iannohere

I arrived back in the Hostel and had a few beer after Huayna Potosi then went to bed and got a solid 12 + hours sleep, well deserved I might add. Next day we were back on it, most of the guys were still in the hostel I felt like celebrating and thats a good a reason as any I suppose so we all decided to go mad, as if we all weren´t anyway. The Wild Rover being Irish owned was havig a big party for Aurthurs day and the fact that its half way to St. Patricks day. So that only made things worse..... We stayed in the wild rover till close as usual then went out to a club till close. The next day was a complete wright off, we got up un usually ... read more

Our bus ride from Potosi to La Paz should have been one of the nicest ones we had so far. We had booked a full Cama bus which declines way more than usual and even for me at 192cm (6´2") there was loads of leg room but it wasn´t to be. We got stuck in between a group of Bolivian drunks. This group smelt like they slept on the street and nearly made me sick and that really isn´t easy!! The guy behind me kept thinking I was his mate and patting my head I was nearly shouting at the bloke and was about to hit him. When he finally decided to go to sleep he coughed his lungs up for 20 minutes and started spitting on the floor seat and on me at one stage...! ... read more

Like a lot of places in Bolivia Potosi starts with "The hightest ...... in the world". I dont really have much to say about Potosi, it's an old silver mining town that still has active silver mines where tourists can do tours. We didn't bother doing any tours because we heard enough of the stories about the conditions from other tourists and after our 4WD tour we needed a break. So this entry is really just so I dont forget that I visited the city. I dont even have any photos we just took in Bolivia. The locals wouldnt let us take any photos for some reason but they nearly all dress in traditional Bolivian dress, it´s realy nice because you really feel like you are visiting somewhere very different.... read more

We all got up early for our 7am pick up, all five of us piled on too our mini bus and headed for the border. I think everyone was hungover, the 3 Finish girls had been doing 4am and 7am tour starts the last few days so they were definitly tired. Everyone was a little apprehensive too; a tour group you dont really know; doing a tour that is known to have problems; and with the cheapest operator we could find... we had 3 days, what could go wrong. Day 1 Once we crossed the border in to Bolivia we were met by our driver who doesn´t speak any English who is going to take us across the desert for 3 days in a 4WD Toyota Landcruiser, that looked well used. We all forgot about the ... read more

We arrived back in Santiago after Snowboarding tired as, but our sleeping pattern is back on track thankfully. Just in time for our early start on Monday when we went back to school. They say school days are the best in your life and maybe so but returning when your older certinally isn´t!! School was only for 3 hours a day but it was solid spanish, then we had homework and study to do after so they were long days. So Santiago was mainly work for us although we did get a few beers in too ;) and then we moved on to Valparaiso the cultural capital of Chile. I really wanted to do a wine tour in Chile. The main wine regions in Chile are only 1 - 2 hours outside Santiago; north and south. ... read more

Christchurch was a shock to us after our time in Asia and in the wilderness in Aussie! We arived on a Saturday night and went out for a few drinks to get a look at the town. The place was hopping and in full swing by the time we got out. We wanted a quite bar to chill in but all we could find was an Irish bar where we could barely hear eachother, all the same it was better than a club. It was your typical pub atmosphere; women dolled up with makeup: men messin around and everyone pissed. Same as any city on a Saturday but we ended up sitting in a corner having a few pints trying to get our heads around the whole thing. It all just seemed so alien to us ... read more