Tourists visiting one of the oldest working mines in Bolivia are having quite a blast. <br />They get a chance to set off their own dynamite at the end of the tour.<br /><br />Every year thousands of tourists tramp their way through the Potosi silver mine in Bolivia.<br /><br />It's a history lesson in the life of the 400-year-old mine but the real blast comes right at the end.<br /><br />That's when visitors get the chance to detonate the dynamite they've been quite legally able to buy hours earlier.<br /><br />[Barry Larson, Tourist]:<br />"Yes, it's just very strange that we can go into a shop in town and buy dynamite and blow it up later on. It's really cool."<br /><br />Many of the guides at the site high up on Mount Rico are former miners apparently well-used to handling explosives.<br /><br />Tour guide Helen Rios admits many visitors are surprised they can try their hand with it as well.<br /><br />[Helen Rios, Tour Guide]:<br />"The removal of minerals is done with dynamite and it shocks the tourists that it's legal and that anyone can buy it. This is something the tourists like."<br /><br />The big bang end to the tours is not so popular with everyone.<br /><br />Dynamite use is already restricted at from 4, 400 meters above sea level where the peak is more vulnerable to collapse.<br /><br />But further down the hill much of the mountainside is controlled by foreign companies.<br /><br />Geotechnical experts are trying to find out how much more it can take.<br /><br />For the time being the tourists are getting plenty of bangs for their bucks.
