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We stayed in Potosi for a couple of more days, that evening I cooked a stir fry which cost each of us around 30p, before the others arrived the next day. That day, me, Charles, Hannah and Lucy went to the natural hot springs, 20km outside of Potosi. We asked the driver of the bus to drop us off there and he just stopped somewhere, said something and pointed us in the right direction. We walked for 20 minutes uphill in the boiling heat and eventually found the "laguna". It was basically a large pond, which we were told was volcanic and that was why it was warm. It was like swimming in a hot bath which was nice but because of the altitude it was difficult to swim for long. We relaxed by the laguna in the sun for a while, and befriended a couple of dogs before heading back to the hostel. We went to a bar that evening and then the next day Hannah and I headed off.
We got a taxi for just a couple of quid each for over 2 hours to the city of Sucre. It was a smooth but somewhat cramped journey but we were eally happy with the deal we'd got. We had a Swede in the car as well and talked to her a bit before finally arriving in Sucre. When we did the taxi driver couldnt drive us all the way to the hostel because of some demonstration to do with the referendum in Bolivia that day. We found a hostel in the trusty Lonely Planet and walked across town there. When we got there, we checked in and when we went to our rooms, a man, who we assumed worked there helped us all with our bags. He had Hannah's valuable bag and guitar and a bag belonging to the Swede and took us to our room. There was a problem with the room though so we asked for another one and so went back to the reception to get the key. The man carrying our bags tried to usher us inside the reception and Hannah went but I didn't. We didn't think anything of this til after he'd given us all our stuff back and we'd settled into our room, when we came out to the reception and the woman who worked there was sitting there out of breath, white in the face and shaking. It turned out that the man who'd helped us all with our bags had been working with a younger boy and girl, and managed to con the Swede out of her room because "she was needed at the reception" and in the meantime, went into her room and stole one of her bags. Then when the woman from the hostel ran after the man, he had threatened her with a gun to go away. The Swede didn't have much of worth in the bag but it wasn't a pleasant experience either way. Not a nice start to our time in Sucre. That evening we cooked spaghetti bolognese, which was really nice, but something that evening, maybe from when I was handling the raw meat, made me very ill, so I spent much of the next few days in bed and not eating. Hannah went out and saw Sucre, and I managed to a little bit on our second and third days there, but spent a fair bit of time in front of the TV. Sucre is a nice town with a nice "mirador" which is a place at the top of a hill, where you can have something to eat and look out over the city. But it was Hannah's birthday on the saturday so I was keen to recover in time for that. The others followed us to Sucre a few days after us and we met up with them, didn't do a huge amount before setting off on the only daily bus - overnight - to Cochabamba. Hannah literally slept for all but 5 minutes of the 10 hour journey while I probably managed around 5 or 6 hours. We arrived at 5.30am having been unable to book a hostel or hotel so just got a taxi to our preferred one from the limited information in the Lonely Planet and luckily enough they had space so we checked in and quickly fell to sleep. We woke up a few hours ater and spent the day wondering around the not very picturesque city. We went to the market and both bought some jeans because our current pairs were both falling apart. We'd been looking for a nice pair of jeans for so long that when we found these half decent and pretty cheap ones at the market, we quickly bought them. We went to a decent restaurant for lunch, before a terrible one for dinner, and then went to a bar. Hannah played wheel of fortune at the bar and won a cocktail which was a good start to the eve of her birthday night out. I told the people who worked at the bar and the DJ that it was her birthday, and she got given free drinks and then the DJ played happy birthday at midnight which was hilarious. Then we danced, and Hannah drank (I didn't because I still wasn't feeling 100%) and we met some locals who were very keen to give us more free drinks and had a really good night. We went to another bar which wasn't as good but had a bit more of a dance there before returning to the hostel. The next day the others got the bus to Cochabamba so arrived early in the morning on Hannah's birthday. I woke up and gave her the indigenously patterned shawl/scarf/rug/cover I'd bought her and then the others slowly awoke and said their happy birthdays. We went out for breakfast and then got a cable car up this hill to a huge statue of Jesus which overlooks the city so we took more photos of that and the views from up there and inside the statue. We went back to the hostel and relaxed a bit and while some of them were sleeping, Lucy and me went out to get Hannah a birthday cake and we woke her up an hour later with lit candles and a rendition of happy birthday. We sat and ate cake before going out for dinner and then to a bar and then a karaoke bar.
The next day me, Charles and Guy got up at 10 to watch the last day of the season of the football from England, and then we went out for lunch where I had a HORRIBLE "Italian Sandwich" which consisted of 2 types of processed meat, 2 types of processed cheese, salad and pink mayonaise, inside sweet, brioche like bread. Then, we had planned on all going to La Paz (this is today) but the laundry place that some of mine and Hannah's clothes are at is closed on Sundays so we can't pick it up till tomorrow so have to wait here for that. The others all went to La Paz and so are currently on a bus and me and Hannah will join them tomorrow. Allon is also in La Paz so I've emailed him to hopefully meet up for a day or so. I hadn't planned on going to La Paz just yet but its just worked out like this. I think we'll be there for a couple of days before going east towards the lowlands of the Amazon.
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