Hello everyone. It's been a while since my last blog post, I know!! I'm sure no-one wanted to hear about me sitting behind a desk anyway!! Just finished up at Pisco Sin Fronteras after six glorious months and now I've decided to hit Bolivia for a month before heading maybe to Chile, then back up through Peru.

Saturday 27th October 2012

After being convinced to stay an extra couple of days at PSF (then resisting the urge to stay another!) I said my goodbyes and headed to Ica with a few other Volunteers, where we got some Pizza Hut and had a look round the shopping mall before I headed to the bus stop where I said my goodbyes to the volunteers.

After a bit of hassle I found a bus that was going to Puno via Arequipa, so after a short wait I was away. 12 hours of terrible movies, little sleep and no food later, I arrived in Arequipa and after a two hour layover, I was back on the road to Puno, which was only a six hour journey (well I say only!!).

Sunday 28th October

It was late afternoon when I arrived and from my taxi to the hostel I was booked in at I could see a parade going through the streets (they seem to be very common in Peru!). After checking into the hostel and getting settled I went for a quick wander around Puno, checking out the parade on my way down to the market and the shore of Lake Titicaca. I also checked out a few tours for the next morning to the floating islands,before heading back to the hostel.

Monday 29th October

However….. the next morning the altitude sickness hit me like a brick!! I had the worst splitting headache I have ever had and felt a little sick too. Suddenly the thought of going on the lake sickened me, so I spent the morning in bed, before braving the outside world to find a pharmacy to get some pills. Feeling a little better I started my journey to the border. This turned out to be a bit of a challenge as I had to find the right bus stop, then the right bus and finally after the hour long bus journey I had to navigate my way to the border itself. Having finally arrived at the border, I was expecting to have to pay around $100 to leave Peru, as I had overstayed the 90 days I was allowed, however due to an error coming in to Peru and due to the fact I had lost my visa card, I was told to go to the police station where I had to buy a new visa card, which cost me 20 soles instead of having to pay the $100. So with me smiling from ear to ear, I headed into Bolivia and got a taxi to Copacobana.

After arriving, I found myself a cheap hostel and went for another wander, got some lunch, then went to find a place to book a tour to the Isla del sol. Still feeling the effects of the altitude I headed for a quick nap. I was however woken by some kind of marching band, heading for the main plaza, so like a sheep I followed it, only to find the weirdest theatre performance ever, which went on for a while. Feeling a little disturbed, I went into town to find something to eat. Afterwards, seeing that Copacobana was pretty empty and I had an early morning next morning, I hit the hay.

Tuesday 30th October

Next morning I woke up early and booked my trip to the Isla del Sol. The trip included an hour long boat ride to the neighboring Isla del Luna, which was small, but pretty cool, with some ruins and some beautiful views of the lake. Then we hopped over to the Isla del Sol, which was significantly bigger. In fact I had started to regret not doing a nights stay as by the time I had walked up to the top of the hill, having only seen a few donkeys and a couple of villages, It was time to go back down lest I miss my boat!

I got back mid afternoon, then after going for a short walk and grabbing something to eat, I went back to my room for the night.

Wednesday 31st October

After a bit of a lie-in on Wednesday, and also after getting a long-missed full English breakfast from a café down the road, I got on the bus to La Paz. There I met up with Joe and Bil, a couple I met at PSF (Bil's a girl if that's not clear!!). They were joined by their workmate Amy, who together were volunteering building prosthetic legs for amputees. After meeting them and quickly catching up, we made a bee-line for the market. Specifically, the part of the market that sold Halloween costumes! I bought a devil costume, Joe bought a Mexican wrestler's costume, whilst Amy got a flower costume, whereas Bill found a slightly creepy yellow foam thing that looked a bit like a retarded Spongebob, that was supposed to be a lemon! So aaaaanyway, we headed back towards Joe and Bil's place (stopping for chicken and a good chin-wag on the way!) and had a few drinks (ahem!) before heading out to Mongo's, who had a fancy dress contest with a first prize of $200. Although the entry fee was a bit steep, we were plied with free drinks and before long Amy was our first casualty, according to Bil, "Throwing up out of a taxi on the way out", after they closed (and incidentally no prize being given for best costume, angering Bil to no end!) we headed to another place that some Bolivians took us to. There we stayed until the wee hours before I eventually headed back to my hostel.

Thursday 1st November

On Thursday, I woke pretty late and after literally clearing the cobwebs from myself, I went to explore La Paz. Well, safe to say La Paz is a big place and I got pretty lost, before checking a map I had gotten from the hostel, eventually returning myself to civilization! I checked out a few tour agencies looking for inspiration for things to do before heading back to the hostel, where I watched a couple of films, generally too tired to move until bedtime!!

