One funny thing that happened to all of us at altitude that I forgot to mention was that the ping pong ball thing from our roll-on deodorants popped out and bounced across the floor. You'd think we were a team of incompetent table tennis players. It must have been the pressure or something but it was very funny.

Anyhooo, what's next? Potosi - the world's highest city at 4060m and also a Unesco World Heritage site. It's a bit of a controversial city as it was founded in the 16th century after the discovery of ore deposits and Potosi became one of the world's most lucrative mining cities. The mines are famous for their appalling conditions which still exist today and the thousands of workers have a life expectancy of around 40 as they are subjected to horrendous working conditions - exposure to asbestos and arsenic, risks of developing silicosis, temperatures that range from below freezing to around 45 degrees, absolutely no safety provisions, shafts that have no ventilation and very basic tools. To make matters worse, there are children of 13 years old who work down the mines. A lot of agencies run tours down the mines but I was scared off by the write up in the LP. It sounds like a risk to even do a tour as there are often accidents and people get sick after exposure to the chemicals down there. Scary!!

So, our mini tour group (me, Michelle, Sarah, Verity, Bill and Jonathan) went off to see the sights and sounds of Potosi which is actually quite a pretty terracotta-roofed city. We went into the cathedral which is under restoration but you could see how beautiful it will be when completed. We had a guide who was quite funny and spoke a combo of Spanish and broken English. We climbed the bell tower and Jonathan gave the bell 3 dongs (we weren't allowed any more in case people started to come for prayers!).

A few of us went for a great dinner where Sarah and I shared a meat fondue which was fantastic, apart from almost killing ourselves from the spitting oil which was far too hot! On the first night we had gone back to the hotel bar for a few cheeky rums and whiskeys but the bar tender was an 86 year old who kept falling asleep and all we could see was his woolly hat dipping further below the rim of the bar - that and he kept turning the TV up so loud that we couldn't hear ourselves think. We eventually got chucked out at midnight as he wanted to go to bed! When we got back to the hotel at 10.45 the 2nd night, the bar was already shut!

Next stop La Paz and cycling the 64km Road of Death! Yikes! Hopefully I'll be updating you with the stories from that in a couple of days........