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Emma and Jona's Travels
We came to leave Uyuni to head down to Potosi the morning after we got back from our tour. Heard some rumours that there may be a road block or two as the miners were on strike, but figured that as the bus was going and a load of locals were on it, it would be fine.
About 5 hours into the journey we come to a halt at a road block. Loads of other buses and cars there so not too worried. Then the miners decide a little indimidation was in order and started setting off dynamite at the side of the road. Managed to gleam what information we could about what was going on and we understand that meetings were happening in La Paz about taxes the miners have to pay to the Government. But to escalate matters a Police man had killed a demonstrating miner earlier that day in La Paz.
At this point our driver went awol. Someone finally tracked him down and a heated debate broke out in Spanish amongst the driver and passengers. It boiled down to us having three options: -
a) return to Uyuni, although there were rumours they'd put another road block in place to stop people getting back
b) head to Potosi along a dangerous road that the driver wasn't too keen on, especially as the miners had said they might throw dynamite at the bus to stop us
c) stay put and sit it out
The driver went missing again.
The driver returned and anounced that he'd found another road to Potosi, albeit accross miners land but we just had to ask their permission to cross it. He seemed confident. So it was put to the vote, to return to Uyuni or try this "new" route to Potosi.
Despite an overwhelming majority wanting to return to Uyuni the driver decided to ignore that and head to Potosi anyway.
It was starting to get dark.
This new road was no more than a dirt track and we were in a rather large bus. We came to an Andean mountain stream and out we all got as the driver wasn't to sure on his clearance. Made it accross the stream after we spent 10 mins or so throwing large rocks into it to give the bus some purchase and clearance.
The next obstacle was the fact that a large piece of the road heading up the side of a mountain had been washed away. Out we all get again and try and "re-build" the road using what rocks we could find laying around.
The driver decided we'd done enough and gave it a go. Foolish, the bus was now hanging with one wheel over the side of the mountain, stuck.
It was now dark, and nightime on the altiplano is rather cold, it can get down to minus 40 Jona recalled reading somwhere at this point, his mind taking on a masochistic tone. We would be lying if between the cold, marauding miners armed with dynamite, the lack of shelter and a bus about to topple into the valley, and the fact no other vehicle was attempting this, that we thought would not get out of this alive.
But thankfully the grasses on the hillside caught light quite quickly so we had some warmth, and the driver and his crew persisted with the bus, jacking it up and throwing stones beneath it to try and give the rear wheels something to grip.
Three hours later and about 10 minutes before Jona was about to become a very religous person, luckily the persistance worked and the bus was back on the road.
Another hour or so up the precarious mountain road with regular stops for all the passangers to get off, whilst the driver negotiated yet another landslide, gapping hole in the road or narrow pass, we finally made it to the main road to Potosi.
30 mins later we are at another road block outside of the town. It's midnight. Our options, sit on a freezing bus till sunrise and see what happens or walk the hour plus into town past the blockades and the unhappy miners. We decided to sit it out on the bus with some Belgians whilst other gringos decided on the walk.
About 2 am a couple of the gringos arrived back saying they'd managed to convince a couple of cabs to come up to take us into town. On with the back packs and a disturbing walk past the dozens of miners scowling at us from behind their blazing oil drums.
30 minutes later we were in a warm hotel room, extremely relieved but still scared as hell.
Once in town Potosi seemed quite normal, it appeared it was just getting in and out of town that was the problem. We rang the British Embassy in La Paz, but they didn't seem to know what the hell was going on.
We decided not to take a tour of the mines.
The next few days were spent hibernating in our hotel watching cable TV, making occasional forays into town to get more information. We finally made it out 4 days later as the miners very kindly decided to remove the blockades for the weekend. Potosi sucks!
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