Thursday 5th may. Potosi, Bolivia. We arrived yesterday after some fantastic riding across from tilcara. Crossed the border almost unmolested, and drove 140miles through some stunning uplands on a brand new and virtually empty, twisty, road. Wonderful. Arrived in the ex-silver mining capital of the world mid-afternoon, at a height of some 4250m above sea-level. This is seriously high, and many of our party are suffering from altitude sickness. Headaches, shivering, nausea, light-headedness etc. Lou was hit badly, and retired for the night quite poorly. I managed to get away with a bad nights sleep, and a pretty bad headache the next day.

Many of us voted to go and see the mines here in potosi today (thursday), which caught us all unaware. The mines are a hangover from spanish colonialism, most of the silver is now gone, but the hillside that dominates potosi skyline is still mined, but by collectives of local miners nowadays, instead of their old Spanish masters.

The unnerving thing is quite how basic the facilities are. We are invited to buy dynamite, detonators and coca leaves for the miners we are about to visit. After a trip in a rickety minibus made for smaller folk, we are deposited halfway up the hillside outside one of the 156 mines that are currently active in the hill. The entrance is tiny. Just big enough to get a rock-laden cart out on the narrow gauge rails. We are about to enter but are stopped while a cart emerges pushed by two local miners. It is then upended, and the contents shovelled into wheelbarrows, which then upended into a nearby truck.

These guys work seriously hard. Apparently a normal day is to push this cart in and out of the mountain 20 times a day, taking between 7 to 12 hours to do. For this back-breaking work they are paid roughly £12/ day. These are not even miners. Three grades of miner exist, new miners, 2nd class, and 1st class. There are no trained engineers in the collectives that operate the mines, and none with training in structural disciplines. You can see from the ramshackle way parts of the mine are shored up. Dust is endemic, and has become worse in recent years due to the mechanised power drills they now use on the rockfaces. These drills cost $1000 each, and last six months. Miners using these drills are allowed a maximum of 2 hours a day due to the conditions, and adverse affect on health. If allowed to work all day, they have discovered(!) that people last two years before succumbing to silicosis or other lung conditions.

The average life expectancy is 45. Accidents are common with 30/ month reported, and an additional 20 / month admitted to hospital with silicosis. We were allowed to witness these guys working first hand, and the environment reminded me of some of the more confined caves I've experienced on the mendips. Truly grim. On the upside due to the rising demand for silver, tin, zinc and lead a 1st class miner can now earn up to £52k, 2nd class half that. 3rd class get £10/day. 20,000 people live this life. What they must think of us, clumsily wandering around their world with posh cameras and money to burn, lord only knows.

Potosi is colourful and vibrant place, protest marches are common, with about 2-3 day on various topics. Today for example saw a march by the miners on working conditions, followed by medical students protesting about the overly close relationship that the Bolivian and Venezuelan presidents have. They politely waited for the miners to finish burning their effigies, before setting fire to their own. The miners have a trump card for getting attention. Dynamite. Small sticks were thrown ahead of the march which both focused the mind on the topic, and body on the need to get the hell away from the front-runners. Tonight, we've just had the one marching band parading up and down the narrow streets in full regalia. Brilliant fun - great place, great people.