01/02

I am currently writing from a very intimidating Bolivia...one where we tourists are the target of an apparently rather amusing Mardi Gras tradition of ´drive-by water bomb the gringo´. After being slammed in the back by one yesterday and then hit in the neck also by one thrown from a passing car and having been left with a red mark because of the force of it i am not too keen on the Bolivian´s, particuarly on the parents of, usually, the little brats who are lobbing these things. There is the occasional funny moment when i find myself jumping out of my skin as a car door slams or some other unexpected noise wrackes my nerves and i prepare myself to be stung and soaked! Im telling you i would not hesitate to clobber these kids round the ear, and the mothers as they usually sit alongside the little rats laughing also. VERY infuriating!

10/01

Well bye bye Bolivia, hello Chile! The rest of Bolivia, post-water-bomb-war-zone, was rather uneventful. We had some fun buying massive water guns and 2litre bottles of water which we fought back with. Massively satisfying and rewarding. Saw some waterfalls, did some walking, spent copious amounts of time on the slowest, bumpiest buses in the world (slower and bumpier than any in Asia, which at the time i didnt think was possible), saw some awful towns, passed through some of the most depressing countryside iv ever seen - Bolivia really is a sad place as you sit staring out bus windows watching miles and miles of unappreciated landscape which is coated in the thickest layer of rubbish, for literally miles and miles, littered also with the most amount of stray dogs i have ever seen in one place and scattered with desolate, delapidated little towns and villages. Very sad place, very humbling. Worrying also, when you find yourself sitting on a family bus with several young children on and the bus conductor puts on a Jean Claude Van Dam film during which, in only the first 5 minutes, someone is raped and muredered VERY graphically. Horrible. Anyhow, back to the humbling bit - another humbling experience, after the Inca Trek and Lake Titicaca homestay, was going down the silver mines in Potosi. The conditions that men as young as 11/12/13 work under down there are indescribable, and the pay they receive, the lack of support, safety, help they are offered is astounding and discusting. Words escaped me, unusually, as i found myself crawling on hands and knees through narrow, muddy, oxygen-deprived, passageways. I simply cant describe the experience. This continent continues to blow my mind, in ways i cant decide whether to describe positively or not, but it is certainly opening my eyes and that cant be a bad thing.

Anywho, must just interrupt the update to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUMMY KAY!!!!! Have just spoken to you on skype, but sending more birthday love your way as i write this.

So, post silver-mines experience we had our 4x4 desert/salt flats experience which was pretty awesome. A very unusual, impressive, beautiful, dusty, salty, dirty (no showers), extremely bumpy (on the non-roads) SCENARIO! Lots of fun, particularly on the first night in our salt-constructed hostel where we passed the evening hours with drinking games........seemed like the BEST idea at the time, and fairly harmless whilst we still had Coke mixer, but once that ran out and the boys thought just downing shots of pure alcohol (bacardi to start with - no probs, but then some suspicious local spirit that we had also - no so great!) for each loser on each round of this particular game.....oh deeeeaaaar, well all i can say is that is started to get a little messy!!! We all survived though, and thoroughly enjoyed the next day driving for hours and hours along the rockiest, bumpiest terrain on earth, getting in and out of the 4x4 to admire scenery.....yeah, it was fab, not at all like hard work with the non-hangover that we all had!!!!

13/02

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY EVE everyone!!! So...after Salt Flats....eeeeeeeerm.....well, yet another example of how small this world is - i saw one of the girls i did my Oz Experience from Alice-Melbourne with, at the border leaving Bolivia and entering Chile. Random as. So, arrived across the border in our firt Chilean stop of San Pedro de Atacama. Beautiful town, but seemed to be in existance solely for tourists...and the most bizarre and unbelievable thing was that we rocked up to discover none of the ATM's had cash in them, nor had they had any for the past 3 days and continued to be empty until our 3rd day there. Pretty place, but the most ridiculous SCENARIO i have ever experienced!

16/02

Sorry to be taking so long with this blog...now in Santiago and having a mellow morning having just said goodbye to a couple more members of the group and preparing to welcome 5new people tonight. Not terribly excited about them i must admit, as the group becomes less and less inspiring, more and more disjointed and is now seriously lacking the fun element! Anyhow, plodding along quite happily all the same and still having fun. Chile has been a laugh so far, mostly due to the FANTASTICALLY cheap chilean wine we are purchasing on a frequent basis! Paula (one of the group who still inspires me!) continuously goes up in my estimations and is definately making it onto my 'most memorable people' list for several reasons 1) she is generally one of the most naturally amusing people i have ever met, without even meaning to be or realising it, for eg. yesterday on the beach outside Santiago she turned around for a second to ask me, typically, if i would take a photo of her and got her feet knocked out from underneath her by a wave, falling down and getting swirled about the tide in the most dramatic fashion possible!!! 2) she offered to give my hair a TRIM the other week in Potosi, Bolivia, but (as you will see from the pic) got a bit too into it and ended up lopping off half my head of hair! It was ok though because she was proud of her work!!! It has taken a while but i am just about used to it now and have managed to forgive her! 3) In her outrageously, 1-glass-wonder fashion, drunken state the other night in La Serena, Chile, whilst ranting and raving about the music and swearing at everyone to give her back her missing flip-flop she walked right into me holding my glass of red wine to knock it right down into my jumper and all over my WHITE VEST TOP!!! Im not sure i have painted the best picture here, but to meet her is to love her, so trust me when i say that even these seemingly disastrous scenarious are hilarious just because they involve her!!!

Right well, im sure there is plenty more i should be filling you in on but as it has been so long since my last blog i seem to have a few blanks in my memory (or maybe thats the wine?!)...i did however want to treat you to some of my favourite 'Quote's of the day' since i started this trip:

Quote of the day 29/01, La Paz
* 'Im wasting valuable energy...HELP ME!!!'
Paula, on trying to undo the button of her trouser pocket and pleading with Andrea to help her, then proceeding to lay on the pavement in a homeless and typically over-dramatic fashion!

Quote of the day 31/01, Cochabamba
* 'raw chicken is a bit trickey'
Ale, our tour leader, making the understatement of the century!

Quote of the day 03/03, Sucre
* 'If you threw a water bomb at someone in London, you WOULD get shot!'
Paula, post water-bombing; stressed and disgraced!

Quote of the day 06/02, bus from Potosi - Uyuni
* 'I spy with my little eye, something beginning with...BLUE'
Lauren, our friend from the US of A, attempting to play I Spy......oh the cultural and language barrier!!!

Quote of the day 13/02, La Serena
* 'You know when you dont feel quite right? You feel a bit wrong?'
Paula's astounding logic!

Quote of the day 15/02, Valparaiso
* 'Im actually still sincerely hungry'
Lauren, after surviving near starvation!

Sooo there's a little insight into the collective mind of our small group-within-the-group! Uploading pictures at the moment, it is taking approximately forever, so Bolivia is up and Chile so far is still to come!

Not long now until i am back, thinking i will change my flight to probably the 19th or 20th March...so i will be seeing you all VERY soon!

Lots of love as usual to you all

xxx