So the journey started. Our first section went really well, it was only three hours and we arrived safely with nothing to report. We booked our night bus to Santa Cruz, so spent a wonderful day walking around Sucures plaza and had a really nice Italian meal. We even made friends with a local boy who I bribed with chocolate to let us have some of his bird seed so we could feed the birds. Later after getting some supplies for the bus we wasted a little more time in the Plaza, during this time I got conned thanks to Becki. A little shoe shining boy came along and tried to clean our flip flops that are both dying. Becki resisted but knowing I cant she allowed the kid to pester me and I finally gave in and had them shampooed. There was no real changed but they did smell nicer and it finally only cost me 20p!

We knew the bus to Santa Cruz would take about 15 hours so we had tried to treat ourselves and get a nice bus, this did not happen! I am not sure if we were really unlucky or there just really isn't any nice buses in Bolivia but we ended up on a local bus which I nick named monster truck!

The journey started off like a normal Bolivian bus trip,bumpy, windy and full of locals, with us being the only backpackers in sight. To add to the atmosphere we were driving through a storm in the middle of a mountain range with wind, rain, lightening and thunder. Those who know me, know I may act hard as nails but a little bit of thunder and lighting in the skies and I feel like I am about 5 again. This time it was different, the rocks began to fall from above, we were surrounded by trees and all that was keeping me calm was the memories from my geography class that the safest place to be in a storm was in a car, and we were in a monster truck.

I would have been ok, if I hadn't noticed the drivers getting out of the van, flashing lights and the rest of the passengers panicking about their actions. After about an hour stationary the driver came onto the bus, said something in Spanish and the passengers all got up and went outside. Had they not taken geography!!!! Like the good sheep we are, we both followed and soon realised there had been a number of serious landslides and we had to walk about 200 meters as the bus would be too heavy for the road and it could be dangerous! So well prepared we both started wading over fallen and still falling rocks in our shorts and flip flops, with no light towards our bus. The bus made it across and started beeping us to hurry up as there was now a queue of buses waiting to go, so we started to run. Yep then my flip flops broke, in a huge mud pile so I left the broken one, kicked of the other one and ran barefoot over broken rocks and ankle high muddy water! It started off being cool, I felt like Bruce Willis in Die Hard then I was just cold and wet!

When we got back onto the bus people were trying to ask me why I wasn't wearing any shoes and I just smiled and said silly Gringo! We were all safe back on the bus but both a little shaken. We started our trip again to find only an hour later the engine was off and everyone was a sleep, so we joined them! 8 hours later we woke up and realised we hadn't even moved an inch, we got out to explored to find about 30 other buses stationary due to another landslide. After another hour and a half we were off, and I am pleased to say we made the rest of the journey without stopping, however a 15 hour journey took 26 hours!

As a result of being late back we couldn't buy our following ongoing train ticket to the Brazilian border, so we ate a nice dinner and headed to bed. In the Lonely Planet it only suggests to use the train for the crossing as buses can sometimes be used for smugglers and gangs as it is a small boarder. We decided to get up early and buy a ticket for the next day. We got there to find we needed our passports, so went back, queued for an hour to find the only train was full. Panic filled both our faces as we had a flight to catch in a few days and still had a fair distance to cover in order to get it. We looked at flights,other trains and even considered me faking an asthma attack to get a doctors note for the insurance to cover our flight... no luck we had to get a bus!

With our bus track record we decided to leave that night to give us an extra day. We booked our ticket to then find they put our rucksacks/life on the wrong bus. Luckily we noticed our bags were gone and kicked off so they had to unpack the bus as our bag were the first packed, typical! We manged to get ourselves and our bags onto the right bus and geared ourselves up for a hellish journey! But for once luck was on our side and we had a really smooth trip and made it to the border on time.

This was the first crossing we had done on our own and Bolivia was fine however Brazils was 10 Km away from the crossing and we had no reals and no Yellow Fever certificate to enter the country. We some how convinced a taxi guy to help us change some Bolivian money and take us to the border and then we refussed to pay him as we thought he was ripping us off! It took three people who spoke English to convince us that 40 reals was the price so we paid up and joined the massive queue to immigration. We managed to get into Brazil without the certificate as we said we were going only to Salvador for the carnival, but it was a little worrying for a time! We got a bus straight to were the airport was, which was 6 hours away and checked into a hostel. When we first got onto the bus our breath was taken away. It had air conditioning, lay back seat with leg room and it had a toilet on the bus, luxury. So we thought that was it, we were over transport troubles.....Nah of cause not!

We had a day to chill out which we took full advantage of and actually did nothing apart from take it in turns to either sleep, eat or surf the free internet. That night we played cards with some guys we met and had a few drinks with some other English who were staying at the hostel, nothing to heavy as we had a 5.30 am flight. We got up in time and arrived like true English way too early at the airport, but hey at least we were there so nothing could go wrong. We boarded our plane and both were fast asleep before we had taken off, this may have been where we first went wrong. We knew we had a connecting flight somewhere within the journey so when the flight stopped and all the other passengers got off so did we. It was still early and from our tickets it looked like our connecting flight wasn't for another four hours... well it was just not from that airport. The penny still hadn't dropped at this point so we were blissfully unaware that our flight was leaving without us. After watching an episode of our new love "Spaced" Becki noticed that where we thought we were had appeared on the departures board, surely they don't do round trips to the same place. Alarm bells started ringing and we both rushed around trying to find someone who spoken English as this wasn't a sharades moment, after about 5 different people and we manged to find some who took us to a very nice lady who saved our day. She asked if we had heard them calling our names.... we said no.... then she said where were we going.... why and was it important? At this point we were starting to become more in the loop and then we both said almost in unison "have we missed our flight and where are we?" Yes we had and we were in the capital Brazilia. Luckily they had taken all our bags off the flight and booked us onto another which took a lot of understanding which was the flight number and time but we finally understood the flight was due to leave in 40 minutes. We were taken to the departure gate and told just to sit... we both felt well out of our depth and I think we both wanted this flight to either go to England or at least an English speaking country.

Anyway we made it to Salvador without too many more troubles. The taxi fare was 90 reals which is like £30 so we refused to pay and joined the massive line for the local bus. Now I had been feeling a little queezie on the flight and it had started getting worse in the line, then it hit me, I ran across the road and had to throw up behind a car but in front of about 50 people. Luckily we had a really nice lady who looked after our stuff while Becki got me water and she even went through her bag and made me a powdered drink to settle my tummy. The bus journey was only an hour and a half, however I still felt really ill and we had no idea where we were going. We arrived at our stop and I looked green so Becki being the best ever friend offered to carry my rucksack if I carried her small bag. After walking around in the heat past our hostel a few times we finally found it! I climbed the stairs and passed out on the bed and Becki went to find someone in charge. No one spoken any English but eventually the owner came back from his shopping and sorted it out. We had decided to ask for a private room so I could sleep, but this hostel wasn't like anything we had ever stayed in before. It was so laid back and hippie filled it was crazy. The didn't have private rooms and you either paid for a bed, hammock or tent space. The owner was really nice and took us upstairs and brought me a bin and put a sheet up to cover the door so I could be on my own.

We both fell asleep for the rest of the afternoon as we were so exhausted from the last few days. That night we went exploring and the hostel kept with the theme of the place, there were different styles of Brazilian dancing on every street corner, samba bands walking the pebbled streets in practice for carnival and the streets were line with food and beer sellers. The next few days we chilled out and slept a lot to re energize for the carnival. Becki then got really ill from prawns so again we were both feeling low, but she took her meds and began to feel much better after a few days.