Dan woke up with a strong pain on his lower left side of his body at 4am this morning. Panadol Forte didn't help much as the pain kept coming in waves. So it was decided that after breakfast, our group would stop at the medical centre at San Juan de Rosario to get Dan some help. After our dramas of yesterday with the tour company, we lost another friend this morning by deciding not to take the cook with us in our vehicle. When we were sold the tour, we were told that there would only be 6 passengers with a [View Full Entry]

---

---

So the Salar de Uyuni (Uyuni Salt Flat) was amazing ... definitely a highlight of our trip! We made our way to Uyuni from Sucre on a 10 hour bus ride (unpaved and bumpy ride again). We arrived in Uyuni in the late afternoon and planned to book a tour to leave the next morning. Our first thought when we arrived in Uyuni was ´good thing we´re leaving tomorrow morning ... this town is completely dead´. So it was just our luck that there were roadblocks around Uyuni which meant that no tour could leave from town. All the operators just [View Full Entry]

---

---

Glad to finally been able to have a sleep in, we rocked up to the office of Andys Salt Expeditions with great expectations for the tour that we had finally been able to book, since the strike in Uyuni ended at 6pm on the previous evening. We were glad to see that we had a 80 series Landcruiser, as it would be more comfortable than the older vehicles that the company uses, but were disappointed to find out that our guide could not speak any English. Having an English speaking guide with only 6 passengers max in the vehicle were the [View Full Entry]

---

---

A familiar logo caught my eye. A poster in the window of a bank in the centre of Cochabamba. I double-backed for a closer look. It was advert for Special Olympics. My first involvement with Special Olympics was at the National Games in Ireland back in 2002 and I´ve been a volunteer ever since. Now travelling in South America I find out the National Games of Bolivia were taking place in the very same city from tomorrow? It was not to be missed. A quick change to our travel plans and we´re set...we are going to the Games! As soon as [View Full Entry]

---

---

So I'm a horrible blogger and I apologize. To recap the last 2 weeks or so, I've accomplished the 1st part of the 1st step of my mandate (a database), settled into my new apartment, and went to Copacabana which resulted in 2 days spent in a Bolivian hospital due to bad trout. For those of you who don't know this yet, I'm here as part of my IDS co-op degree for the next 10 months working on a maternal and infant health project. My stage is part of the Uniterra program, a joint venture between the Center for International Studies [View Full Entry]

---

---

Well im about five cities ahead of this blog, but nonetheless, I describe my journey through La Paz and Salar de Uyuni. Yet again, an amazing city. i am happy that since lima, i have yet to go through a city i havent liked. all in all, i spent about 5 days in la paz, and i only wish i could have spent longer. Once again, me and the group im travelling with stayed in Loki (a series of 3 hostels in peru and la paz). we figured out that if you stay in all three (la paz, cusco, and mancora), [View Full Entry]

---

---

It sounds like the start to a bad joke, right?? That is probably the only way to describe the experience I had on the bus down from La Paz to Buenos Aires. Answer is in short 64 hours, but it is only supposed to take 48 hours. Incidences, which range from the bus waiting for passengers that don’t have the correct travel documents to the Argentineans still being bitter over the Falklands. If anyone has 3 days spare, has a British passports and fancies and adventure, all for $60 then I suggestion the bus ride from La Paz to Buenos Aires. [View Full Entry]

---

---

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to El Multifunctional in El Alto for La Lucha Libre! Tonight we have a star studded line up just for you. Its a special evening indeed. The ticket you hold in your hand is priceless my friends. For your eyes only tonight we have Ninja Boliviano, Gitano, El Magnifico and Jaider Lee. Back from the dead we have Gran Mortis and Cobarde. Back from the future Picudo will try to command the ring. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it´s the Titans of the ring we bring. Now boys and girls don´t be frightened but we wary, for [View Full Entry]

---

---

Next stop and final destination La Paz. We had to disembark from the truck to cross the Peru - Bolivia boarder. There was a rather chaotic money changing and visa application process before finally going through custom control. The guard on the boarder flicked through my passport and noticed all the entry/ exit stamps for Estonia, although I understood very few of the words i ascertained what he was saying he asked his fellow guard in Spanish where Estonia was, and the response Eastern Europe. Given Bolivia’s finest export he eyed me curiously, and asked me a question, I guessed what [View Full Entry]

---

---

So, almost the end of Argentina. We had a full day's drive towards the border over a pretty rough desert terrain, no roads to speak of. It's a tough old truck, but even this was too much, and we had a few break downs along the way, which is fun in the middle of absolute nowhere. After a long day we reached a dodgy hostel and slept. Nothing to do around there. Up early and the hostel treated us to a single biscuit for breakfast, cheers!! We had another long drive, and crossed the border into Argentina / Chile / Bolivia [View Full Entry]

---

---