Tuesday 25th May 04 Today we boarded our bus at 7am and arrived in San Pedro De Atacama, Northern Chile at 6pm, after an extremely rickety bus ride. This is our first experience of high altitude, as San Pedro is situated 2500 metres above sea level, which caused us to have headaches as we neared the town. San Pedro is a small town, in the middle of the Atacama Desert, which is the driest desert in the world and the views of the surrounding volcanoes and mountains are spectacular. Due to the altitude the weather is extremely cold, so was a shock when we left the bus!! We checked into a hostel and headed out to dinner with a couple whom are sharing our dorm. San Pedro is the typical town you imagine when you think of South America - dusty streets, white-washed buildings and shanty houses with many stray dogs prowling the streets! Wednesday 26th May 04 Today we decided to change hostel after an extremely cold night as our room window would not shut!!! We spent the morning arranging our 3 day jeep tour to Uyuni, Bolivia. We then hired bikes for an hour to see the town and the great views of the desert and volcanoes, but we were exhausted after half an hour to the altitude (or perhaps we are unfit??!!). The afternoon was spent on a tour of the surrounding attractions of San Pedro. We first saw 'Dinosaur Valley', so-called due to the natural patters of the rocks looking like dinosaurs! We then headed to the sand dunes to learn how to sand-board which was great fun, although tiring walking up the huge dune! We used snow-board type boards which we had to coat with wax in order to go faster and not get stuck in the sand. We did pretty well considering we have never snow-boarded before! After about 2 hours of sand-boarding, we headed into Valle De La Lune (Moon Valley) - it is here that NASA do their testing for robots they send to the moon as the landscape is so similar!! Here, we saw a disused salt mine, and could view the holes where miners had been extracting the salt. After this we climbed the mother of all sand dunes, in order to watch the sunset over the valley - this was a spectacular sight as the colours of the sand, rocks and distant volcano's changed from brown, to red, to purple. We had a relaxing evening after our eventful day in preparation for the trip tomorrow, which we are really looking forward to!!! Thursday 27th May 04 Today we set of from San Pedro de Atacama Chile to begin the 3 day tour to Uyuni Bolivia. After passing through border controls and placed into groups of 6, (Mark - Swiss, Dan and Lesley - Brits and Us, with Bolivian driver Eddy and cook Samela - 15 years old!!!!) we began to tackle the off road terrain. The highlights of today included visiting Laguna Verde - Green Lagoon and Laguna Colorada - Red Lagoon!!! From here we set off for Sulphur emitting Geysers with bubbling mud pools. This point marked a landmark for the tour as we reached our highest point above sea level a staggering 5000 metres!! After this we set off for the firsts nights accommodation which we had been warned well in advance would be basic and cold!!! Why don't stories like this disappoint, it was absolutely freezing and basic to say the least!!! Friday 28th May 04 Today after getting around 1 - 2 hours sleep due to the condition of the beds and the freezing temperatures inside the room which helped freeze the insides of the room windows we set off for various lagoons, which had wild and native Flamingos in vast numbers. From here we visited an active volcano and saw the vapours emitting from its peak!! From here we began the drive to the Hotel de Sal - Salt hotel where we would spend the night. The hotel is constructed solely out of salt, thus the beds, tables, chairs and floors were all salt!!! The hotel was lovely and a lot warmer than the previous nights accommodation. When we reached the hotel locals gather to persuade all us Gringos to commit to a tour of a local museum. After reaching the museum we were presented with a mummy sitting in a cave alongside her supposed artefacts when she died!!! Suspicions were aroused!!! Saturday 29th May 04 Today we woke in the Hotel De Sal - Salt Hotel at 4.30am to reach Fish Island for Sunrise. On the way to the Island across the vast salt flat in the pitch black our driver decided to play silly beggars with the other drivers and turn off the lights on the car for approximately 30 minutes - quite scary!!! Having survived this ordeal we reached the Island which is home to some 60000 Cacti in the nick of time to watch the amazing sun rise over the salt flat! After a spot of breakfast we began the drive across the width of the salt flat to the Bolivian town of Uyuni stopping at a train cemetery, and a craft shop which produced many sculptures carved out of salt!!! The salt plains were amazing and with the reflection of the sun on the salt the distant mountains and islands look as though they are floating and mirages!!! The salt flats are divided into hexagonal shapes due the humidity of the water rising from below the plain, the pictures will explain more!!! Sunday 30th May 04 Today we woke to yet another freezing morning and headed into town for a spot of breakfast before we boarded our 6 hour bus ride to Potosi from Uyuni. Potosi is officially the highest city in the world sitting at 4500 metres above sea level. Fortunately we have become acclimatised to the altitude in the past days and only experienced slight headaches. After finally getting our bags placed on the top of the mini bus style bus, which