Hello from Bolivia!

You{ll be glad to know we crossed the border with no problems! We arrived in La Paz after a stop in Copacabana quite late so there wasnt much time to do anything apart from eat. The next day we went for a look around the witches market and the Black Market.. where i purchased some highly dodgy.. wait for it.. sunglasses and trainers wooo. We were also swapping over our gap leader today and losing a few people from our group who finished their trips in la paz. so we went out for a goodbye and hello meal.. it was sad saying bye to the 4 that left but we met jorge our new leader and he{s a proper dude! some people then went back after this (barn jo and grant in a taxi who had people grabbing at their bags and sweaters going back into the hotel!!) tho me sul and moore played drinking games in one of jorges mates restaurants cause everywhere else had been closed due to "civil unrest".. still not really sure why tho cause we didnt see anything kicking off!

the next day we went on a bus up into the mountainms around la paz. it was really snowy up here and we couldnt get t0 where we wanted to go , so ended up walking somewhere else.. but by the time we{d come back the bus haddriven off because it was worried it would get snowed in.. so we ended up walking ages in the coldest weather ever with icy cold wind - different side to bolivia! after this is was pizza time mmm and we had to get a night bus to uyuni which took 12 hours. i slept hardly at all on this cause the road was so bumpy - we were supposed to be getting the train because of this but due to the alleged "civil unrest" haha trains were cancelled.

so we headed out into the salt flats in our 4x4 drives .. its deceptively cold here from the blue sky in all the pics!! we took a few v talented camera shots (!) and also saw a dude that me and barn had befriended on the top of wayna picchu by attcking him with warrior paint! its so random cause we{ve seen him aboput 5 times since then in different places.... moore and sully saw him down in agnes calientes after macchu picchu and said hello knowing he must have met us even though we hadnt come back yet as he was covered in warrior paint haha .. then again at the bolivian border crossing.. then again at the salt flats and since then wev bumped into him in a pub in uyuni and in the centre of potosi.. yet to have our sucre meet up!

we had lunch at the salt hotel and then stopped over in a basic lodge in the middle of the atacma (sp?) desert. it got really quite cold here at night and i had just got ill again with stomach cramps..., but cant moan too much cause nearly everyone else was throwing up and managed to avoid that. the next day we went for more journying in our 4x4s and stopped off at various places, cant remember this day too well as was still ill haha. by the night tho id perked up and took on the boys at poker with chips fashioned out of napkins and teabags which was pretty ingenious.

the next morning we got up early and went to see the active volcano and lava pools.. next on the agenda were the hot springs but it was SO COLD stripping off didnt seem like much of a possibility until we got there and it was such a nice natural pool me and grant decided to brave it and suffer the coldness of getting out later! realy glad we did cause it warmed u up loads..even when we got out it wasnt that bad cause i think having so many layers on had actually began keeping in the cold! we returned from the desert with a 7 hr drive (wed almost got down to chile!) and went out to a local bar for the night which was empty apart from us being a weekday but still had fun!

the next day we headed off for potosi which marks a sad day for me as i had my first loss!!!! my walking shoes which i had tied to my bag never made it, still not sure what happened to them but i hope theyre having a good time in bolivia wherever they are, ill really miss them! RIP. ive also ditched harry P as finished reading it, my first tears of the trip were spilt reading that on the bus haha! the next morning in potosi, we visited a mine which i was a bit nervous about cause of my issues with personal space! but it was really good looking round them, altho the conditions are so bad for the workers. we brought some bags of goods for them. they also set off some dynamite while we were in there which was scary cause theyd said to turn off all the torches to build up the suspense aarrghh. after that when we were outside lucas the german who we call beav as hes a bit of an eager beaver haha lit some and had to sprint up the hill with it which was hilarious.

we{re now in sucre which is nice cause its at a much lower altitude. i was struggling a bit in potosi walking around anyywhere got you so out of breath cause of the lack of air.. i think everyones glad of the oyxgen and warmth!! we went out last night in DRESSES AND SANDALS for the first time to celebrate and had a wicked time.. everyone (in particular jorge!) was pretty drunk.. tho i hadnt had too much (i know u wont believe me but its true lol) cause my ears wouldnt pop from coming down and i couldnt hear hardly anything! solved that little problem now tho youll all be glad to know haha.

so thats about it! got today and tomorrow in sucre then heading to santa cruz which is even lower.. ahhyyeeaasss!!! ive added some pics on facebook which i think explain more than my blo of drivvle.. any goss from back home is always welcomed!! xxxxxxxx