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Mission Impossible ? <br />To travel the world and give you all a run down of adventures, experiences, things to see and the best bars in town! I may even stop here and there and earn a few bob... but after this who would have me...<br />

South America, part II: Bolivia

Richard Rosss
2006-04-03 12:30:09

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in Christaindom in the 1600s. Mainly Silver, but now its mainly zinc and tin. Just heard that 2 of the guys were coming to Potosi with all our bags and passports, so it will be clean clothes later!

We headed to the mine after getting changed into overalls and buying dynamite to set off! Bumped into SAS there, who said it was ace there but it was hard work. So we headed down and it started OK, until we had to crawl and bend down in low shafts. In the heat, and the altitude it was really hard work! We were also breathing in arsenic and asbestos fumes, lovely! The miners start from the age of 8 until 55, when they basically drop dead thru cancer and thru overuse of coca leaves (which I am enjoying here as well!, as it helps relieve altitude sickness and fatigue)...

It was hard work down the mines...these guys worked long days. There were 4 of them pushing and pulling 2 ton wagan - these guys are strong! Left there after crawling thru the worst gaps, and climbing over sheer rock drops )which I was slighly scared of as it was an 80m drop!) and headed back to the hostel to shower. I had been wearing the same shorts, socks and t-shirt for about 3 days, so my clothes had there own personalities! Ivana bought me a bright blue monkey back pac - which is the worst thing ever with demonic eyes. It now holds an orange and coca leaves! I think its life will be brief!

Went out for steak and chips last nite- I was so hungry I could most things on the menu. So I ordered Llama, which was really nice! I recommend it! Darren ordered Chin-chilla (big rat), which was also nice. SAS also turned up there, so we chatted to them for a bit until I physically had difficulty moving, sue to the tiredness at around 11ish.

April 16th

Went out early (11am) to buy some new trousars as these are starting to turn black! Got a nice pair for a fiver! Rest iof ...