Mines, salt flats, and lots of amazing scenery.

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Long time no....blog?!?!

What a fantastic few days we have had! So, from Sucre, we went to the bus station but got a taxi for pretty much the same price to Potosi with a couple of Bolivians and Ben and Josh, who we spent our time in Potosi with. When we arrived, we went for a four course meal, including llama, for less than 4 pounds! Then we had a fairly relaxed evening at the hostel, Holly wasn´t feeling too great and we had an early start for the mine tour. So, on Monday, we got up at the ungodly hour of 7am, had some less than desirable breakfast, then headed into the town to be picked up for our mine tour. We went to the miners market, the refinery (quite good to get a bit of scientific education while we were out here!) and then into the mines. At times a little claustrophobic, hearing dynamite explosions going off in another part of the mine, crawling through small spaces etc, but very interesting to hear stories off an ex miner and see some of the miners in action too.

That afternoon, we separated from Josh but Ben came with us to Uyuni, arriving late at night but to a very warm hostel gave us a good nights sleep. The next day we chilled out, had to find another hostel as ours was fully booked, then bumped into Marc, a guy we had met in Sucre in the square. We all decided to book a tour of the sal flats together for the following day, and were joined by two Swiss girls. Our driver, Alejandro, was quite fun compared to the sound of some others, and we headed off to spend the first day taking lots of arty (and some rather....unclothed) pictures on the salt flats. The scenery was beautiful, we also went to the fish island (dont understand the relevance of the name) but saw lots of cacti. We slept in a hotel made pretty much of salt, pretty nippy at night! The following day the scenery changed to snow and desert, pretty bizarre! Saw lots lagoons, flamingoes, dust tornadoes, etc, then the following day we saw the salvador dali desert, geysers, swam in the hot springs......the list goes on!

We had a long journey back to the north after parting from the rest of the group who were heading down to Chile, followed by another long journey to La Paz, followed by another bus to Lake Titicaca, where we are staying for 2 nights before heading to La Paz for real on Monday.

Pretty hectic, so we are looking forward to Salvador, and are just looking at flights now.

Hope everything is OK with the riots now. Love xxxx

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Comments

[Mum / Di]

Tell us something you HAVEN'T done!
Goodness me! Real life is going to be a bit mundane on your return ... It's hard to believe that all these students are just wandering around, bumping into each other now and then, and having all these experiences in between. Amazing times. The silver mines sounded rather dangerous when we read up about them on Lonely Planet. So I'm glad that bit of the holiday is experienced and safely over. As you hint though, Birmingham's had its dangers too. You probably heard that three men were killed in Winson Green, defending their property and businesses - mown down by a car. The latest news last night was that a man and a teenager had been charged with their murders. The father of one of the dead men, in particular, has become a voice for peace on tv. There's a peace gathering in a park up that way this afternoon. I dare say it will be absolutely packed. Things have remained much calmer since Wednesday. The massively increased police presence in certain areas has helped. Dad and I are going for a walk this morning. It's one we tried and got lost on last week. We now have a map as well as directions, so are hoping it'll work this time. We've also booked the ferry for our holiday in France. It's on the night of Sunday September 11th. Actually, writing that down has just made me realise the significance of the date - 9/11. I think it's 10 years ago too. So, Lake Titicaca now - I had no idea where that was until I started looking at the map to see your route. Enjoy, and we look forward to the next instalment. xx