Friday, 24 August 2007
Saturday, 11 August 2007
Blowing Up Barbie
The following entry contains graphic details of a highly dangerous day which those of a nervous disposition may find disturbing!
This is the mine. It is at the base of a mountin that shadows Potosi.
Potosi used to be the richest city in the world back in the 16 hundreds, this was because of the silver in the mine. But most of that is all gone now.
The mine is a very dangerous place with loads of gases floating around including Aspestos, Mercury, and Sillica. So most of the miners die before they have even worked in there for ten years. We were OK but it helped to wear a bandana.
When we were in the mine, lots of carts of rocks would go past at quite some pace, and as there was not much room either side, so you had to watch out!
The miners still follow and old belief about worshiping the Devil. This is because as they are under ground and the Devil is there too, all of the minerals belong to him, so if it has been a good week they have to drink (96% alcohol) to pay back the Devil. On the other hand if it has been a bad week they also have to drink to ask for the next week to be a good one.
That stick that I am holding very menacinglly, is Dynamite! The miners use this alot, to get to new sections of the mine. What I thought was funny, is that you just went down to a shop to buy it, and anyone can! It is (appanently) the only place in the world that you are allowed to bye it legelly.
At the end of the tour all of the dynamite we decided to buy was prepared by are guide. The only differance was, that with ours the guide stuck Barbie to it! I was sooo pleased that finally I would be able to get my revenge on those plastic things!
Then the fuse was lit and there seemed to be no hurry about putting it at a safe distance...so I thought it would be fun to hold a live bomb, so I took it off the guide and asked dad to take a picture, at this point I was very scared because I could see the smoke coming closer and closer to the bag containing the bomb. Unfortunatly the picture didnt come out very good so there was no point to put it on the blog.
That is the 96% alcohol drink that the miners drink. An Irish guy in are group bought it (trust the Irish) so I took the oppertunity to have a taste and get a picture! It is distgusting and burned your stomach as it goes down! BUT...just the fact that is was 96% alcohol was enough to enjoy it!
This is the mine. It is at the base of a mountin that shadows Potosi.
Potosi used to be the richest city in the world back in the 16 hundreds, this was because of the silver in the mine. But most of that is all gone now.
The mine is a very dangerous place with loads of gases floating around including Aspestos, Mercury, and Sillica. So most of the miners die before they have even worked in there for ten years. We were OK but it helped to wear a bandana.
When we were in the mine, lots of carts of rocks would go past at quite some pace, and as there was not much room either side, so you had to watch out!
The miners still follow and old belief about worshiping the Devil. This is because as they are under ground and the Devil is there too, all of the minerals belong to him, so if it has been a good week they have to drink (96% alcohol) to pay back the Devil. On the other hand if it has been a bad week they also have to drink to ask for the next week to be a good one.
That stick that I am holding very menacinglly, is Dynamite! The miners use this alot, to get to new sections of the mine. What I thought was funny, is that you just went down to a shop to buy it, and anyone can! It is (appanently) the only place in the world that you are allowed to bye it legelly.
At the end of the tour all of the dynamite we decided to buy was prepared by are guide. The only differance was, that with ours the guide stuck Barbie to it! I was sooo pleased that finally I would be able to get my revenge on those plastic things!
Then the fuse was lit and there seemed to be no hurry about putting it at a safe distance...so I thought it would be fun to hold a live bomb, so I took it off the guide and asked dad to take a picture, at this point I was very scared because I could see the smoke coming closer and closer to the bag containing the bomb. Unfortunatly the picture didnt come out very good so there was no point to put it on the blog.
That is the 96% alcohol drink that the miners drink. An Irish guy in are group bought it (trust the Irish) so I took the oppertunity to have a taste and get a picture! It is distgusting and burned your stomach as it goes down! BUT...just the fact that is was 96% alcohol was enough to enjoy it!
Wednesday, 8 August 2007
Tuesday, 7 August 2007
Titisee to Titicaca
Hi it's Sam!
I'm here, in Bolivia, and glad to be. I've been looking forward to this even before Dad went away, and now it's finally happening. It was a very long and tiring thirteen hours not only because I was alone but also because only the day before I had been on a coach for seventeen hours coming back from a school trip to Germany in the Black Forest. I had such a good time, but it really didn't help the stress and tiredness that I was going through.
Never the less Germany was great, we got up to loads of cool stuff including singing mass in Strasbourg cathedral (France) and going to Europa park that holds the biggest roller coaster ride in Europe!! Of course I went on it but lots of friends chickened out! We also went to lake Titisee to do a concert. This was a good experience as it had very nice views. What I didn't realise is that four days later I wold be standing by another lake, but this lake is the highest in the world, and very different! Lake Titicaca. We stayed in Copacabana, on the lake, a very nice place to be a little altitude sick in my opinion, it was just abit but wasn't nice. I think it was also because I was very tired , after all I had been in seven countries in a week...England, France, Luxembourg, Germany, Holland, Peru, Bolivia. WOW! Two hemispheres, 51 hours of sitting on a coach and plane in 14 days! I think I was allowed just a small break before we went off to Uyuni and the Salar.
The Salar was AMAZING. I had a great time and with a group that I wouldn't have changed for anything. It is a great experience and so glad I did it.
I'm here, in Bolivia, and glad to be. I've been looking forward to this even before Dad went away, and now it's finally happening. It was a very long and tiring thirteen hours not only because I was alone but also because only the day before I had been on a coach for seventeen hours coming back from a school trip to Germany in the Black Forest. I had such a good time, but it really didn't help the stress and tiredness that I was going through.
Never the less Germany was great, we got up to loads of cool stuff including singing mass in Strasbourg cathedral (France) and going to Europa park that holds the biggest roller coaster ride in Europe!! Of course I went on it but lots of friends chickened out! We also went to lake Titisee to do a concert. This was a good experience as it had very nice views. What I didn't realise is that four days later I wold be standing by another lake, but this lake is the highest in the world, and very different! Lake Titicaca. We stayed in Copacabana, on the lake, a very nice place to be a little altitude sick in my opinion, it was just abit but wasn't nice. I think it was also because I was very tired , after all I had been in seven countries in a week...England, France, Luxembourg, Germany, Holland, Peru, Bolivia. WOW! Two hemispheres, 51 hours of sitting on a coach and plane in 14 days! I think I was allowed just a small break before we went off to Uyuni and the Salar.
The Salar was AMAZING. I had a great time and with a group that I wouldn't have changed for anything. It is a great experience and so glad I did it.
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