Hey there. We are now in Bolivia, the cheapest of S.American countries, much to our delight. Food, alcohol, jewellery - everything is cheap. So after my last entry, we went to do the homestay with a family at Lake Titicaca - the highest altitude navigatable lake. The family we stayed with were really cool - a grandad called Stephan, his wife Theresa and their 2 daughters and grandchildren. The kids were so cute. It was a very simple home to stay in - no electricity and just using the fire for cooking but the food was so good - typical Peruvian dishes like the soup made out of Quinoa (kind of like cous-cous but more nutritious than many grains put together). They gave us their traditional tea - coca made from coca leaves or mint (a special kind of mint). When we tasted this tea for the first time that day at lunch on Tequile Island in Lake Titicaca, only after we´d taken a few sips did the guide warn us it was an abortive drink and this is their form of contraception! The men were then wondering what it does to them! It tasted good anyway and is also good 4 headaches and digestion. I bought a gorgeous hat on that island, handmade by the people (I´ll post photos later). Our guide told us that 1 of the languages used there have similar words to those in Sanscrit! This is an ancient language, used in Hindu prayers. How these languages travelled from Asia to S.America I do not know. So anyway, that evening on the homestay island, there was a football match which was brill, between the locals and the tourists and then a traditional fiesta where we all dressed like the locals and danced their dance to their music. The dance, as a girl on my tour remarked is like the hokey kokey! Just twisting and spinning so quite easy to do. The skirts we wore were quite thick in 2 layers and we had black shawls to wear over our heads and large belts around our waists. My tour guide Liv didn´t recognise me cos I have the same skin colour as the locals and she thought I was 1 of them!

The next day went to reed island - an island totally made from reeds- boats, homes and all. There used to be a type of people that were known to be able to stay under water for ages and they looked really diferent to normal people and had black blood (prob because of the high altitude so more need 4 oxygen). Apparently these people died out but the last woman to die was taken by Nasa to be studied on. Anyway, on this reed island we actually ate peeled reed- a main food for the people of the island. It tasted kind of like bamboo that u eat in Chinese dishes- quite nice actually.

So after this we crossed the border into Bolivia and came straight into the huge capital city of La Paz. Busy and bustling where the woman wear bowler hats (like some women in Peru). Why? Because when the English came to trade here, they brought bowler hats to exchange for Alpaca. The men didn´t like the bowler hats but the women did so since then it has been fashion for them (to me it just looks really really strange).

The first activity we did when we got here was cycling DEATH ROAD. This is a road which winds round mountains and cliffs. Some of these parts are narrow but what makes it really dangerous are the dizzying heights with jungle and huge drops below and the tight bends as well as the roads being gravel roads. At the speeds we were doing on the mountain bikes, it would not be impossible to skid of the mountain. The small uphill parts were hard for me cos I´m not the fittest of people but on the downhill I was flying and was at the front of our whole group for a lot of the time. I was probably being a bit stupid going so fast, but with the boys riding next to me I had to give them some competition! Everyone was impressed, including me but what I realised is that u have to be confident at those speeds and put a lot of faith in your bike so u don´t end up panicking and braking hard. We had to watch the road so carefully to avoid the large rocks and bumps and we went under a small waterfall and through a few streams which kept us damp all the way. Actually I was watching the road so hard that I missed seing many of the graves scattered along the road where people had gone off the edge. A hebrew monument was up for the Israeli person that died a few months ago cos the brakes failed - what a horrible way to die. My friend told me one death a week are the statistics so anyway, that´s why it´s called ´death road´. This was definately an experience I will always remember. My wrists are still sore from keeping ahold of the brakes for 4 hours but I would definately do it again. My mum still doesn't know I did it this time! We went out last night to the Hard Rock Cafe and I must have been really drunk cos I started belly dancing and smoking. Had a hang over all day today but going out again tonight for some stupid reason. Lots of great looking Israeli guys here!

Love ya xx