Today we have made the journey across the border from Salta in Argentina to Tupiza in Bolivia. As always in South America the journey has been interesting and far from straightforward!!

It was an early start as the bus was departing from Salta at 7.15 am. We were up at 5.30am and left the hostel at 6.15am to make it to the bus station with plenty of time to spare. The bus departed on time, which to be fair they have always done in Argentina. After our last journey we weren't expecting much and that's what we got. The bus was old and to be kind it had a distinctive smell!! After about two hours on the bus we pulled into a bus station in San Salvador de Jujuy. We waited here for around half an hour and started to wonder if something was up when the driver came upstairs to announce something and everyone started packing up their stuff. True to form, there was a problem with the bus and we needed to move to another bus. With the minimum of fuss we departed the knackered bus and boarded our new bus with seats near the back rather than the front seats we had booked. Anyway, this bus showed the Curios Case of Benjamin Button with English subtitles which kept me interested while
Beth performed her favourite pastime. I will let the reader be the judge of what this is!!

That was the last of the dramas until we arrived into La Quica, the Argentinian border town. For some reason, the locals had decided to protest about something and set up camp in the middle of the only road into the town. This meant that we had to disembark quite a distance from the border and make our own way there. This turned out to be quite a trek which was made even more difficult by the fact that it was at 3,443m above sea level. We all suffered from loss of breath and headaches as we ambled out way to the border. The border crossing itself was pretty straightforward with our passports being stamped out and in. Natasha, the South African girl we are travelling with, had to pay for a visa but even this was pretty straightforward.

So now we are in Bolivia and our first impressions are ones of chaos and cheap prices. The Bolivian border town of Villazon seems to be quite chaotic and when we made it to the bus station all you could hear was women shoring out various destinations to which minibuses travel to. We caught a minibus to Tupiza for less than £1.50 each. Bolivia sounds good!!!! One thing that will stick with me forever is the toilets in the bus station. In between the urinals there was an oil drum full of water which people who had just used the cubicles would use to flush the toilets. This was pretty bad but the smell was probably the worst smell I have ever endured. I even had to pay for the privilege to use these 'facilities'!! Anyway we managed to find a cash point in Villazon as we need Bolivianos to pay for the salt flat tour and the bus to Tupiza. Fortunately our card worked as we had heard of certain cards not working. After crossing the border we are now 5 hours behind Uk time. This is fine, apart from that it is going to be even more difficult to catch the early Newcastle kick offs against Liverpool and the mackems in the next few weeks!!! The sacrifices we make!!

We made it to our hostel in Tupiza after an hour and half on the bus from Villazon. The room we have been given has a double bed and two singles along with a private bathroom. This is by far the best room we have had so far and it's the cheapest. After getting sorted, we went out for a meal with Gareth, Jared and Natasha to an Italians in the town centre. We had a pizza, chicken and chips, a beer, a fanta and a water all for £11 including a tip. Happy days.