El Tío

Believe it or not, Potosí, Bolivia was once upon a time one of the richest cities in the world. The "Cerro Rico," was producing silver like mad, and Potosí, at 13,420 ft. above sea level, once had a population outnumbering that of Paris or London, with more than 200,000 inhabitants. For centuries, the silver flowed from Potosí to Europe, but eventually it ran out.

The "Tío," in Spanish, "Uncle" was the spiritual being who reined over the mine. I was told, during my visit, that Jesus Christ may have power outside the mine, but inside, it's el Tío. Miners give him offerings of booze and tobacco. Thousands of miners died because of working here, breathing toxic dust (and also because of the process they used to separate the silver from the ore) but they're still working the mountain.

The mine has one cavern that is a sort of museum. Here we see our guide, along side a representation of El Tío.