Hola

Woohoo Bovlia! The change was instant as soon as we crossed the boarder. Its much more what i expected south america to be like. The buses are a great example of difference. In Argentina the buses are expencive (in south america terms), plush with reclining seats, food, bingo and the roads are tarmaced. In Boliva the buses are cheap, the seats recline but dont always stay that way (its a rude way to wake up.. going from reclined to sitting in the blink of an eye) and the roads are not always tarmaced and definitely not flat. On our first bus ride we had to all get off the bus so it could get out of the pot hole it had got stuck in. When i say we all i dont really mean it. I had to stay on due to an ancient old lady sitting next to me couldnt get off so i was trapped. It wasnt just the fact that the bus might roll over that bothered me as much as the fact that i might get crushed to death by the old lady.

Tupizu was our first port of call. A small dusty town a few hours north of the boarder. The main attraction here is horse riding. We have becom alittle hooked on it.. my bottom will never be the same again. The ride was beautiful due to the spectacular scenery which looked like something directly out of a western. In fact Tupizu is were they filmed Butch cassidy and the sun dance kid. The boys definitely looked more brokeback mountain that butch cassidy. Ed gets 10 man points for not falling off his horse when he got kicked in the knee by another horse. He was lucky to only geta cut and a nasty bruise. He also gets 10 extra man points for riding the rest of the day without fear!

Our epic four day 4 by 2 jeep tour started in Tupizu and tookm us all the way to Uyuni. To tell you all that happened on this epic journey would take too long so here are the highlights. From Tupizu we went up, this was definitely a theme of this trip. We went as high as 5000 mts which makes you feel a bit strange. We saw volcanoes (one of which was still active) and a ghost town, swampy type things and rock formations which make you think your on the moon. I think we can tick the moon and mars off the list of places to go! We saw alot of different coloured lakes, alot of flamigos and even more llarmas. We went swimming in thermal pools (chris did this in his pants.. boxers go see through when wet) and stayed in small villages every night. The last night we stayed in a hostel wntirely made of salt. Our guide was awsome and liked the red hot chilli peppers. The climax to the trip was the salt flats which we reached at sunrise on our last day. They are vast, flat and white. So much so that they can make your brain hurt if you think about it too much. All in all a fun packed gobsmackingly good 4 days!

In Uyuni we went from 6 to 7 with the arrival of Joolz. And im sure you are all glad to know that thanks to me and Meesh that B olvia now knows what the west country accent sounds like. One (or two) mojitos at altitude does stranges things to a girl.

On to La Paz and the highest capital city in the world. Its a sight to see, a whole city surrounded by mountains (some with snow on them) and hoses balanced all up the sides. A trip to La Paz whitches market provides you with all you medicinal needs. Selling powders for anything from hair loss to problems only men have, you can also buy llama faetuses for good luck. We settled for buying llarma jumpers instead.

From La Paz to Corico via the most dangerous road in the world by bycycle. The 67km long road is mostly made of gravel and only one lane wide. It is also all down hill. From the top you decend 3600mts from mountain top to tropics. Its and epic ride, the longest drop is 700nts straight down and makes you alittle dizzy looking over the edge.

It was an exhilarating ride, especially when you meet a truck coming the other way. but i still think that riding though oxford is more sangerous. We all made it down in one peice. well maybe not paddy. He decided not to do the ride and go by bus instead, expecting to go by the new, wide tarmacked, safe road but ended up following us down the death road. I´v never seen him look so pale, apparently its one of the scariest experiences of his life.

We had a lovely surprise when we got to Coroico when we ended up staying in a wildlife sanctuary with alot of monkeys for 2 days. They had spider monkeys (including a baby of two weeks), capuchins and a baby howler monkey. They recue them from all over Bolvia. All the monkeys liked to play and have hugs, it was magical. You just sit down and chill out in the shade and if they fancy it a spider monkey will come and use you as a bed or a capuchin will use you as a climbing frame and look for bugsin your hair. They are very clever b*****s and know how to open doors. Chris and I found this out during a siesta after being woken up by a spider monkey opening our door and stealing our toothpaste!

Back up the death road by bus (definatly worse than riding down it) to meet Dave. However Dave did not arrive. Meeshy, Janey and I were standing at the arrival gate of the highest airport in the world with a beautifully crafted sign saying "BIG BUSHY BEARD" and getting a few strange looks when no Dave appeared. Nada mas (no more) says the airport chappy and true enough no Dave (we checked!). Apparently a flight from Oz to Bolvia with 6 different connections can go wrong. Whilst waiting expectantly for Dave we managed to see alittle football. Bolvia against Brazil. It was an exciting match, not that i know anything about football but we had face paint and flags! The face paint had to be removed after about 10 mins as it was giving us all chemical burns. Bolvia won 2to1.. woohoo.. go Bolvia. And the next day Dave arrives and we are now super Ocho (8).

Onwards and upwards!

love love xxx