Hello!

My GAP trip is now finished and contrary to the map I´m back in La Paz but for the sake of the map it looks more interesting to say I´m in Uyuni!

The last blog was from Sucre, after Sucre we headed out to Potosi. On the way we went a strange Castle, very pretty!! A former orphanage too, all the materials were brought in from Europe.

We arrived in Potosi around lunchtime, a very depressing dusty town. Higher than La Paz it doesnt have any vegetation to speak of and the orange ´Money Mountain´ dominates the city. We visited the Silver Mine in the afternoon. We had to buy presents for the miners, crackers and coco leaves.... as well as dynamite, ammonium nitrate (fertiliser) and detonators. All carried in a plastic bag!!! We could have bought 96% alcohol too.... ALL for 3GBP!!

The conditions in the mine were far from ideal, hot, airless, dark, pipes twisting everywhere, cramped conditions, wood holding up the ceilings... The only protection the miners have is a hard hat. It´s just a maze of galleries off of which spawn more tunnels, up and down....It´s amazing how they know their way around, but they enter the mine about age 12 and spend about 12hrs a day down there... Horrendous, after an hour I´d had enough.

Potosi was not on our favourite destinations and we were quite glad to get the bus to Uyuni - along a dirt road for 8.5hrs... with only first gear (the transmission broke and the second driver had to get out and crawl under the bus numerous times to get it started...)

Somehow in Uyuni I manged to vomit the ENTIRE contents of my stomach in the middle of the night - NOT pleasant.... It meant that I wasnt so excited by the first day of our 4x4 tour of south west Bolivia.

The description of the 4x4 tour is brief because it was just BEAUTIFUL and words cant really describe - highlights picked out.... The landscape changed so dramatically - geographer´s dream!! Salt flats,sulphurous lagoons, volcanos, geysers, deserts, weird rocks....

Our first day was on the Salt Flats - incredible expanse of white and blue.... we had a good time playing with perspective (photos of that will have to wait until Natalie gets home and can upload her photos!) I´m bigger than a coke bottle!!! We have photos of us dancing on Meghan´s tummy....

We stayed in a Salt Hotel our first evening - EVERYTHING is made from salt!!! The walls, the tables, the chairs, the floor, the BEDS!!

Our second day we stopped at a necropolis, SO MANY LAGOONS WITH PINK FLAMINGOS!! Ate lunch at the ´Foul Smelling Lagoon´ (wasn´t that bad!) and saw the petrified trees. We stayed at a remote lodge (read basic and rustic) that night.I happened to be awake at about 1.30am and went out to look at the stars - NEVER have I seen so many and so bright too... There was no moon.... breathtaking!!! Sadly it was super cold so I didnt stay out for so long!

We had a REALLY EARLY start the final day - 4.30am to leave by 5!! We drove into an active volcano crater to see the early morning Geysers, then to a hot spring for breakfast. All this time it was FOOKING COLD!! I was in my thermals!! We were at about 4800m for the Geysers and since the sun hadnt yet risen it was freezing!!

After breakfast at the hot spring - into which at 7am i was only prepared to dunk my legs to my knees...(we returned later and actually got in the spring! it was considerably warmer!)

Later that day I went rock climbing at the Valley of the Rocks - no you´re not meant to but they were GREAT climbing rocks!!

An exhausting day was followed by a much needed shower before we boarded a night train (7hrs) to take us to Oruro at midnight, followed by a 3hr bus back to La Paz.... We were all shattered.

End of the GAP tour now. Meghan and I are going to see a little more of Bolivia together before I head home. Today we´re going to make an offering to the Pacha Mama with our guide (he doesnt want to see us go!!). Tomorrow I´m going to hopefully attempt the ¨World´s Most Dangerous Road¨ on a mountain bike... I´m actually quite nervous!! Google it... I hope to go as they MAY close the road as on Sunday it´s the constitutional election day.... BIG day in Bolivia´s history, quite interesting!

besos

keep in touch, I´ll be home (sadly!)

xxxx