Ok so havent really kept my promise of updating this often!!he he!!

We are currently in Cusco waiting to do our Inca Trek so içll just update the last few weeks.

The Pantanal tour was an unbelievable few days which involved loads of activites such as horse riding, parana fishing, floating down then parana river on a dingy, wildlife tours.....The weather and surroundings were gorgeous and we were lucky to have a really cool groupsome of which we are still travelling with now!

After crossing the border of Brazil into Bolivia we went to the train station to try and get a train further into Bolivia only to be told there was no space on it and the next train wasnt until late the next day!!we were gutted coz we have so little time in South America and really didnt want to spend a night in this border town!Then this random...kind of dodgy guy came up to us and said he could have a word with the conductor and we could jump on the train at the next spot...for a fee!! We decided to take him up on the offer and all pilied into the most rundown car ive ever seen which actually pumped out smoke from the engine!!we arrived at the train station which looked completely derelict and had actual horses oon the track!it was a relief when the tran pulled round the corner and we had to jump on it while it was still moving!the train itself is nicknamed the `Deathe Train`but i actually really enjoyed the journey!!It was through the steamy Bolivian pantanal and at every stop women and children would get on selling food...like full on meals!!it was a bizzare but cool experience!!

After another very uncomfortable bus journey....where we learnt that in bolivia its perfectly exceptable to do your er `business`in front of the whole bus.....we arrived in the really pretty colonial town of Sucre. It was really high up and it was here that we really started to notice the effects of altitude!!We spent a couple of days getting washing and stuff done and just chilling out and then we moved onto Potosi.

Potosi is largely famous for its silver mines. Before we arrived we had watched the `Devils Miner`which was a documentary about a 14yr old boy who worked down the mines...it was so sad and really made the tour of the mines a lot more touching. The tour was really interesting but so uncomfortable....its absolutley boiling, gases are pumped out everywhere and for the majority you are sliding on ur bum while trying to pretend there isnt a mountain on top of you and that you really cant hear dynamite going off in the distance!I really cant complain though as these are the conditions that men and boys work in sometimes for 24hrs at a time. The life expectancy is 35-40yrs. I will never complain about working again!!

After Potosi we headed to Uyuni to start our Salt Plains tour. This was so awesome basically a volcano evapourated a massive lake leaving a coat of salt for miles and miles!!so cool!!!we even stayed in a hostel made of salt....cool but bloody cold ha ha!!We did loads of driving around the area and saw loads of random coloured lakes, volcanos and flamingos!!My highlight was definatley visiting the hot springs at stupid o`clock in the morning!!

We then headed to La Paz for 4 days.... i wish I could say what we did but I actually cant remeber that much!!erm there was definatley a couple of `crazy`nights oout, many many visits to the english pub for a pint of tetleys and a visit to witches market to see some llama feoutes....not so great on a `hangover`!!Highlight of La Paz was definatley moutain biking the `Death Road`....absolutley terrifying biking with 500m drops to your side and having a guide who tells you the story behind each grave along the way but totally awesome senery!!i of course toddled along at the end.....Luke was right at the front and insisted on telling me about his `close calls`everytime we stopped!!After the ride we chilled at a pool overlooking the amazon which was awesome!!We again met a really good group of people who we ended up spending most of La Paz and Lake Titicaca with!!

From La Paz we staying a few days at the gorgeous and massive Lake Titicaca on the Boliva/Peru border. It was really nice to chill out for a bit after the craziness of La Paz. We were lucky enough to stay in a lovely hotel overlooking the lake which was so chilled with hammocks everywhere!!We went fishing on of the days....im definatley not a natural fisher!!I perfer to sunbathe and drink the beer!!It was cool being on the water though!We also went to the sun island which is where the sun was meant to be born!That was really cool and again gorgeous!!

So from La Paz we have crossed the border and are now in Cusco. I will try to update this more but I dont want to make promises I cant keep he he!!

Miss everyone loads!!!

Loads of love and hugs

x x x x