I saw the miners of the Potosi mine working in a poor environment and once again thought of "working"

I met men working at the Bolivia Potosi mine where I once witnessed glory. As dust flew and the temperature exceeded 35 degrees, I looked at the appearance of shaking the crawfish cranky chewing coca leaves and thought about "working" once again.

Hello.World newspaperIt is Matsuzaki Atsushi of. I am around the world, now I am in Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay. In the future we will enter Argentina from the Iguacu Falls and go south to Buenos Aires, aiming for Santiago in Chile, the final destination in South America.

Well, this time we talked about when we entered Cerro Rico (Spanish "Mountains of Wealth") mine in Potosí of Bolivia. Potosi, founded as a mining town in 1546, will be counted as one of the Latin America 's three largest silver mines under the rule of Spain. But in the 19th century silver was exhausted and the city was devastated. Several minerals, including tin, are currently being mined at the Cerro Rico mine and there are miners who continue to work by digging hands. By the way Potosi is registered as a World Heritage site including the Cerro Rico mine.

Potosi around here

On a larger mapPotosiShow

The streets of Potosi. Located at an altitude of about 4000 m, the world's highest point as a city where people live.


Central square


Here as well as other Bolivian cities, we can see a lot of Indiana


Road bakery


At the movie theater Titanic was doing (about 200 yen).


Cerro Rico mine rising in the city


This time we participated because there is a tour (about 700 yen per person) to go "hand in" to the miners of Cerro Rico Mine. According to the guide, the miner is working in about 3 dollars a day in a bad environment.

From this city to the mine by this bus. It takes about 30 minutes.


Change to work clothes and wear a helmet. The clothes were stained with smells like those of minerals


On the way, I will drop in at a shop to buy in and out. There are scoops and helmets for the miners


A coca leaf that a minger works while chewing. It seems to chew to forget tiredness and hunger.


Higher frequency alcohol that drinkers drink


Tobacco plenty of handmade feeling


I bought coca and juice. In a harsh environment of mine, juice with sugar rather than water is said to be more pleased.


Departure


Entrance of Ginzan


Such a view from the train window


Get off the car and walk to the entrance of the tunnel


I hope the city from the mine


I can see the house. Here, the miners may take a break


Miners. Those who bit coca, those who eat rice.



Finally into the mine


I am a little chilly. Of course there is no lighting, only the head light depends on it. A lot of dust is dancing, and it smells like sulfur.


There are many places where the ceiling is low, and you can not walk unless you fold. A black pipe is for sending air inside.


Some kind of mineral


A sudden mini appeared from above. An age came into my clothes with sweat and dust and I was "Gyo" for a moment


Working on a point further above the tunnel


I scrape rocks. Will you be used to the sight of the tourists silently?


This miner said that he was already in the middle of 8 hours, his breath was rough and his feet were fluffy. Coca leaves are packed in the bulging cheeks


When I handed in the insertion, he said with a smile "Muchas gracias! (Really thankful!)"


They are basically working in eight shifts in 3 shifts. It is said that under the Spanish government mining was carried out by Indiana slaves that were forcibly collected, and it is said that 8 million people were sacrificed in one opinion (in the case of surviving high wages are paid I was. Even now, since the miners start working from around the age of 13, there are many people who died in their breasts and died earlier.

move on. This is pretty tough ...


I will pass with the miner that I am going to work from now


There was a statue in a little wide space. I also have cigarettes


It seems to be a god that protects the safety inside the mine "Tio". Do you pray for safety inside the mine by bringing tobacco in Tio and drinking?


Arrived at a different site


Put the mined stone in a turtle-like container and pull it up with a wire from where the board was stood


Going further, it's awesome ... ... something came.


Powerful miners pulling trucks at Potosi mine - YouTube


Pull and push the truck with manual power. I passed by before being in touch with hot air called "ぶ わ わ". What I say is that I feel like I was devoted to awesome power and I am stunned.

It took me more than an hour. Due to the continued suction of dust, every time I breathe I have dull pain in my throat. The smell of minerals is also attached to my nose and it is quite unpleasant.


When it came to a certain point, an unusual sultry was attacking ... ....


There were men who climbed the wall


Everyone is half naked. It is extremely hot ... .... It was over 35 degrees.


Tourists will only be disturbing people. But I do not show the objection that I care at all


Sweat will shine


This uncle seems to be 70 years old. When I talked to "Como estas?", He responded "bien! Bien! Bien ~! (Good!)" With a strong momentum.


Do you like work? Since I thought for a moment, "I came from a long time ago."

Is this uncle the leader? I was working the most



The light appeared at the end of the tunnel


I remember being awfully bothered by the intense sunshine


I remembered myself when I was in Japan inside the pit. I asked the company "I want to see more myself", I am jealous seeing only the good side of other work, I am lost. People here did not feel that they were looking at them at all (Well, it may be sometimes when you return home and have a moment to think). Of course, here and in Japan, the number (type) of work, information, opportunity ... everything is different. But when I looked at the miner who worked lively and worked in such a harsh environment, I remembered that "Oh, I thought that work was something like this". What they were, their work was filled with things like "prepared".

(Sentence / picture: World Newspaper / Atsushi Matsuzakihttp://sekaishinbun.blog89.fc2.com/)