Potosi, the mine

The world of mining in Potosi has ​​barely evolved from a technological point of view because it is not profitable as long as there is easy labor and enough courage to enter the bowels of Cerro Rico on a daily basis. Many young miners come from the countryside and have no experience but need to work, which is why currently and since 2020 there are more fatal accidents than years ago but no one is moved. Some of the miners that I met at the Candelaria Baja mine in 2001 have died from silicosis, Florentino Quispe and others, thus entering the statistics and confirming the life expectancy of around 45 years. Silicosis known as “mine sickness” is always present as the years go by. It is a pathology without a cure resulting from years of inhalation of suspended particles within the tunnels and cavities of the mines; They are the food for your lungs during your work days. I think that the mine generates a type of addiction among themselves. It is there, where every day hundreds of miners risk their lives to obtain a salary higher than the salary of a normal worker. Although they may go further than the simple but necessary money. It probably comes down to a tradition, to a kind of caste called: miners.