Welcome to Bolivia!!!!!!

Crossed over the bolivian boarder which was pretty eye opening, as we got to see the differences between Argentina to 3rd world Bolivia. The welcome sign was flaking and all the women were old, and hunched over with horribly, heavy weights on their backs. The person who stamped my passport was very friendly and happy and asked me how i was in Spanish which left me with a good first impression of the country. The women were dressed really differently from Argentina with long black plaited bunches down to their hips and very large, multi-petticoated brightly coloured skirts with white blouses. We were also greeted with the new experience of coca leaves. Yes, coca leaves are used to make cocaine but in Bolivia and Peru they are a way of life and are completely legal. They are used as a herbal cure for hunger and altitude sickness. It is very common to see people slowly grinding these leaves against the side of their mouth and then leaving the juices to diffuse into the blood capillaries in their cheeks. We asked for one each, the man laughed at us and gave us a bag of coca leaves, a rock which acts as a catalyst to release the juices of the leaves and a type of shredded tea to make the flavour sweeter. I felt like some type of cow chewing on about 10 leaves in the side of my mouth and nibbling bits of the rock, however it did absolutly nothing for me and tasted like grass. What an experience though!

The greatest free camp-ever!

After a whole day of driving we had our last free camp for about 2 weeks- to our immense relief! Camping has definately had its ups and downs, but we were looking forward to the 40% of the tour which was hotels...no not hostels...but the luxury of hotels!!!! WHOOOPP!! After the last free camp we were rather doubtfull of a good nights sleep. However Marc parked on a flat slab of rock with the most incredible views and told us to pitch up camp. The girls were sent to fetch firewood (as pictured) which involved us posing with the nearby cacti and picking up about 2 pieces of old wood! Made a big camp fire, had a yummy meal and had a great sunset to watch. This was what free camping should have been all about. The great outdoors, freezing cold with a tent. However we awoke to some more cracks of thunder and the rain bashing hard against the tent. I was on breakfast duty so had to get up at 530 to prepare for an early bus leave. However at about 5ish we got woken by Marc telling us to pack up quick because the rain had stopped but a big ass storm was coming our way. Never pakced up so quickly in my life and as soon as we stepped onto the bus the rain started again! Good timing!