was over packed with boxes of freight the police/military decided that they were not going to let that bus travel today and that it could only go tomorrow. With this we had to change buses and eventually got under way. The trip was all on unsealed dust roads and on roads that got far to close to the edge of mountains which reach 4500 metres in parts for our liking. With the city in sight the bus ran out of fuel so we had another delay whilst a young lad who worked on the bus had to run into town to get supplies. However, we finally arrived and checked into a nice room that has Cable TV and a heater!!!!! Monday 31st May Today we awoke early in order to book ourselves onto a tour of the mines, and after a spot of breakfast we were taken to the guides house to change into our yellow boiler suits, wellies and hard hats! We were then taken by bus to the miner's market where we purchased dynamite, cigarettes, coca leaves and bottles of 96% alcohol as presents for the miners! From here, we headed up the mountain which contains approximately 400 mines and met women and children who sort through and chip the minerals for the valuable parts, while their husbands are inside the mines extracting the minerals. We then watched a demonstration of exploding dynamite - which made us jump out of our skins!!!!! We then entered one mine and crawled through small tunnels and down deep and dangerous mine shafts, until we were 35m underground. We met several miners, as they shifted 80 kilograms of minerals to their wives on the outside - it was a real eye opener! They work up to 12 hours per day every day until their lung capacity is 50%, and only then they can retire! Although many have died as a result of accidents within the mine. No wonder they need the Coca leaves and alcohol to keep them going! After we returned to normality, we caught a taxi with Mark, for the 2 hour trip to Sucre, which proved to be the same price as the bus! We checked into a hotel and spent the evening having dinner and drinks in a great resturant. Tuesday 1st June 04 Today we booked ourselves a flight to Bolivia's capital, La Paz, which was fairly cheap and will avoid a 17 hour bumpy bus ride! We then spent the day wondering around Sucre, looking in the shops and many market stalls and Dan braved a hair cut - although it was fine as we had Mark to translate for us!! The poverty in Sucre was pretty depressing as ladies and children sit outside shops and cafes begging for money, it was also pretty surprising as Sucre is a beautiful city with stunning architecture and much more affluent than Potosi. The evening was spent in a Swiss bar with an English couple whom we met on the Uyuni 3 day tour! Wednesday 2nd June 04 Today we caught our flight to La Paz and arrived 45 minutes later!! (Definitely preferable to the bus!!). La Paz is the highest capital in the world at 3510 metres above sea level and is set in a valley surrounded by mountains and snow capped peaks. We checked into a hostel in the city centre, which had been recommended to us and spent the afternoon wandering around this mad city, which was pretty exhausting due to the steep hills and the altitude causing us to be breathless!!!! There is even more poverty here than Sucre - the streets are lined with men and women holding out cups for donations, and children trying to make money through shining your shoes. Thursday 3rd June 04 This morning we woke early in order to book our flight from La Paz to Rio De Janeiro on 24th June. We then spent the day wondering around the mazes of the city's market, including: the Witches Market, which sells lotions and potions, as well as Llama foetuses which are said to ward off evil spirits!! The Black Market, which is street upon street of clothes, shoes and household goods and the street stalls which sell traditional handicrafts and woollen clothes. Nat bought herself a pair of much needed trainers in order to conquer the Inca Trail and in the evening we gave Nat's old trainers to a lady begging on the street, but we think she wanted money more!!! We spent the evening having dinner and drinks with Mark and 2 other English couples who were on the Uyuni trip - so a late and great night was had!! Friday 4th June 04 We had a lie-in for the first time today and headed around the market stalls for a spot of shopping after yesterdays introduction to La Paz`s markets! We then updated the website with our latest pictures and diary entries!! In the evening we went to the cinema to watch "The day after tomorrow" a word of advice to anyone interested in watching it - save your pennies!!!!!. Saturday 5th June Today we woke to a massive religious festival bringing La Paz to a standstill. With this in mind we decided to check out of our hostel where the parade was taking place and attempt to move hostels to a nicer one!!! We like making our lives hard don't we!! For the remainder of the day we shopped AGAIN, and generally took it easy as we are both feeling a little bit under the weather, and may have a little dose of food poisoning!!!!! Sunday 6th June 04 Today we strolled around La Paz, and visited the infamous San Pedro Prison. For all of those who have never heard of it there's a pretty good read in a book titled, Marching Powder, by Rusty Young!. This was quite harrowing watching all of the children queue up outside to visit inmates. For the remainder of the day we sorted out a few last minute souvenirs from Bolivia and generally got ourselves in shape for our departure the next day to Peru.