Bye Bye Boliva.... Hello UK...

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We travelled from Uyuni by train overnight on 24th/25th December and walked the 3 km from the train station to the bus station (quality town planning - not!) in Oruro in the early hours of the morning. After getting ourselves on a bus leaving a few hours later to Santa Cruz we enjoyed another overnighter (17hours) and arrived bleary eyed at Residencial Bolivar in the heart of an eerily quiet Santa Cruz. Rich went for a quick Christmas 5 minutes snooze and surfaced 7 hours later while San took a walk around the deserted centre of town.

The afternoon was spent topping up on Christmas spirit in one of the few bars and restaurants open followed by a spot of sightseeing amongst the many residents who had chosen to walk off their Christmas lunch/dinners.

We had a the next few days chilling in quaint tropical Santa Cruz before flying out to London via Miami with delightful American Airlines on 27th/28th and making our way straight down to Wales to catch up with Dad, Mary, Jonathan, Claire, Molly, Angel and Sapphire and the extended family. We thoroughly enjoyed both catching up with them all amongst the creature comforts and quality cooking. Thanks guys - great to see you all!

After a few weeks in Wales we went in search of better weather in London. We thoroughly enjoyed staying with Poh Heong, our brother in St John's Wood. Thanks Poh for sharing your home with us and sorry for being messy - hope the shelves are still standing!

We also managed to catch up with several buddies who are in and around London and take in several of London's sights that we have intended visiting for years now during visits back to UK (Royal Albert Hall for Cirque du Soleil's Alegria, visited the Natural History Museum, etc.)

We are now about to head off tomorrow to a whole new continent and excited at the experiences that Tanzania, Namibia and South Africa will bring!

Africa...... bring it on!

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