I have not been so scared in a long time!!! The bus journey from Uyuni to La Paz is not one I would recommend to the faint hearted and I suffered from minor whiplash thanks to the experience.... My window would not stay closed for longer than a 5 minute period thanks to the constant jerking of the bus, my head actually hit the ceiling at one point and me and Sharon did resort to holding hands, which goes to show how bad it was!! Feeling lucky to be alive, we treat ourselves to a 20 pound per night room, expensive over here but worth every penny, we recuperate taking comfort in sky tv and fluffy towels. For a whole day we do nothing.

The next day we meet up with friends from our 4x4 tour and things start to improve. I actually really like La Paz, a charming capital city, the women still wear traditional dress (knee length socks, puffy colourful skirts, hair in long plats, with black bowler hats placed on top and white blouses) and it's all built in a valley between mountains so there are the most random really steep cobbled streets everywhere. I do however start to worry about my ability to complete the Inca Trail as at this altitude even 4 flights of stairs are starting to take their toll. Breathless is just not the word... plus that fact I am going to look like a muppet as my combats have been fixed but with the most crazy stitching on the outside I have ever seen, higgledy piggledy on both bum cheeks, not at all classy!!

With our friends from La Paz, as we lovingly called them, Dutch Couple, French Couple and Brazilans we head out to 100% natural for lunch and then embark on a city tour led by Trijnet. We all enjoy a very pleasant afternoon wandering the city, San Fransisco Plaza, the churches and my personal favourtie the witches market. That evening we all arrange to meet up again and head out to sample a Pena (local traditional show and dinner) the costumes were great traditional bolivian in really bright colours and we got in for free as we missed the start, plus we had the best selection of cheese on the buffet that I think I have seen since I left home. We all get up and join in on stage for a bit too, good to experience!

Sharon, Trijnet, Urian and me hire a taxi for the morning to check out the city from above. We visit a couple of scenic lookouts for some great photos of a very unique city and stop at the main cemetery on the way back, a fantastic morning for the bargain price of 4 pounds between us. That afternoon Sharon and I head to the Coca museum for some education. Here are some of the facts that I learnt:-

* Until 1912 Cocaine was still present in Coca Cola, today Coca leaves are just used to add flavour!!

* about 90% of Peruvian's chew Coca leaves as it helps with altitude, regulates glucose levels and is said to make people more productive and aid weight loss.

* traces of Coca leaves were found in Inca Mummies from over 500 years ago, they clearly understood the benefits way back then.

* In silver mines chewing leaves was mandatory as it increased productivity and there was a time when Coca was more valuable than gold and silver.

* America accounts for 5% of the world population but 50% of cocaine usage.

Some crazy facts and after all of this we head back to the witches market for some retail therapy. Which nowadays tends to involve me buying sweet baby outfits for my nephew that is expected in about 5 weeks, very exciting!!!

That evening 7 of us again meet for dinner, this time in a dutch restaurant. Trijnet invites me over to stay with them in Holland. (I'm sure I'll take them up on this offer) and we all head for a relatively early night, as I don't know about anyone else but we have about a 90 hour bus journey ahead of us to Quito to pick up our tour.