Just a note, sorry if these are really breif, but i just wrote about 2 days worth and then the f***ing internet shop had a power cut!!! So have had t start a bloody again...and so will now probably be a bit shorter than originally....sorry!!

1st Nov

So nursing a hangover after halloween i literally had nothing planned on the 1st, literally spent the day mulling around Sucre watching people in the square etc. That night we met our new guide was turning up, David from Peru, who seemed a real star. THat night we then went to a french restaurant which seems to be a theme in Sucre, alot of french cafe´s etcª

2nd Nov

Today i had arranged to go climbing, no one from my group wanted to go as they mostly went quad biking, but i fancied a bit of a workout and getting my hands dirty!! Turned up to the climbing base to realise i was half hour early, so sat at the place listening to music. I swear the receptionist thought i was having a fit, i can´t help if i air drum like keth moon!! Met the group who all seemed pretty tidy, was nice to see some fresh faces from around the world and al friendly and chatty etc. Climbing was awesome, some girl from Norway resembling spider man...there was one wall i couldn´t do and i kept trying and trying, but could´t do it. This got me really annoyed, but i don´t think it helped that my right hand resembled Frddy Krueger´s, as i had ripped alot of skin off on the joints on my fingers on my right hand (left hand was ok, as it was used to running up and down guitar fret boards).

That night my group had gone for dinner without me as i got back late, and of course i had to stay for the free beer they offered. So i ended up having grub with some girls from climbing......good day all in all!!

3rd Nov

Today we were due to leave the capital of Bolivia to go to the Silver mines in Potosi. Before we went, we wandered around Sucre doing a bit of souvenir shopping, in doing so wandered through the meat market, which was the size of a tesco extra, only with better product!!!

The rest of the day was mostly travelling through more mountains and bumpy roads, couldn´t sleep due to the fact that the bus kept throwing you left and right at each turn, was more like a roller coaster as have most bus´ so far!!

Arrived to Potosi in the evening, was alot different to sucre, windy, hilly roads, with a huge gusty wind blowing througout the whole town!! That night ate Cow tongue...which...yes tastes like you expect, gross and like your eating a tongue!!

4th Nov

TOday we were due to visit the SIlver mines. SIlver is no longer mined at this location as the spanish raped it back when they were "colonising" the country, so it is mined mostly for sulphar, quartz and other stuff ( i paid some attention...there were distractions). The miners weren`t working in the best conditions but it was either this or let their family starve to death!!! For letting us in their mines on the way we stopped by the miners market....which literally sold 4 things......coca leaves, cigerettes with cinammon and other stuff in, 96% alcohol and DYNAMITE!!! Naturally i bought a bag for the miners and a small bag of everything for myself. The miners were really friendly and appreciative of the presents we got them, although they did state they probably get drunk too much (ON SHIFT!! ....ITS THE NORM....IMAGINE DOING THAT IN YOUR DAY JOB!!). AFterwards was the fun bit, i got to try wierd cigarettes, whilst drinking 96% alcohol, and blowing stuff up without injuring anyone....Yes it was...SOO MUCH fun, only two of us bought our own dynamite, so only the 2 of us got to try blowing stuff up (mainly mountains of sand and rock)!!

We chilled that night watching the sunset in Potosi in the square, drinking a beer, was very pretty and was the first proper time i felt completely relaxed to be honest as usually we had been going straight for food before just chilling with a drink!! That night was like any other grub time, then as we had a bit of time, myself and mate Jim, decided we´d go get our haircuts at 10pm (As of course all hair dressers in South AMerica are open this time!!), redneck look is coming along great!!

5th Nov

This morning we were movin to Uyuni, our base before our 4x4 2day journey across the salt flats. IN the morning some of us went to get snacks etc for journey and i noticed 2 things.....1. ITS BLOODY IMPOSSIBLE TO GET A COLD DRINK IN BOLIVIA, I SWEAR THEY LIKE THEIR POP BOILT!!!...and 2. The dogs run this town, there´s one street where you couldn´t walk through without 4 dogs bullying you off it, was quite funny to watch!!

