Outta the mines and downhill from there!

Okay, so our day at the mines in Potosi was an adventure. So was our evening!
We got back to the hostel (set on meeting our guides for a night out on the town) and we found that our English (London) friend Dave was more or less dying (or so he thought anyways).
Turns out he´d had quite a big day out drinking with the miners! His tour finished around 2pm and they had drank a bottle of the 96% stuff I mentioned earlier. Yuck. Well, he was pretty pissed when we saw him that afternoon. Later that night (around 7:30) he was quite a wreck! He´d been out all day drinking with a few people (all miners but one) and he came home and passed out. His friend Dominic was to leave that night on a bus to La Paz. It fell into our hands to take care of him. Between the alcohol and the extreme altitude he couldn´t breathe too well. He´d woken up and was more or less gasping to get air. We stayed with him a while and got him settled down and sorted out. He was okay, just needed to relax and focus on breathing properly. He´d just kinda scared himself I think (isn´t that right Dave). So we convinced him to come out for some food around 9:30pm along with his Swiss drinking buddy, George. We ate and Dave left early to go back to bed (we were convinced he was okay by this time, so we let him go). On the way back from the restaurant we ran into Neil (English guy from our mine tour). Turns out he was with Katie and the 2 guides (they were the only ones to meet up with our guides at 8:30- whoops!). He convinced us to come up to this miners party on the second floor. We had actually heard the music from the brass band earlier, on our way to dinner. We decided to go for a quick one and check it out. I mean, how many times do you get invited to a Bolivian miners party, fully equiped with a brass band, free booze and a translator? We went up and said hello to everyone. It turns out it was a party in honour of a French woman who had just written a book about the mines, the miners, and their way of life. She has been living in Potosi for 15 years and going into the mines researching etc. Pretty cool. So, long story longer, we went up and saw our guides from earlier in the day (apologized for not being there), said hi to Katie (Neil´s girlfriend) and had a large number of free shots! They were handing out these colourful shots left, right and center! It was an alcohol that came from a bottle that slightly resembled a champagne bottle. The bottle was the only similarity! There were yellow and orange shots coming around on trays, as well as a bottle under every second chair! Everywhere you went you were offered a shot, well, in between dancing that is! The band, let me tell you about the band!! There were about 15 Bolivian miners (all men) that each had a brass instrument of some kind. When they started half of the room got up and danced. Just when you thought the incredibly LONG song was over and coming to a close, they would start up again!! We were out on the floor dancing as they did- legs a flying! Once you were out dancing, the song lasted a good 20 minutes. This happened about 4 times before we decided to go home! It was an incredible experience! We had a blast dancing with these cute little Bolivian men and women(they were all about a foot shorter than Linds and I)! One big, fun party! Luckily the shots weren´t too harsh or alcoholic because we must have had a dozen or two! Certainly an adventurous day for us! Linds and I left as the band was finishing the final song. Home to bed!
Don´t worry, we checked on Dave and he was fine, fast asleep. He felt reasonably okay the next day considering how he was the night before! Boy, those English can drink eh!!