4/6/09 Angela had told us the night before that if the strike didn't end in Uyuni like expected the next day, then she would wake us up at 4.30am and we would travel to La Paz by sneaking out in the trucks (some of the others had flights to catch in La Paz later the same day), but if it did end then she would let us sleep in (apart from those people with flights to catch, who would travel out in the early morning whether or not the strike ended), because the buses to La Paz only leave in the evenings. Luckily the strike did end during the night, so we lay in until past 9 before going down to breakfast. There isn't much to do in Ununi so nobody did much during the day; we just bought some snacks for the coming night bus, and some people bought some souvenirs.
The actual night bus journey to La Paz was a bit of a trial for everyone, because for a start the road was so incredibly bumpy everybody got hardly any sleep at all, if any, and then there were locals who stood in the aisle and poked people with whatever they were carrying by mistake the whole time, and even dumped their babies and dogs under other peoples' seats (they hadn't paid for tickets, so weren't allowed to sit down.) Plus, someone's luggage kept squeaking loudly and constantly, and it wasn't any of our groups' so we couldn't stop it. Jess was unlucky, too, because she was sitting next to an old lady who literally stank. I had a toddler in the seat behind me who didn't sleep very much, and when I reclined my seat he kept putting his hands all over the top of my head, so I had to spend the rest of that trip with my seat straight up. We changed buses at 3.30 am, and luckily the new one was better. The road was smoother, too, and we all finally managed to get some sleep.

5/6/09 Due to the strikes, we now only had one day in La Paz. This meant we didn't get to mountainbike down the famous Death Road, apparently the most dangerous road in the world (though if you don't try to go too fast and race people, it isn't as dangerous as people think.) Instead, Dave and I just looked round the markets, which crowd the streets everywhere, and shops, and bought some presents for people. I also bought a nice warm jacket for myself, for the Inca Trail. We looked round the Witches' Market, where they sell things like llama foetuses, charms, and stone and ceramic figures which bring luck to various causes.
In the evening we got a new person in the group, Greg (British), and also a new tour guide (Enrique/K ike), as officially one tour had finished and the new one begun. Nick, Megan and Anthony had left the day before, and although Nic had also officially left she was travelling to the same places as us for the next couple of days anyway, so we still saw her.