Ok apologies for not really updating this much, havent really got round to doing it as the internet is so sodding slow! Last update was from Rosario i think? from there i took a bus up to Iguazu, which is on the border of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.... spent two or three days there at the national park checking out the huge waterfalls which was incredible! really enjoyed it, spent ages next to this waterfall (they have cat walk type things) which was just thundering down right beside me, got soaked but was so much fun, for some reason gets you in a really good mood and found myself just standing there laughing to myself for a while! Got some great pics but still unable to upload them, not sure when i´ll be able to do it really....

Whilst in Iguazu i met two english girls who are travelling after uni and turned out they were heading to bolivia like i was and kindly said i could tag along which was great! formed a bit of a crew with them and two australians (brother and sister) so we had 5 of us which is good for haggling with tours etc and they´re all great fun and nice to be travelling with some people! so we went from Iguazu to Salta, stayed a night then hopped into Chile (San Pedro de Atacama) from where we could take a tour through the Andes and into Bolivia to see the Salt flats. San pedro itself was a bit of a dump BUT redeemed itself because i found myself a cup of earl grey tea! which was amazing as have been missing it and craving it daily, also fell on valentines day so worked out perfectly!

Tour through the mountains was in a 4x4 with our legendary driver Ricardo, saw some beautiful landscapes, lakes and mountains and had good weather as well so good reflections off the water etc... good pics! was very tranquil so spent some time just chilling by the lakes and that kind of thing... it was a three day tour so got to swim in hot springs on one day which ws great fun and stupidly hot! enjoyed it as hadnt showered in a while (lack of facilities rather than personal hygiene). On the last day we saw the salt flats, a huge huge area of flat salt plains, literally 100´s Km2...it was partially flooded as well which made it even better, most beautiful thing i´ve seen, we all sat on the roof of the jeep as we drove out there... quite hard to describe but was very memorable indeed.

After Uyuni we took a bus down to Tupiza (which is where i am now). the most random journey i think i´ve ever taken. started off at 5.30am when we got on the wrong bus (not my fault) and had our bags strapped to the roof before someone pointed out that our bus was actually across the street, so i had to climb onto the roof and find all our bags and fling them down to the others! finally got on the right bus which was a rickety old thing...there were 29 seats plus driver...there were 54 people on the bus. given that this was a 7 hour journey it was pretty interesting!! people crammed in the isles, kids everywhere, one decided to perch on us for the best part of the journey but she was quite sweet so forgivable... the whole journey was through desert and mountains, no tarmac in sight, terrific hangover as well...first few hours were torture! bumping around over rocks etc...then we got a bloody puncture! but they seem pretty good at sorting out that kind of thing so only took 30 mins or so... either way eventually arrived in Tupiza and have got a hostel and a riding tour tomorrow which should be great! although we´ve claimed we´re practically olympic standard riders so we can bomb around a bit...should be interesting!

The English girls (pips and ols) are heading south from here and i´m heading north to Potasi, Sucre and then probs La Paz with the Aussies... dont know when i´ll next check internet etc but least you know roughly where i am! On that theme will parents stop worrying i´m fine!!! alive! and also the guy next to me in this internet cafe works for a security company and did 20 years in the special forces and deals with kidnappings and abductions over here and i have his card now so all is fine! hope you´re all well x