Charlie Foley checks out Mendoza's latest adventure destination - the silver mines of Minas de Paramillos.
Hewn from the foothills of Mendoza province, with the spiny ridge of the Andes dominating the landscape, is the Minas de Paramillos. I headed for the mountains with my team of fellow explorers and adrenaline junkies; feeling much like I was headed into Middle Earth.
The drive through the mountains is breath taking, but nothing compared to the view of Aconcagua and its sister peaks from the entrance to the mines several kiliometers beyond the mountain town of Uspallata.We were there for a trek. However it was not your predictable scramble over the Andes; we were going below them. Like Gandalf and his band of brave hobbits in the mines of Moria, we were disappearing into the earth, perhaps to awaken deadly demons and grisly goblins. Certainly I would have to conquer my own demons, because the trek involved abseiling; and launching myself off the side of a cliff attached to a few ropes was just a little too much like ‘living dangerously’ for me.
The mines opened in 1614, when the natives sweated and slogged under the earth, trying desperately to extract the silver that gives Argentina its name. The Latin for silver being argentum; Argentina is derived from the title ‘the one that shines like silver’. Therefore the mines of Paramillos have played a greater part in Argentina’s history than maybe even the great General San Martin.
After a two-hour drive from Mendoza city, we began on foot through the desert-like ghost town, which once housed the mine’s many levers and pulleys. Today they are crumbling edifices housing rusting metal remnants and massive pits that probe into the earth. It was down one of these pits that we were to go, all of us waddling like penguins in our hard hats and harnesses. First impressions are minimal as your eyes adjust to the gloomy darkness. Yet, you traipse ahead and are eventually struck by the cavernous tunnels. It is amazing to think that people were once down here picking away at the rock with little pickaxes. But that is exactly the reality, for when the British arrived to take ownership of the mine, it was at the height of the slave trade, and the miners were forced to work 20-hour days in the dank and dark.
On the way down the tunnels we noticed the silver glittering on the cave walls: I was at the back trying to hack out little lumps. But my efforts were to no avail; the precious stone was staying put; clearly I should have brought a pick axe.
The highlight of the tour is the abseiling and it is not for the faint-hearted. Perching at the top of a massive shaft, I listened as little rocks which we threw clattered off the walls for what seemed like an hour. Then it was time to get limbered up and attached to the ropes. Sliding over the edge, my mind was a torrent of emotions: ‘go back now or you will never see the light of day again’, ‘keep your feet apart’, ‘if Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible can do this then I can do it’. Before I knew it I was at the bottom, my guide prying the rope from my hands. I gulped water as the rest of the team sailed down; as if they had just got back from abseiling Everest.
Our guide then asked us all to turn off our lights and while he told us stories of murder and mystery in the mines; shivers ran down my spine and I felt that Gollum would creep up and put a slimy little hand on my head. For the rest of the tour I refused to walk at the back.
Down in the tunnels there are old railway tracks with little coal trucks that you can take your picture on. These trucks were used to ferry the silver which was eventually smelted down into jewelry, tableware and coins. Behind the tracks is an underground reservoir which looks incredibly spooky as you shine your torch over the toxic green water.
We were now in a tunnel were I could see the light of day glinting at the end of the darkness. Glancing round every two seconds to check that Gollum really wasn’t scurry up behind me I paced to the exit and a rush of hot, familiar Mendoza air.
The writer took a tour with tour company Minas de Paramillos. Tel. 425-9000 / www.minasdeparamillos.com. English spoken but check when booking.
Prices start at $200 AR for the full day including a lunch time asado
