Inside Cerro Rico: The Active Mine Experience
The guided tour inside Potosí's active Cerro Rico mines is one of the most confronting and memorable travel experiences in South America — entering the working mines, meeting the miners, and experiencing the darkness and danger of the mountain that shaped the modern world
- 1
Buy gifts for miners
Before entering the mines, visitors buy gifts for the miners at the miners' market – sticks of dynamite, detonators, coca leaves, cigarettes and 96% pure alcohol; the gifts (especially dynamite, which the miners use daily and buy from their own wages) are distributed to the miners who meet inside; the exchange is both practical and symbolic
- 2
Inside the tunnels
Cerro Rico's mine tunnels – some narrow enough to require crawling, all dark except for headlamps and hot and dusty from the ore processing – confront the visitor with the physical reality of mining; the temperature increases as you go deeper; the dust (containing quartz and asbestos) is the cause of silicosis, which kills most miners within 10-15 years of sustained exposure
- 3
Meeting with the miners
The most powerful part of the mine tour is meeting the active miners – men and boys (some as young as 14, working as apprentices) who spend 8-12 hour days in these conditions; the miners are cooperative members (not employees) who keep a share of the ore they extract; the income is modest and the health cost is catastrophic
- 4
El Tío Offer
Deep inside the mine, the guide leads visitors to one of the shrines of El Tío - the devil figures made of clay and ore dust that sit in mine anchors and receive sacrifices; the ritual of making an offering to El Tío (and receiving coca leaves and alcohol from the miners) is an entry into the spiritual world of the mining community in Potosí
- 5
Dynamite Demonstration
Many mine tours include a controlled dynamite demonstration - the guide detonates a small charge outside the mine entrance; the experience gives visitors a sense of the controlled explosions that the miners use several times a day inside the rock; the safety culture (or lack thereof) at the Cerro Rico mines is immediately apparent
- 6
Ethics of Mine Tourism
The Cerro Rico mine tour raises genuine ethical questions — is it appropriate to visit an active workplace as a tourist? Will tourism benefit the miners or exploit their misery for spectacle? The most responsible operators donate part of the tour fees to miners' health funds and hire former miners as guides; visitors should research operators carefully