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We wake up and watch a bit of football, taking full advantage of the tv in the room. After the football we decide we should leave to go to Potosi. Due to the mess of the previous hostel we decide to get a taxi, which isn't much difference in price to the bus plus we dont have to give our passport numbers. The taxi arrives and we jump in and head out of sucre. About 20 minutes in we stop off at a police check point, we have to write our names on a piece of paper and give it to the taxi driver to give to the police. Never have I s*** it so much as the taxi driver faffed about in the police station for what felt like hours. Eventually he came out and we drove off but that didn't make the remainding 2 hours of the journey any less squeaky bum time. Everything turns out fine and we arrive at our hostel, check in and wonder about till the evening. There isn't much happening in potosi so we grab an early night and as the tour operator couldn't fit us into the mine until the third we didn't have anything the get up for the next day. The next day is quite boring as I said there is nothing to do so we just mooch, eat and wonder trying to fill the day. We grab another early night excited for the mine tour the following day although Dyson is already having second thoughts. I wake the following morning and get out of bed and get ready, Dyson doesn't so I guess he's flapped it. This isnt a problem thou, I'm happy to go on my own. The guy picks me up and we head up the mountain. Firstly we stop at the miners market to buy some gifts. I get a stick of dynamite, some coca leaves, soda and 2 packs of cigs for three pound. We then go to his place to get all the gear on, he gives me a pair of size 10 's which I say is too small, he takes the size 10's and replaces them with size 12's. I can't say they're not too small, they're massive, just hope I dont have to run. We jump back into the car and drive up the mountain to the mine. When we arrive there are no other tours there yet and we walk up to the entrance of the mine. All the miners seem a little hostile and just kind of give me blank stares. The entrance is just under head hight and it isn't long before it turns pitch black. About 5 minutes in a guy comes running around the corner and the tour guide tells me to get close to the wall. A rattle gets louder and louder before a big cart full of minerals comes rushing past on the tracks. We then continue before meeting a group of miners trying to put a de railed cart back on the tracks. I can't help feeling in the way as I stand there like a lemon watching these guys try to pick up this one ton cart. We delve deeper into the mine before we finally head off track into a little hole and he asks if I wanna go in. I say yes and he warns me that there are alot of gases in here so it'll be hot and hard to breathe. We crawl in and it soon opens up and we walk abit to the god of the mine. I light a cigarette for him, give him some coca leaves and pour some 96% proof alcohol on him, all as a thanks for guiding me through the mine safely. We carry on along the passage before getting to a wall with a tiny hole in it. I honestly expect him to turn round and head out the way we came in but no, he steams on and crawls through the gap. I actually can't crawl it and have to kind of frog leg it through. The other side are about 8 miners sitting around. We catch our breathe and he tells me I can give them my gifts. As I walk towards them, one snatches the coca leaves off me, and in turn they all walk up and take something off me, not so much as me 'giving' them the gifts ey? No bother thou, a gringo spending 3 pound on some gifts isn't gunna change the fact they have a s*** job and won't make them any happier I suppose. We wonder round the mine for another hour before returning to the van to go back to the hostel which is about half an hour down the mountain. Once there I find Dyson and explain to him that he would have in fact cried down there and probably a good thing he didn't come down. We spend the afternoon chilling in the cafe which soon moves into the evening. The boredom forces us to have a few beers watching the barca Milan game and then we go out with a couple of lads from Leeds to the only bar in potosi. A couple more litres of beers and we head back to get a good night sleep for the bus the next day. When morning comes we pack our bag and grab a taxi to the bus station. We've go an hour to get there so it should be fine. The journeys about 20 minutes and the driver tries to charge us 50 bolivianos, we refuse and then he laughs and says 10, standard Bolivian! The bus station is fairly empty so we ask someone where to go and he points to a platform. We wait there for about half an hour and no bus has arrive yet. We ask another person and ha informs us that there are 2 bus stations and we're obviously in the wrong one. We race outside and grab a taxi to the other station. The driver doesn't pick up on our urgency and plods along which annoys Dyson. He's now in a mood which is best for me not to get involved in as he shouts at the driver for stopping at red lights etc. We get to the other station at about 10 past and miss the bus. Deflated and pissed off we go to buy another ticket which is for the next bus at 6.30, six hours to wait in an absolute dump. We take up the time in an Internet cafe, I spend the majority playing age of empires which is hard in Spanish. When 6 o'clock rolls round we wait at the bus station and the biggest piece of s*** turns up. It's ours. We get on and the driver crams the bus full so much the isle is full of Bolivians standing. The journey is horrible but I manage to sleep and wake up in Uyuni at 11. A taxi driver takes us to a hostel which is actually quite nice, we check in at which point Dyson realises he's left his bag in the taxi. Melt down time! He goes mad and storms outside whilst I let him do his thing. About 10 minutes later the taxi returns with Dysons bag and all is calm again. We go to sleep fairly soon after that wanting to forget the dy and excited to hit the salt flats.
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