hello!

I said i would try to be quicker in my update this time so here we go, this one should hopefully be shorter than the last!

we headed to potosi after germany had won there game and we had worked out that we were not going to able to see the germany england game as we were in the middle of the desert. so slightly down cast we headed to off to the highest city inthe world, and oh my u can tell its high!!!! we got there in time for dinner and our hotel being at the bottom of town we had to walk up to the main plaza at the top of town and by the time we hit it 10 mins late we were all feeling a litlle lightheaded and out of beath. the night we got there the place was buzzing, it was the coldest day of the year so there were fires everywhere and it was party time! it was awesome to see! tho i have to say a little chilly!! the next day we explored the town, well attempted to, after the party of the night before noone was too bothered to open up early so we actually spent the time mainly wandering round waiting for the markets to open, but it is a nice little town with beautiful old buildings so it was fine.

that afternoon we headed down to uyuni with trivial persuit on the i phone to entertain us, it took a while, but time an i did eventally win on hard as well!! woop! :) we got to the much of nothing town of uyuni and headed out for the best pizza we have had so far this trip, it was sooo good! and a nice change from rice and chicken!! and then headed out for a few drinks and it was leon, our tour leaders birthday, but as uyuni is not the most happening place it was not exactly a blow out birthday! :) the next day tho we got up and when our 4x4 drivers eventually turned up at 10.30 we headed out of uyuni and onto the salt!! well the first stop was a train graveyard, which was actually fairly cool and we managed to get some good pics jumping from train to train. then we headed to the salt! it is such an awesome thing to see, even for the second time. the white jsut speads out before you for miles and miles. and with the strange refractions of light off the surface, the mountains in the back ground go in and out of view as u move, its quite strange to see. we stopped at an island in the middle of the salt, fish island, which was covered in cacti amd took a lot of effort to get up, but when we got there the view was amazing. the incredible expanse of white nothing was surreal, and the occasional bus or 4x4 traveling accross seemed completely out of place. after our lunck of llama steak we heade out onto the salt to take some photos, it is actually surprisingly difficult to work out the perspective on the salf flat shots with small people in the background and large objects in the foreground, btu we managed to get a few good pics, so u will be subjected to them soon!!! :) from there we headed to a salt hotel which, when u r envisaging somthing like the ice hotel, was a little disappointing from the out side.it just looking quite dirty really, but it was better from the inside, and it was not actually too cold!

the next day we headed out to the atacama desert, a completely different kind of landscape, but incredibly beautiful! we stopped at lagoons int he middle of nowhere, some blew some green, some with flamingos! we saw smoking volcanos and erroded rocks that looked like trees. and we saw miles and miles of windswept sand with mountains in the back ground that were all sorts of beautiful colours. it was an awesome day! that night we stayed in a shack by one of the lagoons which really didnt feel like it would be able to survive the roaring winds that were billowing around. but luckily it did, and we survived the night and i was suprisingly warm in my sleeping bag and with only one blanket! i was impressed!

however, when we got u p the next morning ant 5 it was a different story, it was frezzing!!!!! we got up and headed straight out to the cars and headed off to see some geysers. for some reason our driver decided that he didnt really want to follow at the same pace as the others and went at a snails pace so much so that the other cars had to keep stopping for us to catch up, it was a little frustrating! but we did eventually get to some geysers, the first of which was blowing up from the ground wiht quite a lot of force. i eventually managed to get out of the car into the cold and wind, bt luckily when u got close to it the heat given off was really nice!!! but eventually the smell of sulphur was too much to take and we headed back to the car and off to the next lot! i couldnt get out of the car for these ones it was tooo cold!!!! and after a few minutes the hard core had also given up and got back into the car and we headed off to the hot spring for our morning dip! we got there are about 7 when the sun was just about to show its face, and were were the first there. we speedily undressed in the freezing cold and wind and quickly got into the pool, which was perfect! it was soooo warm!!!!! we sat in the beautifully warm water and watched the sunrise and then after a speedy change we headed into the building there and had pancakes for breakfast- perfect!!!!! from there we headed back to uyuni through the deaert it was a long and hot drive! broken in the middle by lunch in the middle of nowhere and a cake made of out twixs and m+ms for chris´ birthday.

we managed to get back to uyuni in time to see the replay of the second half of the england germany game- i kind of wish we hadnt! oh dear, well come on murry!!! from there we caught, the suprisingly decent night bus up to la paz, it was a 10 hour ride and there was a toilet on board- bonus!!!

so yesterday we arrived in la paz and it is so cool being bac here! it is exactly the same hectic, dirty city i remember, but really cool! full of wierd and wonderfull things and people witht he most incredible views of houses rising up and up on the surrounding mountains. we explored around the witches market with inca statues and llama feoteus´s as well as loads alpaca stuff on sale- its really cool! then we headed over to the central plaza where there is still a feel of the old wealth of the place with the beautiful state buildings and churches. we now have another day to explore around the city before we head off tomorrow to peru. it is the last country of this trip and i cant wait to see it!!! i shall keep u informed of our adventures there and then i shall cu all very soon!!! i cant wait!!!!

hope all is well at home and that u are enjoying the heat wave!!!! tell me all ur news!!! much love!!!!! x x x x x