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Another early start, 8am bus to Cusco. about 10 other gringos on the bus as well. there is a peruvian family in between us all and the rest of the locals are down the back. half way there, the bus driver puts Braveheart on the TV. we all get very excited - yes, I know its was only braveheart, but it was in english!! however, lots of groans once we realise that he has left the directors commentry on. so the film was playing with Mel Gibson talking over it! so we get the driver to stop it and start again. this time he puts in the Sixth sense. lots of comments like "I see dead people" and plenty of laughs. the peruvian kids are just staring at us!  to our horror, the tv breaks down half way through teh film, so we didnt get to see dead people either!!

weather gets progressively worse - thunder and lightning and torrential rain. windscreen fogs up completely and the spare driver "demists" teh window with a duster!! rain is so bad a t one stage that you cant see out teh windscreen properly. but that doesnt seem to bother the driver at all. he is overtaking things on bends and just honking the horn for other vehicles to avoid us!! even though we were on the wrong side. actually get to cusco early, despite the weather" . lovely town, we have decided to stay here until 2nd Jan.  head straight into town, as we have to pay the remainder of our money to do the inca trail.

14th December 2006

Lie in. the hostel is run by irish people, so they are in tune with our needs and serve breakfast until 1pm!! meet a dutch guy and get talking. he was volunteering in Bolivia for 3 months. very interesting. he explains how they rent houses in bolivia. you basically give the owner about USD6,000 for 4-5 yrs and then at the end of the 4-5yrs, the owner gives you all your money back. its mental. if the owner doesnt have the money, then the tenant can keep the house! its basically a loan to the owner, if he needs money as the bansk dont lend you money. totally strange from the way the west works. also, to get a drivers licence you dont have to do any test, just go to teh local council office and pay for it. thats all! that explains an awful lot about their driver skills !!! 

go to United Mice, our tour group, at 6pm as we have our orientation for the Inca trail. get collect tom at 4am (pooh!!) and spend the next 4 days hiking up to see macchu picchu on Monday morning.  Cant wait, am really looking forward to it.

get collected at 6.30am to go on a tour of teh floating islands. they are inhabited by the Uros people. Get a bit of Puno, as we are first to be collected, again!! guide is very good, does everything in both spanish and english. he has been doing trips for 26 yrs - he started by carrying peoples luggage. takes about 30 mins to get out to the floating islands. they are all made of reeds. its really cool. everything is made from reeds - houses, boats, teh actual island. it has a weird squishy sensation under your feet. we all sit on a reed bench and the guide explains how they make the islands. islands are basically made of reed roots and about 1m of reed roots/earth and then layers of dried reeds are placed on top like flooring. then they are anchored down with sticks, rope and stones. its really cool. there used to be catholics and seven day adventists living on the main island, but they didnt get on. so they cut the island in half and went their seperate ways!  one of teh guys in the group says that that would have been handy when you were a teenager - you could literally cut yourself off from your parents!! there is actually a phonebox (made of reeds) in the middle of it with a real phone in it!!. wander about for a few mins and then we have the option of getting a reed baot to one of teh other islands. everyone does. all go to the reed dock and hop aboard the reed boat! dont know how it floats with 20 people in it, but it does. its actually fairly solid. A peruvian family are operating it. Daddy rows and steers, Mammy collects teh money, and the two kids are singing songs in all the languages of the people aboard.  the english one is "twinkle, twinkle, little star". get to other floating island. guide tells us about a woman who was on a previous trip, who was rather tall and fat and actually went through the island!! many jokes guessing that she was an american!!

back to main baot and head for the Island of Taquille. as the baot leaves the floating islands, the illusion that the people actually live in the reed houses is destroyed. there is a whole little village of galvanised houses behind the reed ones!! also, the guy who  was rowing the reed boat was dressed in full traditional gear, but you could see his football jersey underneath it!!  but they were still really cool to see and great to feel under your feet!

