La Paz

---

Hey all! okay so i left of somewhere on the way up to la paz i think.. what a bloody nightmare! we crossed the border fine and got on the train ok, and everything was going real cool until about midnight. everyone was sleeping and snoring and all the kids had stopped their incessant whining, but i was still kinda awake and zoned out when i saw through the front carriage window this lady sorta go cross eyed and disappear! freaky, so i jumped up and it turned out she had collapsed in between the two trains (pretty bloody stupid place i told her..) haha naw but me and shad saved the day, sprinted 4 carriages to find a doctor and even gave her my water bottle.. bad idea coz there was 10 thirsty hours to go. So! there ya go, lockie the universal traveller is also a life saver..
That kicked off bolivia really. Eventually we got to La Paz, which is a city nothing short of breathtaking.. here is a photo..

its sitting at about 11 thousand feet so the altitude hits you pretty hard.. excitingly enough for us, coca leaves are the good gear for altitude and we have been dealing okay.. its tough going out, cant drink much, cant walk more than 3 stairs before collapsing, cant smoke more than a couple a day.. sigh, but besides all these veritable nightmares its a cool place. the military is EVERYWHERE here.. 1 out of 3 people who can be in the military are, so its pretty full on.. 2 guards stand outside every bank/hotel/post office/public bloody toilet with shotguns or machine guns, big vests, smoke grenades.. phew. i have seen absolutely no violence though so far so i guess its safe! just a bit of overkill.. in my readings of bolivian history every country around them has ripped them off.. brazil stole all their rubber trees, chile landlocked them, argentina loves kicking their ass in war.. so its understandable. but! dont fret guys, its all pretty safe for a wise man like myself.
i bought a beautiful guitar for a about 180 australian (in oz id prob be set back near a grand..) and now its my baby and i love it. shad might be getting sick of my gushing/tucking it into bed but im very happy.. i havent got my ipod over here so music has been lacking for a long time, and y'all know how important the music is to me. haha.. i think im lugging my bodyweight again in luggage now though, but its all worth it.
in a day we are going to lake titticaca (yeah, i know.. pretty dull name for the biggest lake in Sth America!) so that will be a real joy.. im a bit sick of the city again, they all just seem so concrete and full on and polluted, with beggars everywhere (picky bastards that dont accept food or drink! an old lady almost hit me with her walking stick..) just money.. i dont give them any anymore, coz they just pick on tourists and expect us to throw american dollars at them.
So, thats about it.. hoping you are all safe and happy and healthy and keeping the same, while im away nothing is allowed to change okay? last time i got back and my sister was preggers.. sarah and angela im talking to u guys!! bye bye for now, peru in a few days time and thats the end of this overwhelming continent...

lots of love, lockie

---