BoLiViA

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Hello everyone,
well i have had an action packed couple of weeks since i last blogged. i think last time i was about to leave buenos aires for bolivia. well we got a 25 hour bus up to the border of argetina and bolivia to the border town of villazon. it then took us 5 HOURS to get through customs in to bolivia which was fairly annoying seeing as it was 35 degrees. in the end we all got through and 3 of us jumped in a minibus to the town of tupiza. it was very different to argentina however, as there are very few ares of road that are tarmacced in bolivia so it was an hour and a halfs drive of adrenaline/pure horror as the driver through us through the desert at break neck speed. we arrived in tupiza at around 10 o clock, having left buenos aires 33 hours earlier and were relieved to find a hostel and book on a tour of the andes and salt flats the next morning. the only downpoint was the showers were cold and there was no electricity....only light bulbs. it was good just to sleep in a bed that wasnt moving though.....until our alarm went off at 6 in the morning. we then went to meet the tour jeep which was a 6 seater toyota landcruiser...a massive jeep. we were in the jeep wqith 3 columbians and an american. they were all very nice. so we set off on the tour and started heading up in to the andes on dirt roads and i must admit even i was scared. there were literally vertical drops on either side and one mistake would have been good bye from me. however he turned out to be a very good driver and as we got deeper in to the andes the views got better and better. bolivia is still an unbelieveably raw and natural country with thankfully very little commercialism affecting the locals every day lives. the first day we were just off roading through the mountains until we reached our first shacks to stay in. very very uncomfortable and pretty cold, as we were between 4000 and 5000 meters up the whole trip! (12000 and 15000ft in real language as u would say pa). the altitude actually caused a problem for the american girl who spent the whole tour asleep and being sick, but luckily everyone else was ok. for the next 2 days we visited various beautiful lagunes with flamingos in, hot springs and volcanos until on the third night we reached our final place of stay which was a hut made entirely of salt. including the beds! was very cool. then the next morning (we got up at 4 every morning) we got up to see the sun rise on the salt flats which are just smaller than the size of france and are ridiculous....every direction you look in all you see is white. we spent the day there and took many photos ...the famous perspective ones you see where it lookks like you are standing on an orange etc....we did all that and then finished off in the town of uyuni. from uyuni we jumped straight on the overnight bus to la paz. it was a hair raising bus ride as again there are no real roads so it was just a big old double decker ploughing its way through anything that got in its way! we stayed in la paz for 5 days in an irish hostel believe it or not and cycled death road, which is the most dangerous road in the world. it is 64km long and has sheer drops off the sides of the road. it was extremely fun however and everyone lived to tell the tail. unfortunately something didnt agree with my stomach and for the last 2 days in la az i was in bed being sick. on the third day however i had had enough of lying in bed so decided to get up and get a bus to copacabana. looking back probably wasnt a god idea seeing as i hadnt eaten in 2 days but we got there and i went to a restaurant and ordered the most ridiculous portion of chicken and chips ever which seemed to sort me out. we spent the day in copacabana having a look at lake titicaca and then got the bus to puno in peru which is the otherside of the lake. from here we booked on to an inca tour bus which taked you to cuzco via 5 inca sites which was very interesting to do. so im now in cuzco and start the inca trail on friday which i am extremely excited about!
hope everyone is well
lots of love
james xxxxx

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