La Paz - Uyuni

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Had breakfast with John, Rach, Sophia and Teresa. Then later said goodbuy as everybody was either staying in La Paz or off in another direction. Infact John and Rach were going to attempt to cycle the worlds most dangerous road and I saw the opertunity of having limited time as a way of getting out of it.

After breakfast I went out in search of munchys for my bus journey to Uyuni (13 hours plus stop and change at Oruro).

I had the urge for cheese and onion pringles and couldnt find the dam things anywhere (I swear there were loads yesterday) finally found some plain cheese ones and had lunch in the financial district at a fast food joint.

At 3:30 I grabed the bus and after 3 hours made it to Oruro.

At Oruro when making the change over I suddenly discovered that the buggers had double booked my seat. And before I could argue the driver pointed out the small print on my ticket which stated that I was in fact going with another company.

As I watched the original bus leave I waited for an hour (it was running late) for my other bus. It finally arrived and boy did it look crap.

So I started my 10 hour bus journey (no toilet or leg room again)to Uyuni. Everything was fine while we left the dump that is Oruro (quite literaly the outskirts are treated as a dumping ground for rubbish.) until that is an hour into the journey, when the paved roads ran out.

The next 9 hours were the worst and bumpyest i've ever experienced on a bus. I mean it was bumpy enough to shake a persons fillings out and my whole body was tenderised. I fell asleep finally 4 hours later due to exhaustion.

I was awoken straight away by a loud bang!! We had recieved a puncture. Fearing we would be stranded in the middle of nowhere the driver and co-driver managed to replace it in only an hour. I managed to fall asleep again.

To my suprise we managed to arrive at Uyuni on time and before my original bus (which had also recieved a puncture).

It would appear that when calculating their travel times they take into account late starts and punctures!!

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