Isla Taquille is a real island with genuine Quechua speaking people. boys learn to weave from a very young age,  as it is very important to their culture. island is 1km wide and 7km long. its all hilly and has pre-inca terraces and small ruins. climb up to the main town, which has a bit square, a church, an admin type building a craft shop and a restaurant. go for a look at the chuarh and all the locals dressed in full traditional gear come in, both men and women.  women all have black skirts and shalls and men have black trousers and white shirts and things like bagpipes - except they are like a flute with a very long sack thing hanging over their shoulders. Initially i think they are the choir, as its sunday and time for mass, but discover afterwards that they are the local island leaders and their wives - oops!  tiem to move on and only one of the group has chosen the option of staying with a local family on the island, so we leave here and head off down the other side of teh island. island is very pretty. both men and women are carrying hugh sacks of rocks etc up and down teh hills like its no problem. some of the women dont have shoes , and its all rocks and stones under foot - its no wonder their feet look like hobbit feet!  views are fantastic. back to boat - great day, very interesting.  

 11th December 2006

Go for a tour of Sillustani today. its a preinca and inca burial site about 40 mins outside Puno. there are a f ew "chulpas" there (ancient burial towers). the chiefs or important people get buried with their familys and servants buried around them in a circular shape. they have very tiny doorways. one of the chulpas - you can actually climb in. its very tight and very cramped in there. one of teh chulpas was struck by lightning a few years ago, but has been somewhat repaired now. they have erected a lightning rod since, to prevent future incidents. guide is very informative. he points out a magnetic stone that the incas used as a calendar. its really cool. he takes out a compass and when he moves it closer to the stone the needle really moves -its so cool to see. it actually works. views are amazing. starts to get very cold, so we head back to Puno. heavens open - coming into wet season.

collect laundry and the women in the laundry must have an awful lot of time on her hands!! there is a tag stapled to every item of clothing - i mean every single sock has a tag stappled to it!! spend ages destappling all my clothes!! well, at least they are clean again!

12th December 2006

spend morning in the internet cafe uploading phoitos and updating blog. well, at least i tried to! Emer did something funny to the two PCs beside me and when the guy tried to fix them he managed to disconnect mine. so lost all i had done and had to start again. not impressed. so start again and have about 200 pictures out of 400 completed and days worth of blog updated, when the idiot disconnected me a second time. was really annoyed this time, as i hadnt published the stuff, so lost it all again. it was well over an hours worth of work. was so annoyed, i left without paying. later, when Emer went to leave the women said that she had to pay for her friend. fair play to her, she disowned me and denied any knowledge of my existence. so I was a little bit satisfied that teh woman did not get any moeny for my wasted time!

got a tuk-tuk to the port, wher the main market is. it cost S3. got a few bits/presents for people. get a tuk-tuk back and the guy tries to charge us S10. so we object and say that it was only 3 to get there. he claims it was uphill and harder on the way back. so we give him S5 and walk off. we are tourists, not stupid!! go for dinner and a pisco sour - two for the price of one, happy days!

check email later, and David has emiled Emer, for some reason. he is looking for my address in Cusco!

Another lazy day. David spots me wandering around town and gives me vouchers for a bar for that night. just go for a walk along the lake with the girls and chill out for the day. after dinner, we decide to check out the bar that we got the vouchers for. the sign outside it is funny - says "only for gringos". its about 10pm and only a few english people in there along with 2 dirty old bolivian men in a dark corner!!  play darts for a while until we have to stop because it gets too busy.  locals start arriving. David is there. Mary plays pool with Enrique against an american girl and a bolivian bloke. Mary takes a shine to one of teh guys "Jimmy". she isnt too happy that she thinks the american is going to make a move on him!  but to Marys delight, the americans and the english are all staying at teh HI and have to be in by midnight, so they all leave. Mary is thrilled!! The other Jimmy keeps chatting to me and offering me "charlie" (cocaine) for USD20 or B$160. I say its too expensive and that he should give it to me for free!! he laughs in my face - surprise!! David wants to knwo where im going after the bar closes???? the guys suggest we all get some alcohol and head down to the lake, or hte beach as they call it. we head off home, but a few metres up the road they catch up. we get some clear spirit and sprite and head for the "beach". David goes home??? have a good laugh and a few drinsk down at the beach. Mary and Jimmy 1 are getting along very nicely!!! all of a sudden the guys start moving really quickly? the pólice are patrolling and Jimmy2 has copious amounts of grass on him, along with other gear!! decide its not really a good idea to check out the inside of a Bolivian prison!! so we all head back up the street, away from the police. do a loop around the block and go see if mary is ok. she and jimmy 1 are fine!! Mary is very proud of teh fact that jimmy 1 has a full set of teeth ( not uncommon to be missing a few here !!) . we all head off home, except for Mary and Jimmy 1.

