are some islands in the desert; we visit one of them, Isla Inca Wasi, full of giant cactuses. As the desert is all flat, there is no perspective, and as the good tourists that we are, we take some of those photos you have probably seen before. Next up are the salt mines. Every family owns a truck and transport what they collect to town where it is transformed into salt sculptures or other souvenirs. We finish the tour in Uyuni, where we visit the train cemetery, the city’s only attraction. These old trains used to transport minerals to the pacific ocean but when the mining industry collapsed around 1949, the trains were left to die here.

photos Salar

San Pedro de Atacama

After a spectacular bus ride from Salta to San Pedro, sitting next to…a Belgian, I arrive in the afternoon. San Pedro is situated 2400m above sea level, in the world’s driest desert: Atacama. It is small and very touristy, no wonder considering all the things there are to do there. I check in to hostel Florida, nice and clean and with a courtyard in the middle. That is where I meet Alice, from Brazil, and we decide to rent bikes together the next morning to go to Laguna Cejar. Not too far is what we think, but 30 km one way is far enough, especially if you add some km because we get lost on the way, twice. Laguna Cejar is a beautiful lagoon situated in the middle of the desert. Its salt concentration is very high and we can see many salt crystals and salt formations inside and outside the water. Just next to it is Laguna Piedras in which we can take a swim, or more specifically, in which we can float, due to the salt concentration, said to be higher than the Dead Sea. What a beautiful day!

photos San Pedro de Atacama

The next day, I want to try another type of activity: Sandboarding. I have never done snowboarding, so I must admit I’m a bit nervous, but as soon as I’m on the board, the only thing I can think of is to stay on it and after a while even to turn or go faster. How fun!! After two hours of walking up and sliding down (there are no chairlifts in the desert), we finish the day in Valle de la Luna to watch the sunset. I return to my hostel full of sand and exhausted.

photos sandboarding

On my last day in San Pedro, I meet up with a couchsurfer, Juan Pablo, and we walk to Pukara de Quitor, an archeological site 3km out of town. The sun is burning as we climb up to the old ruins. The English signs are quite funny. Apparently they have been translated directly from Spanish, which makes them at times difficult to understand, see for yourself!

A definite highlight of my stay in San Pedro is the Astronomy tour. I didn’t know this before, but the Atacama desert is one of the best places in the world to observe the stars. A French Astronomer recognized this and set up a dozen of giant telescopes to catch the beauty of the sky above us, and show it to curious travelers like myself. With a great deal of humor and passion he starts explaining the general principles of Astronomy: the earth is a planet, the sun is a star, the planets gravitate around the sun, our Galaxy is just one out of many many other Galaxies that are situated light-years away. He shows us some constellations and teaches us how to recognize them.  Then we move on to the telescopes where he has zoomed  in on some interesting phenomenons: Saturn with its belt, the jewel box; three aligned stars with different colors, the Milky Way, Sirius It makes me dizzy to try to think of the immensity of the universe, its creation or it’s current expansion. There at is definitely more to it than we can see and that makes me feel really small…

Salta and Cafayate

Last stop in Argentina before going to Chile again. The bus ride takes 36 hours and doesn’t even go all the way to Salta. At two in the morning, the bus stops about 80 km from Salta, and the next bus only goes at five… What else is there to do than to sleep at the station, or at least try to sleep. Salta itself is a nice town, Salta la Linda (the beautiful), is what the inhabitants call it. I walk around in the center and book a tour to Cafayate on the next day. The weather was not that good so the photos are a bit grey too.

photos Salta

Cafayate is in the Southern part of the Calchaqui valley. Getting there is a 170km long bus ride through the most amazing landscape, red rocks, different rock formations such as the nail, the Titanic, the Amphitheatre, the gorge (or throat) of the devil, the priest, castle formations and Lamas! This region is also known for its wine, 70% white, 30% red, grown at almost 2000m of altitude. It gets this special taste when the grapes freeze at night. It is called Torrontes wine and is delicious. We visit a Bodega called Vasija Secreta which produces the Vas wine and stroll around in Cafayate for a couple of hours before returning to Salta.

photos Cafayate

Bariloche

Bariloche has Argentina’s best chocolate, and that is true! I try several types, truffles filled with dulce de leche, Alfajores with mousse au chocolat, pralines…Aouh, my stomach hurts, I think I had too much. Periko’s hostel is the perfect place to stay, well situated and helpful staff. I only have one full day in Bariloche. Not enough to do a real trek. Anja recommends Cerro Campanario, the most beautiful thing in Bariloche she says. What a stunning view indeed, and it only takes some twenty five minutes to climb to the top.

photos Bariloche

Entre Arboles - woofing two weeks

Entre Arboles is a small Paradise situated in Mallin, 18 km from El Bolsón. As soon as I enter the gate I know that these two weeks will mean something special to me. Entre Arboles means in between the trees. I love trees. There is the house of Lali and Vero where I will work; behind some trees the round house of Gloria and Seba, Vero’s brother. Graziela lives there too, she has decided to follow her children, Vero and Seba in their different choice of life. Luis’ house is a bit further down the path and Juan’s behind some other trees. There is a very special atmosphere here, of peace and serenity. People live in harmony with nature and respecting each other. There are some unwritten rules: nobody can alter nature more than what is necessary to build a house and there are no fences. Most of the inhabitants are vegetarian. Twice a year they buy the food they need in bulk and everyone has a little garden with vegetables and fruit for their own consumption. Life at Entre Arboles is determined by the seasons. In summer, people work a lot, on their houses, on producing jam and conserves for the winter, which can be very cold, and earning money by selling things they produce at the Feria (local market) in El Bolsón. In winter, people stay more inside and some days the snow is so thick that they can only go somewhere by foot.

