Never written a blog before but it seems easier to do this than keep emailing everyone.

So: just returned to La Paz after three amazing days on a tour of the salt flats and the surrounding coloured lagoons, geezers and hot springs. It was probably more impressive than Macchu Picchu for me because I was so uninformed about them before I went. Charlotte and I went with another couple that we have been travelling with called ciara and matt and another lad called Chris who was good value, and then two grumpy germans who didnt want to be in our jeep in the slightest. After several snubbed attempts to include them and improve relations between our countries, we decided to just ignore their wishes and operate a majority rule policy which left them somewhat disgruntled murmuring complaints in lowered tones.

There were a surprising amount of highlights on such a short trip but i think the strangest natural phenomenon i have seen yet was the mass of salt we walked onto on the second day. The large craterous white mass was like being on the moon, and the fact that it overlooked a huge red lake (red due to the algae there), which itself contained a rare species of flamingo roaming around, was incredible.

Unfortunately, I have no photos of the incredible views and shared experiences I had since my small bag was stolen (camera inside) on my return to Uyuni, which is the town where most salt flat tours start, but is also a real s*** hole. It happened like this:

We were in a rush because the woman who booked our tickets did not give them to us until just before the bus was due to leave, and then didnt take us to the bus station as she said she would. In this rush I managed to leave some valuables at the office of the tour company we had left. I realised this at the bus station and left Charlotte with my bags and ran back to get them. Charlotte managed to get both our big bags on the bus without incident and then put her smaller bag on her back again. Just as she was about to pick mine up (it was literally at her feet) a man engaged her in conversation saying that the bus we had put our bags on was not going to La Paz but elsewhere. This worried her and turned her round for no more than two seconds as she told the man it was actually heading to La Paz. He agreed and walked off. Charlotte turned round and my bag was gone. Glancing around, so was the man asking about the bus. A slick con which exploited our exceptional circumstances. That is the first time I have left Charlotte alone with the bags, the first time we have been rushed and panicked and consequently the first time our bags have been unattended. And now its the first time weve been robbed. Thankfully my passport, credit cards and money were in my money belt but i did lose the camera, memory card, ipod, headtorch, sleeping bag liner, hoody and a few other things. (All those who bought me these items please keep the reeipts for the insurance.)

I got the police report today and we have again booked to go on the jungle tour from tomorrow since the weather was too bad to fly last week both days we tried. Fingers crossed.