Although it was a hideously early morning start which is never good for a birthday, who can say they've been to both Bolivia and Chile for their birthday?! I was pretty tired when we arrived at our hostel in San Pedro and not too impressed to find we had a tiny room with bunk beds. However, the others went out for lunch while I had a shower and then Bryan and I went for lunch on the plaza (after getting money out and doing laundry of course!). We had got the exch...

Before heading to Salar de Uyuni we spent one night at Uyuni. There is not a lot here, it is just the main entry point to the salt flats. The town can be explored in a matter of minutes, with the clock tower being the focal point. Go one way you are at the train station, the other you hit a small church, where in between it is dotted with restaurants and bars (and quite a lot of stray dogs). That evening we sampled one of these restaurants where there was a chanc...

I don't know if it is fact, but they sat Potosi is the highest city in the world, at an altitude of almost 4100m. The main attraction here, and more importantly what the city became renowned for, is Cerro Rico (Rich Mountain). This peak that rises over the city used to be the richest single source of silver in the world. We deliberated whether to visit these mines or not, because they are still working and potentially very dangerous. Since the silver rush in 154...

After another delightful night bus, we turned up in Sucre and were slightly surprised at the contrast between Sucre and La Paz. Where La Paz was busy, bustly, poor, and grungy Sucre was quiet, clean and quaint. All the buildings are white and apparently it is the law that they have to be repainted once a year! The buildings have a colonial style and the streets are cobbled. In both cities they make claims for being the capital. Apparently Sucre was given the titl...

So after nearly a month in Peru we were moving on to another border crossing. We caught a bus to the border where we said goodbye to our tour guide, Fredy. I bought my final bottle of Inca Cola (which I have totally become addicted to) before we crossed the somewhat amateur crossing into Bolivia. Fredy had handed us over to a temporary guide whose job was to get us safely to our hotel in La Paz. We had some time to kill at the border town of Copacabana (cue Bar...