For an excursion with my migration class we travelled to an old mining town. I kept hearing my teacher refer to it as a ciudad fantasma (ghost town). Had it been crowned this name for being haunted, abandoned or both? This is what I would find out on my excursion.
During the revolution San Luis Potosi was rich in silver and mined heavily. Now it is a ghost town, home to a few hotels, mineral based jewelry shops, and abandoned buildings. What would it be like to live here? My professor quipped as we were leaving Potosi. "Solo" I answered. Very alone. It is mostly abandoned save for Chicimeca Indians and a few people running shops and giving tours. What is does have is the remnants of silver mines, where one can follow a rope downward into moist and murky holes. 30 pesos, for under three dollars a tour guide will go down and explain what this place used to be.
I have been called to step up my machismo several times. Most of the time I have stepped up to the challenge. The first was when I was pressured to digest a very hot mysterious veiny pepper. My mouth was on fire, the candle did not go out for three minutes, after I had shed tears and was red in the face. As 7 girls scurried down the steepest part of the mine ahead of me, I heard their shouts from below. Zaaaaach eres un hombre (are you a man?). I am a man, I thought, a man who enjoys life above the ground where there is ample sunlight and less things that crawl and bite.
Something stirred inside of me and I grabbed the rope, stuck my feet upon the rock holds, and propelled downwards. Perhaps it was that cave diving book I read last winter that inspired my curiosity. Maybe it was just my child like proclivity for swinging down into the unknown. After the next corner the sunlight was gone, and all that was left to illuminate the rigid textures were some flashlights strapped to the rope. We continued downwards fifty metres through three main descents and then hit water. El fondo. The end.
A young looking and anxious tour guide/ local met us there to brief us on the history. I could not listen. The rocky barriers of this forsaken hole were starting to close in. I grabbed the rope and was the first to ascend. What took about 20 minutes to descend could not have taken more than 2 to ascend. Kicking my feet off the wall, bracing myself for the next hold, I pulled myself upwards, mumbling to myself, quiero ver el sol!!!
I want to see the sun.
