when i left you i was in santa cruz, about to embark on the seventeen-hour bus ride to sucre [which would turn out to be one of the most horrendous journeys of this trip so far!] sucre, however, was a very pretty town, and after the Horror Journey i treated myself to a lot of café-time amidst all the church-viewing, and a fair few glasses of wine in the evenings. next up was potosi, which saw a return to dusty bolivian towns, and to lung-destroying-altitude [hilariously, my dorm was on the fifth floor of my hostel, so i had five flights of stairs on TOP of potosi´s 4067m...] the main [dare i say only?] reason to go to this particular town is to visit the dangerous, claustrophobic, gas-filled mines, which still provide the main source of employment in potosi. i´m sure you´re not supposed to "enjoy" the tours of the mines, but i found it much more difficult than i´d expected. the tunnels are small, and you have to walk doubled over, and there are areas where the air suddenly gets boiling and its nearly impossible to breathe. plus the rooves of the tunnels seem to be constantly crumbling, with small stones falling all the time. plenty of workers die in cave-ins, and perhaps the same number in drink-related accidents [the miners i met were all, with the exception of a fourteen-year-old, completely pissed on 96% alcohol.] being the only girl in my tour-group meant that i was "fair game" for these boozed-up miners, and i was repeatedly told how working in a mine makes your penis bigger, and invited to stay. needless to say, i was happy to get back out into the fresh air!

from potosi i moved on to the charmingly horrible town of uyuni, from where you take the ubiquitous tour of the bolivian salt flats. on this, harriet wrote incredibly eloquently, and i don´t wish to repeat her in my own stumbling style. it´s enough to say that the landscapes are just incredible. three days of driving in a [fancy-for-bolivia] jeep, where absolutely everything that you see [lakes, rock formations, mountains] blows your mind. i was particularly taken with the geysers that we visited early [but not so bright] on our last day - they spewed eggy-smelling steam out into the freezing cold air, and mud-pools bubbled like something out of a fairytale. [or shrek.] i was with a lovely group of people [four brits and one poor, poor german], and there was rarely a moment´s silence in the jeep [much to the annoyance of our grumpy driver omar!] for most of the tour, however, we were ridiculously cold, so the other treat was the hot springs, which went some way to getting three days´ worth of cold out of our toes. that and the "cognac con café" [1% cognac!] that we found in a local shop.

the salt flats tour dropped us off in san pedro de atacama in chile, a very lovely, very touristy, ridiculously expensive village, where i stayed for a few days to recover from bolivia [!] essentially, i spent three days sunbathing, reading [starting my new-found obsession with paul theroux], and eating yummy food, but one evening i also did the "stargazing" tour that harriet and co did back in may. i was similarly impressed, both by the charming french astronomer and by all the incredible stuff i learnt, and saw through the telescopes, particularly jupiter - merely a bright star to the naked eye, but very distinctly spherical through the telescope.from san pedro to buenos aires is about thirty-five hours by bus, and i did this journey with a break in salta for steak and wine. then, once back in bs as i went "back to school" and felt at home almost instantly. my spanish school was in belgrano, a beautiful area of the city, packed with gorgeous old buildings and fancy shops. there were [yet again] some lovely people in the school [making for some very crazy nights out!], and i had a very attractive teacher, which made the long hours of subjunctive-learning that little bit easier.

last weekend was a long one, with monday being a public holiday celebrating indigenous people [of whom there are basically none in argentina]. this was great for me, not only because i love indigenous people, but because it meant i got to go to rosario, a city four hours away from buenos aires - the birthplace of che guevara, and home to some wonderful girls that harriet and i met when we were in cafayate in july. i was only there for a couple of days, but i completely and utterly fell in love with rosario. it reminded me of bristol in summer - the weekend was gorgeously sunny, and everyone was relaxing around the river, sunbathing in the park, or having a beer in one of the gorgeous riverside cafes. special mention must also be paid to rosario´s museum of contemporary art, set in an incredibly designed modern building, and filled with the worst art i have EVER seen in a gallery. i had such a great time with the girlies - eating, drinking, dancing, playing "yo nunca nunca"... - and was sad to have to return to the gigantic pile of homework that was waiting for me in buenos aires!

and after a drag-queen-ridden goodbye party, yesterday i flew the thirteen-hundred miles to el calafate [down in the south of argentina], and so begins my patagonian adventure. then it´s two weeks with mum being very unbackpackery, and then i´m home. really can´t believe how quickly time has gone, and though i´ll be sad to leave this incredible continent, i am beyond excited to see you all!

with love and patagonian sniffles,
your friend/relative/stalkable stranger suzie xxxxx