I´ve put the category as ´sightseeing´ as there wasn´t a category of ´drinking´. Yes I´m a tad tipsy....

Have just made a chum in a bar. An Irish chap. Can´t remember his name. Might have been Neil. Let´s call him Neil. No, not that sort of chum, too young for a start, but good enough company to pass a couple of cocktails with. Hurrah, I have enough social skills to make friends in a bar. He even approached me so maybe I´m having a good hair day. Had a long chat about our respective travel plans, life plans, how travelling as a singleton is superior to travelling as part of a couple, and generally put the world to rights. Tomorrow he (mad adrenalin junkie, and one of the reasons he is totally not my type) is doing Bolivia´s famed Death Road. World´s most deadly road in terms of number of people that die on it per year. Its famous amongst people doing round-the-world trips as somewhere you´re supposed to mountain bike down. My idea of hell but something that those with testosterone in their systems can´t resist the lure of. We´ve agreed to meet tomorrow eve to see if he´s survived. If he´s not in traction that is. I´ve just booked a trip to Lake Titicaca (which I can just about say without sniggering). Altogether more wholesome, even if it does involve me getting picked up at the totally un-f***ing-wholesome time of 7.30!!

Anyway, before drinking, I spent the day doing a city tour today. Cost me 15quid (cracking exchange rate here - caipiriñhas are 2quid - rude not to prices). Saw some cool stuff like Moon Valley (steady...) which is this volcanic area with some very cool rock formations I won´t try and describe. At some point I´ll figure out how to upload the photos so you can see. All good stuff though. City tour did involve some tedious museums though. Had my fill of those. Also did a spot of shopping. Bought a new bag (4quid) and the softest alpaca wool scarf you can imagine for 3quid. Really, 3 quid. I ask you. I want to buy one for everyone except I´m struggling for packing space. Its criminal when you consider the tat considered to be pashminas in the UK for upwards of 50quid (no there isn´t a pound sign on this damn keyboard)

To bring you up to date, yesterday when I arrived in La Paz (Rio will need to be a whole other blog), I spent the day mooching around generally to get the feel of the place. Its great here. Lots of really steep streets, really higgledy-piggledy buildings all piled on top of each other in a really steep-sided valley. Everything´s cheap. Everything´s sold on street stalls till all hours. Everyone´s friendly. Not quite sure why everyone wouldn´t want to live here. Sunny and hot during the day. Cold at night because we´re at altitude (shan´t do facts and figures, I´ll only get them wrong - see Wikipedia).

Tomorrow evening I meet the rest of my tour group i.e. total strangers I will be with for the next 20 days. Scary stuff so trying to be brave. Includes another girl (I already know to be 10 years younger than me) that I am sharing a room with. Yes I´m sure it will be fine too. Everone cross your fingers.