On route to Bolivia, we stayed in a Brazilian border town. The house was found on Air BnB and was a bit random. It was a large house, run by a young lad. On the face of it they were trying to accomodate travellers but something very suspicious about it. The home owner wasnt present but had this expensive 3 wheeler motorbike. I reckon it was a money cleaning venture for drug dealers. Once we got over the initial awkwardness, it was actually a pleasant stay and the young lad did everything he could for us.

The next morning we travelled to Santa Cruz de la Sierra. We crossed the border into Bolivia and like most border towns, there was nothing here. For some reason we never felt comfortable getting transport immediately after arriving into a country, so we collect our backpacks and walked into te next built up area.

I remember Kalle not enjoying this and wanting Thomas to leave us. I think Isla and I needed to get money or something and Kalle couldnt be bothered to wait for this. Thomas however was very kind and did not dream of leaving us alone.

We eventually got our s*** together and found ourselves in a very built up area. The road system was like a congested grid system running North/South and East/West. We found this lovely ice cream parlour and had ice cream in white polystyrene containers. It was very cheap and we had like 6 scoops with chocolate sprinkles. Again very refreshing considering the climate. Bolivia was just as hot as Brasil but much drier humidity. It was also quite high up. About 3000 meters above sea level. As it would turn out, this was my favourite climate. Hot during the day but cool enough at night to still want a duvet. Perfect!

We all stayed in a very run down hotel and the rooms were like converted horse stables or prison cells. Verry cramped, just enough space for 2 single beds. This night we found out how hard it was to breath this high up. Just rolling over in bed made you out of breath.

We stayed in Santa Cruz for 2 days before heading to the airport to get a flight to Salar de Uyuni, where we were going to tour the salt flats.