Day 20

Hello Tom here,

We woke up early and got onto a bus headed for La Paz Bolilvia. Very exciting. We got on the bus and soon found ourselves and the Bolivian border. We got a few stamps such is the south american fettish for stamps and we soon found ourselves walking accross the border. It was curious as I have never had such an urge to shout 'bomb' or 'get down' as I did when surrounded by men with shotguns. Still we made it safely accross without being arrested and or shot.

We got to Copacabana not the one in the song but the horrible less well known one in Bolivia. Nothing to do here apart from get on another bus. I forgot to say that whilst all this was going on we had to ignore Mirko as his visa doesnt cover working in Bolivia so we had to ignore him or get him arrested. Again I had a curious urge to shout 'Mirko mirko give us a wave' as we crossed the border but bit my tounge and we all got to Copacabana. We then had to cross lake titcaca in boat/sofa/not sure when we arrived on the other side it was quite a relief as 25 people sharing 1 life jacket was not going to work.

We got to La Paz and had a walk around I tried to find a genuine Liverpool kit for $25 which is harder than it seems. Instead I continued on my quest to buy flags and make a blanket and bought a Bolivian flag. Later we went to the witches market and looked at llama foetuses to buy and bury under my house at home for luck and prosperity but I think having a llama under your house is bad luck in itself so it probably wasnt worth it. Had lunch and dinner went to bed in our curious hotel which had windows facing the corridor and not outside so it was always dark.

Day 21

Hotel is REALLY noisy. Sarah was woken up and rang reception to complain which woke me up so I rang Sarah to complain, she was not happy. That day we wandered around La Paz looked at the main square etc. and did all sorts of tourist things. Nothing really amazing. We went for our final lunch with Mirko at Burger King which was touching. Before this though we went to the black market which at the time seemed amazing as cameras and all sorts of technology could be bought for pennies. However, later it was revealed that it wasnt actually technology you were buying but instead bits of metal and plastic that had been put in washing machines and then repackaged at the expense of tourists. Nevertheless I was chuffed with my 16gb memory stick which cost not much more than a loaf of bread until I got it home and it didnt work. Never mind,

We spent quite a few days in La paz so Im not sure if this is the right order...but still that day we met our new group. Lots of Swiss, portugeus and two fellas from New Zealand who showed us that life begins at 61 and 68 respectively. We had dinner in restaurant and met everyone and had a good old chat. I found I had lots in common with a swiss cage fighter who liked to work out a lot which wont come as a surprise to you all. We also met tour leader martin a red haired argentinian surfer a thoroughly nice guy though.

Day 22

We went on a bus tour of La Paz and looked at the moon valley. The bus tour was disastrous as firstly they didnt play all the language which for our portugeuse companions was a bit of bother and secondly after a breakdown in communication me and Sarah got lost in the Moon valley and the bus tried to leave without us and wouldnt stop until Charlotte another fellow traveller banged on the door and told the woman to stop. We also had to pay mroe than expected. But otherwise the tour was OK. That night we went to French restaurant and had fun and games with everyone. We are all slowly falling in love with the old chaps from New Zealand who could be 21 and 28 as they talk about all the 'lookers' in New Zealand and drinking heavily etc.

Day 23

We did a bit of shopping today I bought an Inca Flag today which had been bothering me for sometime. Ive decided to be a flag collector but I wasnt sure if I should collect flags as a whole or just country flags. Eventually after MUCH MUCH deliberation I decided I am a flag collector. That night we went to a pub/restaurant and had food 3 of us stayed on afterwards and had drinks. I drank Bock but nobody told me Bock was a really strong beer and this followed with too many cocktails meant on...

Day 24

I had the worst hangover imaginable, Sarah also wasnt looking her usual radiant self and begrudingly we boarded a bus bound for Cochabamba. Bit of a dump. Nothing really to do here and the bus took 8 hours so we didnt really do anything this day other than find our rather horrible hotel and go out for dinner.

Now dinner was an experience...I had a mound/mountain of cow bits. Not any bit of cow in particular just bits of cow. Lots of cow. It was what youd eat if you were born 10000BC and lived in cave. Bolivian service is also crap we had an hour wait for drinks. In England people would be SO mad it would be funny.