Bus journey was usual, bumps, no sleep, Keith Mooning. Uyuni is literally in middle of nowhere at the start of the salt flats....the cow tongue tolling i think, i didnçt do much except eat a small amount and use the worlds slowest internet (half hour 2 pages!). The town reminded me of a western then i found out that some of ´butch cassidy and the sundance kid´was apparently filmed here!! Explains alot!!

6th Nov

So the salt flats today and welsh shirt on in honour of them playing the aussies today (i won´t know the score for 3 days). Our 4x4´s were actually quite nice and comfortable, with a plug in ipod thing to put tunes on....cue cheesy 80´s singalong (for some reason, they said they could´t sing along to Pantera or Slayer, which was the sort of thing i seemed to be listening to last few days). We first visited a town called Cochani that was built purely on the edge of the salt flats for the sole production of salt (and to sell the usuall tat to tourists passing through...new PJ bottoms...check...4 quid).

We stopped at highest point in salt flats for lunch, again not eating much, asked David to explain to chef that if i ate they´d also need to hire a cleaner!!! Too much info....well come on we´ve all been there!! Afterward was prop heaven, apparently due to the vastness of the salt flats you could play with perception (see some photos). We then visited a hotel made entirely out of salt....kind of wondered if they´d have pepper if you were eating there though!! Got to our hotel which was partly made of salt. That night chilled out ready for a 7am leave, playing drinking games (yes folks peer pressure, beeing ill, thought it would sterilise me ok!!), watched stars for a bit which was beautiful, and made me think how the stars i look at here are different from those in the UK, pretty cool!!

7th Nov

Flamingo day today, spent a whole day ticking off different lakes (stinky lake, red lake, green lake etc), and a rock shaped like a tree, that you see in all the photos online etc!! Was very much a site seeing day, which i only have small tolerance for unless i have loads of time and can do it in my own time, unfortunatly i can´t so rush rush rush!!

Got to our accomadation for the night, which resembled Dorothy´s house in the wizard of oz (whilst in the tornado). Was getting windier and windier (is that a word?). Was very cold that night, and had to be up at 4am tomorrow for sightseeing trip before crossing to Chile!!

8th Nov

Today was really cool, and thoroughly enjoyed it (getting up at 4am sucked mind, in freezing cold and it was dark so reminded me of UK winters getting up for work, then realised..WOOHOO, i´m not going to work, i´m going to see some gaizers and hot springs!!).

So first of we visited some natural gaizers which were awesome, cold and stank of sulpher!! This was our highest point on trip 5000m above sea leve, yes my nose was bunged up!! It was so cold at this point, we literally jumped out of 4x4 took photos and jumped back in freezing!! Like could barely move hands!! So it still only being 6am we thought we´d go take a dip in an outdoor pool whilst watching flamingos and enjoying the scenic mountain....only this was a hot spring!! We literally got there, stripped and pelted into the springs and they were boiling....so nice. This was actually one of my highlights of my trip, the scenery was so lush, everyone was relaxed and was just a bit breathtaking, expecially knowing pancakes were being made for us for breakfast!!

SO after this lovely part of the day we had Bolivia and Chile border to manageª!!! In typical corrupt ways the Bolivian border crossing made us pay them 15 Bolivianos each to cross, even though this was completely illegal...really REALLY annoyed me, hope their new president sorts that crap out!! Then at Chile we had two stops, first we got sniffed by dogs, think the dog trainer enjoyed it too much?? Then we had to empty our bags etc at next check point, luckily enough, i snorted all my cocaine this morning, so they weren´t going to find anything and i got in fine!!

YEY MADE IT TO CHILE!! A week here, and first off San Pedro. Very much a tourist stop off, loads of tat shops, loads of restaurants and pubs etc. With all this to our availabilty, we decided to do our own BBQ at the hote as we had facilities, i was still a tad ill, but was not missing out on a BBQ. DUe to being ill i did NOTHING, and let everyone else do it. Our guide David and Michael, did the main BBQing, which was awesome, big chunks of meat, which they then carved afterwards.......I just hope i don´t regret this in the morning. ONly a week in Chile and this time next week i´ll be winging my way to NZ.

Adios for now