Potosí....

... the highest city in the world. More specifically, at an altitude of about 4060 meters. The high altitude air doesn't bother us much anymore, but you can feel the effects of any physical exertion immediately. Well, the Bolivians like it when tourists start gasping for breath on a simple city tour. There's not much to see here except for Cerro Rico. The mountain dominates the cityscape and serves as a silver mine and the main employer in the city.
At the beginning, we were given protective clothing, a helmet, headlamp, rubber boots, and a backpack. Then we went to the market. Here, the miners buy two things before and after work. Firstly, dynamite, which is used to blast open the silver veins and then extract the ore. Secondly, absinthe (98%), coca leaves, cigarettes, and lime, for their mine god and for expanding their consciousness. At the market, you can buy these two things and give them to the miners as gifts. We opted for a care package with cookies, cola, and chocolate.
And then we went underground. When we stood in front of the mine entrance, we thought the guide was joking with us (sorry). The 'entrance' was only as big as we were. Well, anyway, we climbed down the ladder. It didn't get any better down there, the tunnels had no light and were as wide as oneself, and very low, in some parts we had to crawl on our knees.
One can definitely imagine that life in the mine is not easy, but when we met two miners, we were almost speechless. They walked through the tunnels like shadows of themselves. Here, the silver is extracted with a hammer and chisel, just like in the Stone Age, and transported to the surface in wagons (pushed by two people). There is no talk of protective clothing or general safety measures here. There is asbestos hanging on the walls, and after blasting, the employees don't have enough time to wait for the dust to settle. As a result, the employees die at an average age of 35-45, and about 5 people die in the mine every month. Yes, the work down there is dangerous, which is why the very religious Bolivians have invented special mine gods. Their intimate parts have been heavily highlighted. The superstitious employees pray to the gods so that nothing happens to them in the mine. Coca leaves and absinthe are placed on both hands, feet, and finally on the penis as gifts. Then a cigarette is lit for the god, if the ash is white, it means that nothing will happen to the employee and his friends, if it is black, one should be careful.
What started as a fun day ended in deep conversations about the people and the working conditions in the mine.
'Ein Herz für Kinder' at least advocates for the children who have to work in the mine. I've looked up the link for you in case someone wants to donate their money:
https://www.ein-herz-fuer-kinder.de/projekte/minenkinder-potosi-die-minenkinder