9th December 2006.

get up early, as we leave today and need to check out. MAry returns with the biggest smile ever - looks like she slept with a coat hanger in her mouth!! Need I say more!! end up having a great discussion on South American men V Westernised men . SA wins!!  go for breakfast and have about 2 hrs to kill before the bus. head down to the ake. mary runs into one of jimmys mates on the way, and gets all embarrassed. we find it quite amusing as well!!  run into David on teh way! Emer and Mary are laughing at me wanting to know where I picked him up!!. Mary is a total sh&t stirrer and asks him if he would like to havew children with me! He claims he wants to see me in Puno or Cusco! its time to go, so David carries my daypack up the street. the girls are taking teh pi$s saying that he is going to take off with it, as my passprt and money were in it! he also carries my big backpack to the bus for me- most useful!

head off for Puno in Peru. Peruvian border is only about 15 mins away. so we get out of bus and get our exit stamps from Bolivia and walk across to Peruvian side to get entry stamps. we request 60 days, but they guy is clearly in a good mood. he gives us 90! happy days. Get to Puno, not as nice as Copacabana, but still a good town. get to hostel and get very excited about the fact that we have a private bathroom that has HOT WATER all day! yes, I know, its the little things in life!

Sleep in, lazy day. decide to go and see the sunset on the hilltops over looking the town. so trek up the hill. it gets steeper as you ascend. have to stop once or twice to catch my breath - i hate altitude!! but the view from teh top makes it all worthwhile. it really is fab. end up having to use the pages of Lonely Planet as loo roll in an emergency!! it was that or cash!! dont know whats wrong with my stomach, but its not behaving itself lately!

meet 2 americans at the top and all climb back down together and go for dinner. we go to this place that has a set three course menu for B$10 (E1!). but then the fun begins!!!! its a bit of a hippy place and one of them gets up with two sticks and a microphone. yes, you guessed it, he starts banging his sticks together and humming really loudly!! we all start laughing and it got to the stage where we couldnt look at each other in the eye for fear of just bursting !! then teh "musician" produces a book of notes and starts using them!! this sets us all off again! the dog in the restaurant has just left!! and the cat has started wailing along with the "musician"!!! we are all in hysterics at this stage. then the waiter comes over with an envelope asking for money for the "artist"???? needless to say he didnt get any money from our table. we pay and literally fall about the street laughing. it was dreadful and it lasted a good 20 mins!

decide to go for a free game of pool. go to a bar that has 80s music. after a while we notice that the "humming artist" and the waiter and their friends have come in as well. so they watch us play for a while and then suggest that they play against us. so we agree. they are amused at our singing along with the music!! a bit ironic!! there are 3 of them and 3 of us, so Mary and I play them. it was priceless!! they introduce themselves as Enrique, David and Bepe. suspect Bepe is lying as they all start laughing!! they beat us - of course! David keeps following me around the table! and offers to give me private spanish lessons in exchange of rprivate english ones!!!! As emer and mary said, he may as well have peed around me - he had marked his territory!! after the gamew they suggest going to another bar that also has pool, but more importantly you can dance! we want to stay where we are, and once they realise that we are not going to sleep with any of them, they are literally gone within seconds!!  it was priceless.

go back to the hostel and its all locked up. so we knock on the iron gate - no answer. we are in hysterics at this stage. we are clearly a bit too loud, as one of teh  neighbours comes out and suggests we use the doorbell!!! oops! finally get in and eventually fall asleep.

