Bo…spit in the aisle…livia. As we said in the previous blog, the 21 hour journey from Brazil to Bolivia wasn't the best bus ride we had taken! Yet again the only tourists on the bus, along with the locals spitting in the aisles, every tom d*** and harry being allowed on the bus to sell you something, and the bumpiest dirt track road going….you could say we were glad to arrive in Santa Cruz. We stayed here for one night to recover from the bus journey and stayed in a nice hostel which had a resident Toucan for company. We had yet more luck with our next bus to Sucre…..after paying much more than the locals for what we thought was a cama-bus (nicer bus with reclining seats etc) we stood at our platform envying the look of the other buses as we prepared to board yet another small local bus! We're just giving up now in trying to have a decent bus ride in Bolivia. Sucre, again was just another few days here to relax and chill out. We stayed in a really nice hostel, and the owner, Ricardo, was really helpful. It was independence day in Bolivia so the city centre was full of Bolivian Soldiers marching. We took a (difficult) stroll up to the mirador look-out point of the city…..since arriving in Bolivia we have been high above sea level, and you can really notice the altitude. Just walking up the smallest hill makes you out of breath.

Next stop was Potosi, the highest city in the world at 4070 metres above sea level. Potosi is set against the back-drop of a rainbow-coloured mountain, the Cerro Rico (rich mountain) and is famous for its production of silver. The reason for tourists visiting Potosi is for the popular tour of the working mine. The lonely planet kindly reminds you that the cooperative mines are not museums and states there are a number of risks involved and are not for the faint hearted. With this in mind we went ahead and done the tour anyway! After donning our flattering uniforms, we headed to the miners market to buy gifts for the miners - water, coca leaves, beer and of course, dynamite, otherwise known as boomber. The Coca leaves are the raw plant form of cocaine and the miners chew around 250 leaves for about 3 hours as an aid to help with altitude and also to supress hunger. They work in the mines for 6 hours a day without any food, and they all have the leaves bulging in the side of their mouths looking like hamsters. In the mine there are 4 levels, each level the conditions worsen, working in 40 degree heat. We had scarfs covering our faces to protect us from the dust/arsenic/sulphur. Many miners die after 10years of working in the mines due to "black" lung problems. After spending just 2 hours in the mine, we had had more than enough…..poor Lewis was the only one who volunteered to help push the trolley, and shovel the minerals….after crawling on the rocky floor, through narrow shafts, sweating buckets, we were glad to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We have never been in need of a shower more! The mines were a real eye-opener….and although this was not something we enjoyed doing at the time, we are glad we did and would recommend to others.