On the recommendation of Chris's old school friend, Gary, who we met in Cusco, we travelled to Tupiza in the south of Bolivia, with the purpose of doing a jeep tour of the the SW of the country, together with a bit of horseriding. It turned out to be a good choice. If you ever wanted to know what Dodge City would be like in 2004, then this is it. The town is about 6 streets by 6 streets with the railroad running through the centre of town. Surrounding the town are tall red mountains, deep canyons and thousands of cactus. The town, whilst small and fairly quiet, was much more pleasant than the alternative Uyuni, about 8 hours north. It had a relaxed feel to it and provided great value. Getting here from Potosi was amazing - the scenery was beautiful as we drove through the mountains and was so reminiscent of the Grand Canyon and the old Wild West that you could really see why Butch and Sundance felt at home here. As it happend they carried out their last robbery not far from here, robbing the payroll of US$90k about 70km's north of Tupiza, and finally bit the bullet (so to speak) just up the road in the (now ghost) town of San Vincente. Our hotel ran the movie and we had a good night in with a bottle of wine watching it. We hired a couple of horses and following in the footsteps of Butch and Sundance, we took a days ride into some of the local canyons, which we really enjoyed, if perhaps the galloping at full pace did frey the nerves and wound a few unmentionable places. Whilst we had a few after effects the following day (walking like cowboys) it was a triumph compared to Chris's last stint on a mule and probably something we would try again. The tour of the SW circuit of Bolivia is one of the unmissable things to do in Bolivia so we arranged a jeep safari (the only way to see the various sites) to cover the 1400km's of the tour. We had the good sense to keep the number of people to a minimum and with four people, a driver and a cook, for the 4 day road (of types!) trip, it felt fairly comfortable - particularly compared to some who had upto 9 people in a jeep plus their luggage. The scenery around the whole tour was fantastic - the mountain ranges in Bolivia boast a whole range of colours to take the breath away - though the dirt roads leave a lot to be desired for comfort of driving at speed. Memorable sites were the geysers, which reached temperatures of 850 degrees and had boiling mud pits, the salt hotel and the salt flats of Uyuni which are the biggest in the world and are some 70km across. The really strange thing about them is that the snow like effect takes the horizon away and the Andean mountains and volcanoes that you can see off in the distance appear to be floating. Apparently in the wet season the flats can be covered in 6 inches of water which reflects the clouds and the mountains around giving the impression that you are driving in the sky - very scarey. We did have something of an drama when on the third day of the trip we were trying to cross from the southern province to the north to drive across the salt flats, when we were stopped at the 'border' by a band of people. Unbeknown to us (and the 30 other tour jeeps in the area) there had been a land dispute between the 2 provinces for some time. In an effort to resolve the issue once and for all the local chief had decided that they would blockade all the borders to the south province and hold all gringos as hostages in an aim to get the government to intervene in the dispute and find a resolution. We were somewhat fortunate as the border we were trying to cross at at least had somewhere to sleep, if no running water and the head honcho was on site. Others were not so lucky as their border points were being manned by local people who were pretty much drunk most of the time and high on the standard drug of Coca leaves. We heard horror stories of rocks being thrown through jeep windows and pick axes being used against the cars, to stop the jeeps moving away. At first we treated it as an inconvenience but on the second day we began to understand the picture a little better. On the second day, as more locals arrived to man the blockade (about 60 in total), word spread that it might continue for quite some time and that the following day, they were planning for a big punch up and we heard of plans for for guns coming in for use against the opposing side in the dispute. We demanded to see the chief and told him we were no longer prepared to be detained. He was clearly holding out for the local government minister to come along and resolve the dispute in their favour. It quickly emerged that this was turning into more than a blockade and that we were the bait and effectively hostages as we couldn't turn back either as they had blocked that off as well. We decided to wait for the official before taking action as the chief promised that the government minister would be there later that day and if things were resolved they would 'release' us. Once the Minister for Tourism and the TV cameras arrived, there was a big meeting and we decided to make our presence known. All the blockaders gathered and we told the minister of our predicament. He shrugged and told us it wasn't his problem as it was a provincial dispute. Deciding we were now on our own and noticing that all the guards were distracted by the meeting with the cheif, we decided we had to make an escape. We ran to our jeep and decided to bust through the blocade and make a break across the border. With the threat of taking arms the next day if things were not resolved, it seemed the best option. We drove through the night to get away, off the main roads and arrived in the small town of San Juan after midnight. Our driver, who knew many of the people in the blockade was convinced that if we had not gone when we did we would probably have been hostages until the dispute ended - some people where held for 5 days. Whilst speeding away and giving them the two finger warm regards sign from England, we were whistling the theme tune from the Great Escape!