The main reason people come to Potosi is to visit the Silver Mines, where working conditions are grim and life expectancies markedly reduced. Before going down into the mine, we were advised to buy gifts for the miners we would meet along the way: 96% alcohol (not a misprint!), cigarettes and sticks of dynamite (for mining, not leisure) were suggested. No wonder people don´t live for very long - as if the environment weren´t bad enough, the coping mechanisms do...

Bus. Bus. Ferry. Bus. And we had crossed the Bolivian border, reaching La Paz a few hours later. Now we´ve said goodbye to the lovely Angel and met our new guide, the fabulous Fredy. They are pretty much polar opposites but both great so I think we´ve been lucky. As well as mourning the loss of Angel, we´ve said goodbye to two of our group, but have 3 more to get to know now.La Paz, although we were only briefly there, was a really nice city and seemed to have...