In Bolivia anything is possible....

We have now spent 10 days in Bolivia, visiting Santa Cruz, Sucre (political capital), Potosi, the salt flats, 3 days in a jeep travelling across the desert, and finally La Paz (actual capital) which has one of the only bars in the world where you can buy cocaine over the counter!

We said our goodbyes to Pablo, our old guide, and to the warm weather of Brazil. We have been considerably higher in Bolivia, reaching heights of 5200 m above sea level, which have brought with it the inability to walk up a flight of stairs without panting, although the altitude does provide a brilliant excuse for any lack of fitness, and indeed much colder weather, reaching -8 during the nights in the desert. Bolivia has also been a welcomed break on our wallets, with bottles of wine costing just 2 pounds!

The Bolivian traditional dress is so colourful, with almost everybody carrying around multi-coloured sheets on their backs which they fold up and use to carry around their possessions. The best example of this we have seen is a lady carrying her new born baby, a chicken and her weekly meat shop all on her back!

Our new guide, Vladamir, is Bolivian and extremely passionate about the country which is great as we have gained load of information about the culture, even supporting Bolivia in a football match, as here football is a religion. Something which I found particularly entertaining, is the symbology of the women's hats. Much like a traffic light party at home, where you would wear red if you were in a relationship, green if you were single.... the ladies here wear different coloured hats dependant upon their relationship status!

When in Sucre, a very picturesque and rich city, we went to a local market to see locals exchange goods. Jess went rock climbing, discovering she has no upper body strength, but really enjoyed it, despite the guides speaking no English and when shouting down for help when stuck, the only response was "up, go up"! Sarah went trekking instead, having a rather harsh introduction to the impact altitude can have on you!

Our next stop was Potosi, a mining town. We tried volcanic soup, served with an actual boiling volcanic rock in it! Here we visited a silver mine, and was amazed to learn that the miners basically survive on 97% alcohol to, I quote, "get them through the day", tobacco to mask the smell, and cocoa leaves (leaves used to make cocaine) to filter the dust and relax them. Safe in the knowledge we were about to enter a mine operated by alcoholics who were constantly slightly high, we went inside... Inside we had a bizzare introduction to the Andean religion, where they worship Pachamama (mother earth), but also the devil. We were lead down a 15m drop into a shrine, where a large devil structure was built, which by torch light looked genuinely terrifying and the smell of alcohol was overpowering.

The next stop was the salt flats, one of the areas we were particularly looking forward to, and it did not disappoint! So vast, so white, difficult to describe, but stunning! Although unfortunately a girl on our tour was taking pictures with her passport, and actually lost it in the salt flats, and with no vantage point at all, and no tracks it was impossible to find! An expensive prize to pay for an amusing picture! We spent the night in a house made of salt, with salt beds and salt tables, enjoyed llama steak for lunch and liquor made from cocoa leaves. The next few days we went further south and into the desert (Bolivian side of the Atacama desert, which is the highest desert in the world) seeing green, blue, red and black lagoons, thousands of flamingos, and generally just incredible views with vivid red sands. These days were spent in jeeps, driving over the dunes, which was good fun, even if the jeeps did break down constantly, our driver got us lost for an hour and a half, in addition to cracking our windscreen when the bonnet flew up at about 70mph! One evening we set off fireworks in the middle of the desert, which was impressive!

Then something big happened... SARAH SAW HER FIRST SHOOTING STAR!!!! (Got too excited and forgot to make a wish!). We have seen some incredible stars, the milky way is so clear with no light pollution.

Our final stop in Bolivia was La Paz. Here we visited the witches market where they make offerings including llama fetuses! Jess survived mountain biking down death road, the worlds most dangerous road, a definite highlight so far! Incredible views, drops, and actually managed to pick up some reasonable speed!

Highlight: Sarah's first shooting star!
Lowlight: Being told that the laundry had lost all our clothes (turned out not to be correct, but definitely set in panic)
Casualties: Jess is now on her 3rd pair of sunglasses, and has lost another towel....


We have just arrived in Peru, and after sampling the pisco sours, we have a feeling we might like it here......