Today I have been left to fill everyone in on what we have been getting up to as Jenkins, in her extremely hungover state, cant quite manage the stressful task of typing.

We left you guys just about to travel down to uyuni in bolivia to start the salt flat tour and this was to be more overnight bus fun. We really are getting the hang of these long, bumpy and extremewly uncomfortable journeys and with leona lewis there to help us (constantly on repeat through the ipod) we even managed to get some sleep. We were however wrenched from that sleep half the way through this bus journey when we were woken by someone yelling in spanish that we all had to get off the bus immediately as it was stuck in sand and about to topple over on to its side. we then proceeded to stand in the middle of the bolivian wilderness at 5 o clock in the morning while the lovely bus men attempted to dig us out, after a few very hairy moments when we were sure we were going to be squashed to death we all finally piled back on and managed to make it in time to uyuni to catch our tour.

We were met from the bus by the company that we had already booked our tour with and ushered to a small meeting office where we were introduced to 4 canadian girls who were going to be in our group. It was then we realised that the jeep was in fact overloaded by one person but that alex was going to be surrounded by 6 girls for the next 3 days and was literally in his element. After our dodgy looking tour guide woman had disappeared and 3 hours behind the time we were supposed to set off, our jeep finally arrived and we met out driver, Roman. What a guy. Didnt speak a word of english, was pretty much constantly hammered and we are pretty sure he did a few lines of coke along the way. But he was sweet and helpful and managed to miraculously deliver us back in one piece at the end of the trip. So we set off for 3 days of driving to see the salt flats and other sights along the way which i have to say were stunning making the journey in the worlds most uncomfortable, cramped and extremely warm jeep completely worth it. It was literally miles of the most amazing and different landscapes and the photos just dont do it justice.

Our accomodation for the two nights we stayed out on the tour was interesting to say the least. The first night we stayed in what could be described as a concrete cell block with literally nothing but a couple of beds, no heating and no showers. Yes it was to be another few trying days of not washing but i think we are now all immune to each others unwashed smells so its all good. The most distrubing thing was that there was literally no one else around, the other tour groups we expexçcted to be staying with were nowhere around and it felt like we were caught up in some kind of bad horror film. It was however all fine and we were not murdered by the slightly odd and unhappy looking Bolivian family that lived there. The second nights accomodation was as basic but a few other groups were staying in the same place which made it a whole lot better. A dinner of spag bol, too much red wine and alexs ipod blaring out disney music (to be precise ´a whole new world from aladdin´) made for a good night. Not so good when we had to get up at four the next morning to see sunrise.

So after the 3 days of touring around the jeep took us back to uyuni and we stayed the night there in an extremely odd hostel which only allowed you to use the toilets in daylight hours and literally locked them at bedtime, not so great when you are dealing with altitude sickness but we got through the night and got up around 5 to catch our bus which was to take us out of bolivia.

I am struggling to attempt to explain the first leg of this bus jouney as words do not really seem to do it justice. It was a local bus which was overbooked by about half and that doesnt include the small animals such as dogs and even a lamb which were also on board. Thankfully we did get seats but this simply meant that a smelly bolivian man had to hang over me as he stood in the aisle for around 7 hours wedged against other passengers. bolivian roads are also not tarmaced at all, whatsoever, so basically any driving is like off roading in a bus and can make for an extremely interseting experience whilst hanging off the side of a cliff and passing on coming vehichles. We then reached a little bus depot where we had to change buses a few hours away from the argentinian border. After a bit of a wait ( everything in bolivia seems to leave a couple of hours after it should) weall piled on and it was then that i noticed that the extremely eccentric dutch woman who had been fascinating me with her array of drugs and potions on the previous bus had not got on the bus and was crying outside. Her husband was however already on the bus and we started to move away. It was then that me and siany saved the day. It turned out that the woman did not want to sit on the back seat (she had some weird phobia or something) so we yelled at the bus driver to stop (even attempting this in spanish) and moved seats so the woman would not be left in the middle of bolivia alone and distraught by a husband who seemed to have had enough. We were heroes all around. We celebrated our wonderfulness by spending this short bus journey of around 3 hours dancing and singing to the mamma mia soundtrack which everyone seemed to love and definitely cheered us up no end. We finally got to the Argentinian border and had to wait around 6 hours to get our next overnight bus which was to take us to Salta. This bus was rçactually very comfortable and we were now over the border which meant shock horror there is tarmac on the road! I will never take that for granted again, it was smooth and lovely and after some very deep meaningful conversation in which we discussed our life plans (sian is sacking off work forever and i am becoming a policewoman as long as i look hot in the uniform) we nodded off. I was then woken by a Argentinian woman asking me if i wanted to wear a few jumpers she had as we had to get off the bus and it was going to be cold. Sian was also asked to carry some toys another woman had bought. As we had just woken up and speak no Spanish we had no idea what was going on but declined both the jumpers and toys as thought it all slightly strange. It was a good job we did as it was actually a random road block for customs checks and these women were trying to get us to carry their ilegal goods for them, that had potential to end badly as we really did think they were simply being nice. We then had to stand out in the cold once again while Argentinian customs threw away hundreds of goods and arrested people, good times. But we eventually got back on and we made it to Salta yesterday morning.

Yesterday we had a lovely chilled day in our hostel (by this i mean that we both slept for a good 4 hours as we were completely shattered)which the lonely planet refers to as being run by the adams family. there not wrong. its odd to say the least and there are three of us in the tiniest room with absolutely no ventilation but its quiet which is what we needed.

last night we had our first steak and red wine experience of argentina. it did not disappoint. we sat in the main square here in the gorgeous heat with a couple of people we had met on the inca trail and an australian couple we had met on the mammoth bus journey and it was bliss. a few hours but not so few drinks later we were taken by a taxi driver to a club in the middle of nowhere which resembled the kind of ilegal raves you see on skins. pitch black with weird argentinian dance music this was definitely not a touristy destination. but once again our best salsa moves emerged and we arrrived back to the hostel at around 5 this morning. good night.

today i have been trying out a new life plan which is to be a tour guide. we have gone up the gondola here which gives an amazing view of the city and done all the other touristy bits with me attempting to explain exactly what we are seeing. this plan may be a keeper, i personally think i excel at it but jenkins seemed less impressed with her banging headache so we retired to a cafe to sit in the sunshine and munch on strawberry haagen daas which she seemed far happier with. after a trip on a rowing boat and a sausage sandwich for lunch this afternoon we are all feeling very contented and ready for our bus journey of 24 hours which starts tomorrow at 3 to take us to iguazu falls which is where you will here from us next. SH