Cerro Rico — "the Rich Mountain" — is the dominant feature of the Potosí skyline, a near-perfect cone rising to 4,824 metres that has been mined almost continuously since 1545. Estimates suggest it yielded at least 40,000 tonnes of silver over three centuries, making it the single most important source of wealth in the early modern world. It is still being worked today, by cooperatives of Bolivian miners using methods that are barely more mechanised than what was used in colonial times.
Tours into the active mines run daily and take around two to three hours. You will put on protective gear, crawl through low tunnels, and come face to face with miners drilling by hand in conditions of extreme heat, dust, and altitude. Guides are typically former miners themselves. Before entering, the standard practice is to buy gifts for the miners at the market near the mine entrance — dynamite sticks, coca leaves, 96-percent-proof grain alcohol, and soft drinks are the customary offerings. The experience is physically demanding and emotionally confronting, but it provides a direct understanding of how the world economy was built. Book with one of the licensed agencies in central Potosí.