Overall, I was in Bolivia for 10 fantastic weeks, which makes it the country I have spent longest in throughout my travels. Thus, I warn you in advance, this blog contains a fair chunk of pensive reflection on what I thought about this vibrant and diverse country!!!! Though it is the poorest country in South America, and has had one of the most turbulent politic histories in the continent, I found the country absolutely fascinating to travel through. Both the landscapes and people I encountered were just incredibly diverse, considering I only really travelled the more densely populated south western section. I moved from the rich 4x4 owners of Sucre, to the impoverished Campesinos of La Paz, while the tiny villages I, admittedly, only viewed on bus journey rest stops were quite an eye-opener. The physical ... read more

Surely with that great punning ability, a future career at the Sun is beckoning!!! My two weeks based in La Paz, Bolivia’s de facto capital, have come to an end, and while the city is certainly no architectural beauty, its location in the Andes' Cordillera Real (Royal Range), is pretty spectacular and in my mind makes La Paz pretty attractive. Set in a bowl or canyon at 3,600 metres, the city's housing and buildings stretch steeply up the walls of said canyon to the Altiplano 400 metres above. Handily this makes La Paz one of the easiest cities I have ever come across to navigate, as the main street, the Prado, runs along the bottom of the canyon floor, and so all you have to do the find it and orientate yourself is to walk downhill ... read more

Having spent so long in Sucre I was looking forward to getting back to nature a little bit. Thus, I headed to the small town of Samaipata, about 10 hours north-east of Sucre. Only problem was that the bus would arrive there at about 4 a.m. and drop me at the side of the road - or that was the plan. Predictably, they forgot about me - but luckily I was on the ball and managed to get the driver to stop only 200 metres past the town!!! One of the big draws in Samaipata are the ruins of "El Fuerte", a pre-columbian site dominated by an absolutely huge rock complete with carvings that are apparently pre-Inca. Unfortunately, those pesky tourists that used to climb all over, and graffiti on the rock back in the day, ... read more

A slighty belated report of my time in Potosi coming up. Potosi is touted as being the highest city in the world, 3,977 of your finest metres according to the guidebook. (Although I have seen this claim caveated (sorry, been reading my word of the day toilet paper again) with the fact that its the highest city of its size in the world). Anyway, its quite high. High enough so that anything more than a leisurely stroll is inadvisable as it leaves you a mite breathless. Thus, it would seem a slightly foolish idea to travel even higher to crawl around in the choking dust filled spaces that are the silver mines of Cerro Rico!! Perhaps slightly foolish - but definately very rewarding. First of all a bit of culture so you guys back home don't ... read more

I've now finally reached Bolivia. Its a country I feel I've been meaning to get to for a long time, but have been delayed by the sights and attractions that have kept cropping up en-route from Santiago!!! Before updating what I've been up to the last week or so I thought I've jot down some more general views on Argentina as a whole. Before setting out I didn't expect Argentina to be one of my favourite places, but having left it for the final time I can look back on my travels there and say that they've been superb. Argentina seems to contain just the most amazing array of landscapes and attractions, and I feel that i've been lucky enough to experience most of them. From the sultry, sweaty Iguacu Falls in the North-east, to the ... read more