Today we have another early start at 6:30am we board the bus to make our journey across the Brazilian and Bolivian border, we though we would be proactive an exchange our money to save time, but we then discovered we shouldn't have done this as we might have been given fake money. Panic ensued and common sense went completely out the window as we all started producing all our money whilst standing in the street to get Pablo to check out money was okay. Sure fire way to say come and mug me!!!! yeah none of us will do that again, so stupid! Having not been mugged we made our way crammed into taxis to the train station for the first of our overnight trains that will take us to Sants Cruz. We boarded the train, it was a lot more comfortable than any of us were expecting. 17 hrs later, having watched the most random bunch of films and survived the walk between the moving carriages to get to the buffet car to play some very competitive speed uno we arrived into Santa Cruz at about 8am. The group reconvened at 11am and went for a walk around by the plaza and into the cathedral which gave nice views over the plaza. We continued to have a wander around all the arts and crafts markets which were very nice an then ended up in the irish bar for lunch and a beer. In the evening we headed to a roof top bar for our last dinner with Pablo. Pablo was a great guide for the first leg of the trip and I know that everyone misses him! We had a great night, which for some of the grow involved shots of JD and pickle juice. I had to head back as the heat really doesnt like one foot and has now swelled up so much i m not even sure if kankles is even the right word. Bloody humidity grrrrrrrrr.

The next day we hopped on another bus and made our way to Santa Cruz airport where i was charged for excess baggage (the first time I might add), a whole 50p! whilst another member of the group, no names mentioned, was also massively over due to having 2 litres of water in their suitcase! It was here that we bid our farewells to Pablo who we hope we will cross paths with again. Having made the 30 min flight to Sucre we meet our new guide Santi who will be taking us through to La Paz over the next 10ish days. Bolivia is very different to Brazil, you can immediately see that it is poorer than Brazil, we saw lots of little old ladies in traditional dress begging on street corners, very sad to see. Once we had arrived we dumped our stuff in the room, had a late lunch and booked the market trip for the next day. Having done this it was time for the evening to begin. One thing I should now point out, we are now in altitude, not sure how high, but enough to make you feel rough. We enjoyed happy hour drinks and then made our way to the dance floor and rock it until about 2am. We were then told off for being too noisy when we got back to the hotel……there was only 2 of us lol, we just had the giggles !! Then the next morning arrived, well, I couldn't get out of bed, all I will say is I really hoped the altitude was effecting me, either that or i have turned into the biggest lightweight of all time. Needless to say I missed the market tour. And this is where it all started to go wrong. Having hauled myself out of bed at lunch time I made my way to meet the group and on route needed to withdraw cash which I did. I met the group to book our trip and as i went to pay I discovered I no longer had my debit card - panic kicked in, i sprinted back to the cash point and of course the card wasn't there. b*****!!! So, the afternoon was then wasted trying to call the bank, panicked phone calls to mum and dad and quick transferring of cash. Not an ideal start. On the upside I was able to get my hairbraded and didn't drink this night.

So having put the disaster of yesterday behind me, we were off to the Dinosaur footprints and a bike ride. Oh yeah, and on route popped into the bank to seed if my card had been swallowed by the machine, and yes it had, I just forgot to take it out after getting the cash out, what an idiot! Anyway, having selected our bikes and stuff we were off. The footprints are located just above a cement factory, they were discovered by accident and are situated on a wall as you will see from the pictures, but when the footprints were made the wall was flat on the ground, it has moved due to earth movements. We had a great guide who gave great details on the history, after we had watched the BBC's walking with dinosaurs as an intro to the tour. It was quite bizarre seeing the footprints right next to a factory. And only recently have they stopped working close to the footprints so as to not cause them any further damage. It was a really interesting morning. Quick stop for lunch and we were then to get straight on to our bikes. About 30 seconds into the ride i was on the Top Gear replacement bike…….which was way too big for me, i could barely reach the handle bars and most importantly the brakes, especially as this was a mainly downfall ride. This was also the bike they originally put me on which I said was to small. We cycled for abut 2 hrs through winding roads with spectacular views, i had to bail on a 20min hill, the altitude is an absolutely killer, you get breathless just walking up a few steps, its ridiculous, so cycling up hill was never going to last long. Anyway, a great day, we hit 60 kpm, took on rough roads, were chased by dogs and hairpin bends, all good practice for when we take on Death Road on bikes later in the trip. We even had our own support van, it was a bit Tour De France like.