Friday 2nd November

On Friday morning I went down to the "Black Market", the major market in La Paz to pick myself up a few things. I bought a talking watch (admittedly talking in Spanish), some sunglasses, some swimming shorts, a new shirt and some lunch, all for under twenty quid!! Then I went to book a tour for Saturday (more on that later!). Before remembering I was supposed to be meeting Joe and Bil at the cemetery for "Dia de os Muertos", a South American tradition, where families go to the graves of their loved ones and leave their favourite foods and give them to strangers who offer prayers to them. Anyway, turns out I hadn't missed out much and Joe, Bil and I met up at Oliver's Pub, the famous British pub in La Paz. After we treated ourselves to a Steak and Ale pie each, we decided to check out FIPAZ, which was billed as a big fair with extreme sports, attractions, etc. however, when we got there it turned out to be more of a trades fair with everything from heavy machinery to breakfast cereals promoted. After helping ourselves to some free samples and buying a couple of knock down bottles of wine, we headed back to Joe and Bil's so I could pick up the stuff I left on Wednesday, before heading back to my hostel for an early night ready for the next day.

Saturday 3rd November

On Saturday I woke early to get ready for…. wait for it…… CYCLING DEATH ROAD!!!!!! Billed as the most dangerous road in the world, causing at least seven deaths through biking accidents and countless more through car accidents, this was top of my list of things to do in Bolivia!!

We started outside the offices of our tour agency, and after getting kitted up, myself and two couples heading up in the minibus to La Cumbre, where, after being shown the ropes, we headed down, initially on (wet) tarmac until we hit one village where the death road officially starts. Then it got a little trickier, as it switched to a gravel track, with sharp turns and big, scary drops. This wasn't helped by Ricky, our guide, telling us stories of the people who died along the road, including showing us the wreck of a car driven by a drunk driver (what's the lesson there, kids?!) and the plaque marking the death of a hundred Bolivians, driving down in a big truck together. Nevertheless I was undeterred and stuck with the guide at the front for the majority of the ride.

The only bit of drama for me was when about halfway down my chain snapped off whilst I was trying to change gears, meaning I had to swap and use the spare bike carried by the minibus. At the end of the ride, we all had a well-deserved beer, before heading to a nearby hotel for a buffet lunch and a swim in the pool. However after seeing the pool, covered in a layer of dead insects, I made do with having a shower and some food!!

Afterwards I went back to my hostel, and although it was a Saturday night in the bustling city of La Paz, tiredness got the better of me and I soon went to bed.

Sunday 4th November

On Sunday morning, feeling glad to be alive, I headed up to El Alto, a suburb of La Paz to the massive and quite legendary market where I was told you can buy anything from vehicles to farm animals! Well turns out I didn't need any of those things, so after having a good look around I came home with only a pair of earphones and some much needed socks!!

The rest of the day was pretty chilled, spending the day at the hostel (I'm changing hostels every couple of days by the way, doing sort of a "hostel hop" as it were!) chilling out watching TV.

Monday 5th November

Monday was both Bonfire night and Joe's Birthday, so we plotted (get it?) to have some fun with the crew in the afternoon! We first went to the cinema complex, where after getting a Subway, we watched the new Bond film (awesome by the way!). After that Joe and I had a quick couple of games of Pro-Evo on the Playstation in the games arcade, before we headed back to their house to polish off the bottles of wine we bought at the fair. We were soon joined by Amy, a new volunteer and a couple of Amy's friends for some more wine and some of Joe's birthday cake. After singing Happy Birthday etc. we went into town to an Indian restaurant, then to see some live music, before noticing that the nearby Oliver's had a fireworks display going on. After much anticipation, we were whisked up to the roof, across the road from which the off-duty bartender gave a pretty decent 5-minute display!! Soon after we all started making excuses and went home.

Tuesday 6th November

Having heard good things from a few sources, I decided that on Tuesday I was going to Potosi, a fairy big mining city, apparently the highest city in the world! However after turning up to the bus station, it turned out there weren't any busses until night-time, so I had to kill the rest of the day visiting a couple of museums and spending an unreasonable time at internet cafes!! But eventually 8pm came round and I boarded the bus to Potosi.

Wednesday 7th November

After little sleep on the bus, I arrived in Potosi at about 6.30am. With nothing open, I blindly wandered around until 7.30am, when I saw a guy opening up the tour agency I wanted to do the world-famous mine tour with. After booking my place for the 8.45am tour, I got breakfast in a nearby café and got ready for my trip.

We started a bit late, when we headed up the mountain in a minibus with Ephrain, a former miner, who had founded the tour company with a few of his ex-miner friends. After getting kitted out in mining gear and buying some presents for the miners (a custom I'm told!) we headed to the processing plant where we saw the raw ores being transformed into Zinc, Copper and Silver. Next we headed into the mine proper, where we met some of the miners and saw others hauling big bags of ore in wheelbarrows. We went through the mineshafts, which were at points were very low, with me and several others hitting our heads many times! We went up some ladders into a kind of disturbing little shrine, to the sight of "Tio" a traditional Quechuan idol. Oh, did I forget to say he was a masturbating demon? Yeah, that was a bit weird to say the least, but it is apparently steeped in tradition. It is here that miners give offerings to Pachamama (mother earth) and Tio, and drink large amount of 96% alcohol, and chew coca leaves. We then headed to the exit and walked back to the minibus, which took us back to the tour agency. After getting lunch and getting my bus ticket back to La Paz, I headed back into town where I am now, writing my blog in a café!!

So yeah that was my post PSF experience so far!! Got some good stuff planned for the next few, really excited!! Anyway got a bus to catch, see y'all later!!