I made it to Bolivia a while back but amazingly the internet connection instantly went rubbish!

The rafting was really really fun. We drove for a couple of hours out of Salta and the scenery was amazing. The river was pretty tame but since I havent rafted before this really wasnt an issue! We went over 9 rapids and got completely soaked. I, of course, did not take a spare change of clothes so spent the whole day in wet pumps and denim shorts!

That night seven of us set of for an overnight bus to the border with Bolivia. Not the best sleep I ever had but I guess it could have been worse. The border towns on both sides of the border were fairly lame, especially since we arrived at 7am.... there was one party still going from the night before though! Getting across the border wasnt hard, just took a little time.

Villazon - the town we entered in Bolivia didnt have a huge amount going for it! We had to wait there for about 5 hours though until the next bus north. Luckily there was still carnaval going on in the area so a small amount of entertainment, including being sprayed with foam by people dancing to a brass band! And the market was pretty funky. Sheep heads and innards, tea which is meant to prevent cancer and loads of bizarre things to use as good luck!

The bus ride to the place we were to spend the night was 3 hours over an unpaved road on a local bus. It was not too bad when you got used to it and it was 5 mins early to the town. Considering we had all been told horror stories about the roads and buses we were pretty excited that our border crossing, etc had gone so smoothly.

The hotel in Tupieza was also pretty cool! A swimming pool! We booked ourselves onto a salt flat tour and a day trip called a triathlon and then hit the restaurants.... all of which are the same! Seriously, the menus are completely identical throughout the town.

The next day we took ourselves off for a beautiful 10km walk around some mountains, but were seriously outstripped by some 80ish year old Bolivian ladies in full on national dress! Shame on us! A lot of the Bolivian women wear national dress. Its completely different from argentina in that respect. The country is a lot cheaper, customs are older, lots more indiginous people, etc. Very south american!

The triathlon the day after was amazingly cool. We first had a jeep trip to see some sights and then did some horse riding. We all bought cowboy hats in preparation for this and i must say we all looked amazingly cool! The last bit of the day was a bike ride down a MASSIVE mountain! WE were driven to the top and cycled to the bottom. Though i had the brakes on for the full hour it took us to get to the bottom! The breaks werent exactly very efficient and the road went around the edge of the mountain... plus it was only about 4m wide...!

Amazing day though.

I will write more when I get to La Paz, overnight bus tonight. Explain the salt flat tour and an amazing story about the Devil!

xxxxx