Sucre is lovely, a city full of white buildings and plazas surrounded with trees, there were even people dressed as zebras to promote safety of Zebra crossings. We had dinner and then set off to the previous nights restaurant to watch a film about the Potosi mines, this was a documentary about a young lad of 14 and his brother who work in the mines, the conditions looked awful and we all hoped the lad made his dream come true of being able to study tourism and travel. Tomorrow we make our way to this mine to see the mining first hand.

Today we depart Sucre, next stop the worlds highest city. The landscape on the way to Potosi was very hilly and mountains, a mixture of greenery and red sand. The temperature is getting better but now we are having to deal with the increasing altitude, which i am really struggling with. We passed lost of small houses/shacks on the way, then we began to climb, the change in altitude very noticeable, i will be drinking lots of coca tea over the next few days, this helps with fatigue and nausea, then its just sorting out the headaches, its hit me much harder than i thought it would do. We passed the mountain where the mines are, its enormous, this is where we go tomorrow, I should also say, we are not heading to a 'tourist' mine, we will be going into a real working mine, I will be honest, I'm not sure how i feel about going into a mine, i will go though, and I hadn't told mum we were doing this! First visit having arrived was the mint where they produced all the money from the silver mined from the mountain. In its hayday when the mine was full of silver Potosi was the richest place in the world, our guide explained how the processes evolved over time, it was really interesting but by this point i was really beginning to suffer and thought I might faint. Having finished the tour we went for a walk around the market, saw some massive cakes and unfortunately for us, we looked in the back of a van and were faced with loads of cow heads, already feeling a bit sick, this was not something i needed to see! I missed dinner tonight and just went to bed as I was feeling really crappy.

Thank god, i feel so much better than yesterday, still a bit headachy and spaced out, but much better than yesterday. Today we head in to the mines, but our first stop is a private processing plant where all the mined materials end up all bubbling away and being mixed. There is no way you'd be allowed to walk in to somewhere like this if it was in the UK. From here we set off to the Miners market to buy gifts for the miners we came across while underground. We held dynamite and other explosive stuff, we were not allowed to buy this though for obvious reason. We instead bought them food and drink. Then it was time to get our overalls, boots, helmets and lights before we got back into the bus to head up to the mines. We entered through a small opening and walked along the tracks where the cars come along full of the miners hard labours, it was pitch black and wet. Every so often we would hear a shout, this was to alert us that a car was coming and that we needed to get out of the way of the heavy steel cars being pushed by two miners. We then gave them some of the food and drink we bought. The conditions down here are just horrendous, cold, wet, damp, and very very dusty and in some cases a build of carbon monoxide. Not a place to be for any amount of time. I will never ever moan about having a crap day a work again. Its been another time on this trip that I think how bloody lucky I am and how things in the past have just been taken for granted. As we made our way through, the gaps were getting smaller and smaller, we then came across a small hole in the side and discovered that there were people down there and really really deep down using just a ladder and rope. This is one hell of a dangerous occupation, many miners will never find another job, they will continue to put their lives at risk to provide for their families. We were only in the mine for a short 90mins, we saw around 20 miners, some on the back end of a 12hr shift, they looked exhausted but in good spirits. If anyone every says they have had a tough day at the office, myself included and I've been guilty of it a lot in the past, I will just remember what I have seen today. We then visited Tito. So when the Miners go into the mine they worship the Devil, Tito, this is to keep them safe when under ground and to give them good fortune. When they go to work they give Tito offerings, this will include things like alcohol, cigerattes and Coca leaves. The miners chew coca leaves to give them energy and to suppress the appetite, you will see them with their cheeks stuffed full of leaves. I found the mines quite tough, but I am glad that I went. The little lad who was 14 that I mentioned earlier that was featured in the documentary, well, he is now 20 and has made it out of the mines and is now studying tourism, so he did make it out. Unfortunately his little brother is still in the mines, hopefully he will be able to follow in his brothers footsteps…….. Over 80% of mine workers do not find other work and will remain working in the mines all their life. 8 million people have lost their lives as result of working in the mines. It certainly makes you think.

We left Potosi the same day on our surprisingly swanky coach and made our way winding through mountains, this was also the start of the massive lack of toilets, peeing behind bushes and rocks was soon to become second nature, all I would say i wouldn't recommend choosing a cactus as cover!! Throughout the journey there was huge amount of noise from the buses horn, we soon discovered why, suicidal lamas!! We eventually arrived in the dark to Uyuni for a quick over night stop and rucksack repack before we left at 6am the following day for the Salt Flats! Very very excited about this!!!!