As soon as I arrive Lali greets me with a giant smile. She is like a sunflower and whenever she smiles her warmth spreads around making other people want to smile too. Lali is a musician, she plays the guitar and sings, but she loves all instruments. You can find her on Youtube, Lali Estivill. She shows me around: the houses, her studio, the dry toilet, the cats. Three other volunteers are there too but only for a couple of days more. They help me get settled and give me advice on how to light the fire and where to find everything. I already feel at home here.

Vero has traveled the world for six years before returning to Entre Arboles, where she bought the property 18 years ago. She loves hard work and has done almost everything herself in her house, together with Lali. When I was there, they built an oven, Estufa Rusa, with refractory bricks to keep the heat for hours after the wood has gone out. She also makes clothes that she sells at the Feria, mostly pants and skirts. Graziela paints the clothes with Mandalas and prints similar to those of Cueva de las Manos where I went before. They are lovely and I get to help Vero to sew them!

The first week I either sew with Vero or I help Lali with various works on and around the house, always with breaks and Mate of course. Then Janet arrives. Remember Janet from London? She was woofing near Lago Puelo cracking nuts and when she heard about this place she decided to change immediately. How much more fun to be two! I am so happy that she decided to come. The second week we get to do more work on the house, learning all the different construction and decoration techniques

As you can see from the photos, the houses are in wood with some walls of Adobe. In the Adobe they have incorporated colored bottles and plates. When the sun shines through them, the whole house becomes like a rainbow of different colors. I am totally charmed… First, we plant some nails in the wood and stretch a metal string between them. Then, we make a mixture of straw and liquid clay and we soak the straw in the mixture. This is the isolation and goes directly in the wall, pressed together by two wooden walls that will be taken down once the straw is dry. The second and third layers are made of clay, sand and cut straw. We mix it until it is the right consistency and sticks to the wall. It is called revoque grueso. We use two layers of this. The last layer is called revoque fino and is another mixture, finer and smoother than the others, and we mix in different colors to decorate the house, inside and outside. It is so beautiful but hard work as we need to smooth it out with a spatula several times before we are satisfied with the result.

One day the girls decide to go to the national park near Lago Puelo to collect nuts. We are lucky, not only do we find nuts, but also some of the best apples I have ever tasted, only waiting for us to pick them. On our way back we find a little kitten alone in the night. We decide to take it in until the next day when we can bring it back to its owner. Many dangers lure between the trees at night, especially for a helpless little kitten. I don’t sleep that night, the baby doesn’t stop walking on my head and trying to put its head in my mouth... Another day, Seba and Gloria have caught a rat but as they don’t want to kill it, we drive it to the entrance of Mallin, far enough so it will hopefully not return. This is also what I love with Entre Arboles, every day is different and often nature decides to surprise us.

After two weeks here, I am so sad to leave. You know when you say goodbye to family or good friends and your eyes start to get wet? I hope you will read this Lali and Vero and again thank you from the bottom of my heart for these two wonderful weeks. Also thank you Janet for sharing this experience with me, I will never forget all the laughs we had! The snow has fallen on the mountains during the last night, winter is approaching here...

photos Entre Arboles

El Bolsón

Trekking is really one of my favorite things to do and El Bolsón has numerous beautiful places to be discovered by foot. Our little group from yesterday and Anja of course decide on Piltriquitron (Mapuche for hanging on the clouds). On our way to this majestic mountaintop we visit the Bosque Tallado, featuring statues carved out in dead wood by local artists. Beautiful isn’t it? The climb is steep and dangerous at times. We slide on all the little rocks and have to use our hands not to fall down. It is well worth the effort though; the view from the top is incredible, see for yourself.

After this adventure we deserve an icecream. Jauja has the biggest assortment I have ever seen. We share one kilo between 4 people, half of it is chocolate profundo, the “bestest” chocolate icecream in the world!!! Other days go by walking around in town. El Bolson is a real hippie town with artists and alternative people everywhere. Four times a week, around the little lake in the center is the Feria artesanal. Here, you can find food, liquors, mate’s, clothes, and many more handmade items.

photos El Bolson

I am waiting for an answer from host farms in the area where I want to do two weeks of woofing. In the meantime I might as well do some more trekking. Remember Janet from the hotel in London? Well, she is here too, waiting for the same thing as I am. We spend two wonderful days together hiking in the area. Before setting off on our first trek I move to Jorge’s place, a couchsurfer, and his 4-year old daughter, Angeles. We spend two wonderful evenings together exchanging music, sharing food and of course drinking mate.

The first trek is the one of Encanto Blanco. It takes us through the forest and over wooden bridges to the cutest little refugio I have ever seen. Everything is in wood and there is a dog there with one brown eye and one blue eye…We eat our lunch here and return to la Tilleria to take the taxi back to El Bolsón. While we are waiting we witness the cutting up of a cow that has been slaughtered. The whole family participates, even the cats and dogs, licking the blood. Somehow it doesn’t seem totally disgusting, even for a vegetarian like me. This meat will feed the household during the long winter months and every body part will be used for something.

photos Encanto Blanco

Our second trek goes to Cajón del Azul. The setting is different from yesterday. Rio azul is really blue, or I would say turquoise. Some men are fishing and give Janet 3 of their fishes. At the refugio there are many kittens, running around everywhere. You can imagine their joy when Janet gives them a fish to chew on. After these two days I have received an answer from one of the woofing places. Vero and Lali are really happy that I want to come to help them and they are expecting me the next day!

photos Cajon del Azul