Day 7&8 - Sucre - Potosi - Uyuni | 15 comments (15 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Sorry (4.00 / 2)

posted this under the wrong name - will repost below the two comments already posted

by Jerome au Perou on Fri Aug 17th, 2012 at 08:10:14 PM EST

Comment by Bernard (4.00 / 2)

So you essentially pay your entrance fee to the mine in dynamite sticks and cocoa leaves, heh?

Better make sure there's nothing of it left in your luggage when you leave the country...

by Jerome au Perou on Fri Aug 17th, 2012 at 08:10:59 PM EST

Re: Comment by Bernard (none / 0)

...and don't let the kids play with that stuff.

How are they enjoying the adventure so far?

Europeans think a hundred miles is a long way. Americans think a hundred years is a long time.

by Bernard on Sat Aug 18th, 2012 at 05:26:52 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Comment by ManfromMiddletown (4.00 / 3)

That bottle of liquor looks like White lightning to me. I bet it's 96% alcohol by volume, or 192 proof. That's more than absinthe.

FYI, the political message on the wall reads, "All political parties are a loaded arm of blood, machismo, and corruption. Anti-Politics in the Altiplano. Interesting.

I enjoy the pictures.

by Jerome au Perou on Fri Aug 17th, 2012 at 08:12:00 PM EST

Re: Comment by ManfromMiddletown (4.00 / 2)

The graffiti is signed Mujeres : Women

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Sat Aug 18th, 2012 at 03:14:37 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Comment by ManfromMiddletown (none / 0)

96% being the point at which you can't distill any more water out with a simple still (at this point the water evaporates as fast as the alcohol). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azeotrope

(Something that has always puzzled me is that if you start with a higher concentration of ethanol, say 99%, then distillation will remove the water and leave the ethanol - so can you produce pure ethanol by keeping some pure ethanol around and distilling out the water in an azeotrope, or does this not work out?)

by njh on Sat Aug 18th, 2012 at 10:49:19 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Comment by ManfromMiddletown (none / 0)

All I know is that I wonder how these guys don't go blind if they are drinking that. This seems a lot harder on the health than chewing on coca leaves.

And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg

by ManfromMiddletown (manfrommiddletown at lycos dot com) on Sat Aug 18th, 2012 at 01:47:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Comment by ManfromMiddletown (none / 0)

You only go blind if some dumbass mixed the methanol from the first distillate back into the finished product rather than throwing it out.

If it's made properly, you just get seriously hammered. Not that I'd want to go down in a mine with someone who'd been drinking that...

- Jake

If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Sat Aug 18th, 2012 at 01:56:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Comment by ManfromMiddletown (none / 1)

Dynamite and alcohol.

Not a good combination.

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Sat Aug 18th, 2012 at 02:24:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Comment by ManfromMiddletown (none / 1)

Could be worse. They used to use nitroglycerin in mining.

Lots of people autodarwinated on that.

- Jake

If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Sat Aug 18th, 2012 at 03:03:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Comment by ManfromMiddletown (none / 0)

True.

Some number of people have used nitroglycerin in the morning.

A smaller number used it that afternoon.

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Sat Aug 18th, 2012 at 03:55:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Comment by ManfromMiddletown (none / 0)

Chewing on coca leaves is not at all harmful, based upon a few thousand years of data.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Sat Aug 18th, 2012 at 03:16:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Comment by ManfromMiddletown (none / 0)

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