To Potosí and back again

Just got back from a whirlwind trip to Potosí and Sucre. I have now officially been to 14,000 feet and back again, a breathtaking experience in many senses. After a week of traveling, it feels great to be back home in Cochabamba with the fam -- sharing food and stories and settling in again. But first, a recap of the trip!   We first went to Potosí, framed by orange-tinted mountains that have been exploited for silver, zinc and other minerals for hundreds of years. The cobblestone streets are narrow and the city is filled with colonial architecture. It gets super cold at night due to the altitude, so we bundled up in all the layers we had when we went out at night. While we were in Potosí we had the opportunity to go into a mine and be exposed temporarily to the extremely difficult and dangerous life of a miner. 

One of the most interesting parts of the mine visit was going to the altar of "el Tio" (The Uncle), who is the spirit owner of the mine. He is a devil figure that was created by the Spaniards in the 16th century to scare the indigenous people into working in the mines (or else they would face the wrath of el Tio). The Spanish conquistadors named this figure "El Tio," because in Quechua -- one of the main Bolivian indigenous languages -- there is no letter "D" for "Dios" so the Spanish replaced the "D" with "T" to form "Tio."

To this day, many miners worship God and attend mass when they are above ground, but when they descend into the depths of the mine, all of their reverence goes towards el Tio, the lord of the underworld, to protect them from the dangers of mining. There is an altar for el Tio in every mine, and the miners leave coca leaves, alcohol and cigarettes as an offering to ensure that they receive his protection. The altar is pretty scary to witness as you descend through dark tunnels in the mines. The religious dualism of the miners and their intense devotion and fear of a God created by the Spanish is incredible and hard to wrap my mind around.

After our excursion to Potosí, we took a bus to Sucre, the constitutional capital of Bolivia. The city is quintessentially colonial, with white-washed buildings and narrow streets.  

We went to a weaving museum where I saw the most intricate, colorful and incredibly imaginative weavings. Afterwards we went to a music school called “Masis” where they teach traditional Andean music to children and adolescents. They served us a delicious dinner with sweet potato, beets, avocado and corn, while we watched the dance and music from the balcony above. Then we all descended and danced to the music in the courtyard. It was pretty magical.