1. The Rich Mountain



There have been men who, having entered only out of curiosity to see that horrible laberinth, have come out totally robbed of color, and (grinding tooth against tooth) have not been able to pronounce a word (effects of the horror that they have just experienced) and muted, they have not known even how to ponder it nor make reference to the terrors that are in there, because there are places where no matter how high you lift your head you cannot see the top, and looking below you cannot see the bottom; on one side you see a horror, on another a fright, and everything that you see in there is all confusion.

-Bartolome Arzans de Orsua y Vela,
History of the Imperial City of Potosi, 1703


"If you see the Tio, the devil, walking around, you can go crazy or die of fear. The Tio is God here, if he wants accidents, he will have them.

- Bernabe Mamani, Candelaria Baja mineshaft, 1997

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