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Neil's Round the World Trip!
I woke up at 5.50am and had another great shower before checking out of the luxurious HI hotel. I ambled down to the bus station and gave my rucksack to the baggage handlers. I then sat around waiting on the bus for 20 minutes, listening to my stomach rumbling (oh oh..never a good sign!). The bus arrived and I sat in my seat breathing in the acrid smell of lemon spray (to hide the horrible smell of the bus).
I sat freezing in the bus as we drove through the mountains towards Potosi. We reached the highest city in the world after 5 hours. I had to change buses at Potosi and so I had time to go to the toilet. However the toilet was horrendous, I had to pick up a bucket of water and pour it down the toilet as there was no flush mechanism and it stank!
I got on my new bus with some French and German tourists all in their late 40s. I was glad I never scheduled Potosi into my trip as it was ugly, smelly and frankly there was f%ck all to do! Ok there is; to go down a mine..em no thanks.
We drove for hours through the dusty altiplano and eventually stopped at an isolated snack shop. It was late in the afternoon when our bus suddenly stopped. The Germans and French anxiously paced around outside but none of them spoke Spanish. Eventually a French guy came over and in English asked me if I could translate for them. I asked the driver what was the problem, he told me an American haulage company that takes minerals from Bolivia to Chile has not sub-contracted to a local Bolivian company and so the workers have blockaded the road.
I asked how long the blockade would last. His response was a shrug of the shoulders. I knew I'd have to lie to the increasingly tetchy Europeans so I said 5 hours. They immediatly set their clocks. We waited...and waited but incredibly after nearly 6 hours the blockade finished. We drove on happily until we stopped. You've guessed it, just another blockade. However there was another bus on the other side so the drivers phoned each other and agreed to swop passengers. The sun had set and it was absolutely freezing!
So we picked up our luggage and walked through a crowd of angry, fist waving Bolivians. Our bus driver urged "mucho cuidado" (basically watch your bags or they'll get nicked!). I followed the Germans who marched away ahead of everyone. We reached our new bus and sat down in the dark. However one of the Germans had left their bag on the top of the old bus and so rushed back to get it but it was gone.
We drove on towards Uyuni through the dark with only the moonlight for light. It was freezing cold and everyone was wrapped up apart from a fat idigenous woman who had enough insulation from her rolls of fat. She had two seats, just to indicate how big she was.
After 4 hours of driving along bumpy, dirt roads we reached the bright lights of Uyuni. I got out of the bus and it was f%cking freezing. I was tired and disorientated but walked off in a random direction and after 5 minutes miracously I found the HI Uyuni hostel.
It was 11.30pm but they had a private room and the owner's 4 yr old son took me by the hand and led me to my freezing cold room. It was so cold I could see my breath. I went to the toilet and the wet floor had turned to ice.
I was hungry and so ventured out into the cold, dark streets of ghostly Uyuni. I found a pizza place on the main street. I ordered a pizza and sat watching the USA v Czech Rep match sipping on a hot chocolate. I finished my pizza and headed back to my room which may as well have been outside for all the heat it was giving me.
I was thankful my dad had given me his fat Blacks sleeping bag as it was a godsend. My bed was as cold as the Baltic sea. I slept in my sleeping bag instead-worst night's sleep of my life!
I woke up several times in the night as my mouth was so dry!! I couldn't wait for the morning as the cold was so uncomfortable!
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