miercoles, 19 de mayo The bus we took to Samaipata was the first full-cama we had taken thus far. That means it reclines back like a bed. Money p*ssed up the wall. The roads were so bumpy we might as well have paid to sit in a cement mixer. You just can't sleep in one of those. There was another reason that I in particular couldn't sleep. We had arranged with our next hostel to get dropped off on the highway, Samaipata being that small that it doesn't even register on the road route to Santa Cruz. Did we mention it would stop sometime between 4am and 5.30am? It's Bolivia, we might get murdered. And we had no real idea of where Samaipata was or whether the "unreliable" drivers would be inclined to stop for us ... read more

miercoles, 12 de mayo Lie-ins are a thing of teenage years. Today 9 of the 10 on our Salar trip all caught the same bus to Potosi. Many more close calls (hope the driver has sorted the arthritis in his right knee) and bumpy roads to unsettle the stomach. This route got above 5000m above sea level and took its toll on Dan and Hayley. After the halfway point where we were shocked by the openness in Bolivian women peeing (that´s why they wear those long skirts) the route hugely improved. Potosi is predominantly a miners' town, at one time rich enough to support the Spanish economy (but maybe not Real Madrid´s ridiculous wage structure) with its minerals in the looming mountain. It´s the highest city in the World (apparently) at 4060m above sea level. Come ... read more

sabado, 8 de mayo Just to keep you entertained for our Salar de Uyuni trip we have hidden 16 Rolling Stones songs in the following 2 days. Answers on a postcard... Fresh from our foray with wild horses and groins still aching a little we (being the 5 from yesterday) began our Salar de Uyuni trip. The trip is a 3 night, 4 day jeeptour through the Uyuni salt flats (more about those on day 4) and surrounding area, a whirlwind trip past mountains, coloured lakes, geological oddities and suchlike. Whilst we waited for our English-speaking guide Archie and driver strong-silent type Santos who looked like a statue complete with heart of stone, we paparrazi´d old ladies in the street. You cannot get a photo of these people they get mad. Our first port of call ... read more

domingo, 2 de mayo As seems to be customary these days we arrived in Salta early doors and slept through at our hostal (Hostal por Siempre) until lunchtime. Salta itself is not especially large and is mainly used as a port for day trips to Cafayate and other surrounding mountainous excursions. These mostly start before the sun rises so today we climbed Cerro Bernardo, a 300m high mount (total 1500m as we are 1200m above sea level already) displaying the city before us. Climb is perhaps the wrong word. Wrong because we caught the Teleferica. What? We climbed all the others. After 5 minutes in the Teleferica we wished we had this one too. We initially enjoyed the translation of the safety warnings telling us not to "extract our arms" and that the "cabin is yours" ... read more

sabado, 24 de abril We caught the late bus Friday night arriving in Santiago early morning. Chile shuts down at this time and we saw barely a soul as we caught the underground to Bellavista and our hostel. The place was on a road which had 2 of the same address - one three blocks to the left and one two to the right. We of course arrived at a block of flats and had to make the trek back with 15kg on our backs. After catching up on some much needed beauty sleep we decided on doing a walking tour taking in all of the important sights (minus the cafes and other places requiring money). Our first stop was Santa Lucia, a 600m high hill/mount/slope amidst the centre of town and completely built upon. It´s ... read more