7th December 2006.

anoterh lazy day. just wander around town. go to the church at 2.30 to see the blessing of hte cars. it apparently brings them prosperity, safety and security for the next 12 months. its different. they decorate their cars with flowers. then the priest, who is in full monk gear and a NY Yankees baseball cap!!, blesses them and the people with holy water. then they spray beer all over the cars and then throw folwer petals on top. then they let off fire crackers.  we also go to see the chapel of candles. its really weird. its a worship place for Mary. its really dark and is a bit like a dungeon! there are loads of places for candles and dedications to Mary form various people, including the national police. Apparently, Mary was supposed to have appeared here. hence the fact that Copacabana is a pilgrimage site for Bolivians.  Some old bolivian woman comes over to me and says something. I presume she wants money. so i tell her in spanish that i dont understand her and she just shouts at me!! still didnt understand her though!!

later on back at teh hostel, we hear a band. so decide to follow it and see what we find. its coming from the community center. so we go in and there are about 250 Bolivians in there watching the local school kids perform. its really colourful and cool to see. we stay a while and take a few fresh airs breaks every so often. you put 250 Bolivians in a confined space with no windows, teh aroma gets a bit much!!  the dances are interesting - wish I knew what they meant. the really small kids are all dressed in clown costumes with balloons. the run through an obstacle course and then burst their balloons. looks like great fun - i want to join in!! the locals are looking at us funny. its clearly the end of term Christmas play with 3 gringos staring in the background!!the older kinds do gymnastics, pyramids and other cheerleader things. its really cool.

up early, as we are being collected at 7.30 to go to Copacabana on lake Titicaca. Bus is a fraction beter, but not much! get going , there are mostly roads, but we do almost get stuck in another bus !! Fun and games!! there is lots of shouting from other drivers and random people on the street - they are all giving directions to the dirver. once we get to Lake Titicaca the views are just unbelievable. now am much higher up the mountains, so am looking down over the lake. its just beautiful - like a mirror in the middle of a massive mountain range. Stunning. you can see the snow capped Andes in the distance - amazing. Again some hair raising bends and some sheer drops over cliff edges.

arrive at a place where we all have to unload off the bus and board a little boat! they sail the people across on one small wooden boat and the bus goes across on another wooden boat thing!! its quite funny to watch. I have to admit, that I was thinking that you hear all the stories of bags going missing in Bolivia, well this is where I imagined never seeing my stuff again!! thankflly, its all still with me.  views from the boat are stunning. board bus on the other side and off we go again!  teh cliffs get steeper and the bends are sharper, but surprisingly there is a really good paved road. in fact, they are doing road works !! quite ironic, i thought!!

arrive in Copacabana in teh afternoon. nice little town, has a pleasant atmosphere to it. Still smells like the rest of Bolivia though!! there is no electricity - apparently there is only every second day and after 6/7 in the evening. Depending on where you are, there is no running water either - welcome to Bolivia!!

4th December 2006

I wander around town to check out whats on offer from the different tour groups. but after a bit of research, decide that its better to just buy a boat ticket and do Isla del Sol Y Luna on our own.

Just hang around for most of the day, chill out by the lake and soak up the atmosphere. met a kiwi (Mary) who tells us that her hostel is only B$10 a night, where as we are paying B$40 each a night and we dont have a bathroom! so we chek hers out and decide to move.

5th December 2006

Get the slowest boat on the face of the planet out to Isla del Sol Y Luna. Seriously I have seen snails move faster!!  Isla del Sol (island of the sun) is the legendary Inca creation site & is teh birthplace of the sun in Inca mythology. its dotted with a few small villlages, Yumani and challapampa are the biggest. teh ruins include the site of teh sacred rock where Inca creation legend began. there are walking trails throughout the island. its pretty streneous, as its all uphill and at 4000m, you get puffed really easily. there is a house labarynth at the top of the north of the island. its really cool. head back to the baot and go to the south end. taking the boat avoids having to do a 3hr hike through the island. not as much to see on the south end, its mainly inca steps up to a little village. steps are hard work - its like being in Disneyland, it keeps winding and turning do you can never see how far from the top you are!!  Anyway, refuse to quit and get to top puffed. find a shortcut back down and just chill out by the lake side until its time for the boat to leave.

meet a few kiwis and english on the boat back. end up having a great laughover our spanish phrase books. the lonely planet has a section on social occasions!! it goes into chat up lines & sex - its absolutely hilarious. it kept us all entertained for about 45 mins!!

check into other hostel and go out with mary and watch a movie for B$5 (€0.50c)!!  

not a good night for me, spend a long time in the bathroom and in a flurry of activity dropped the loo roll down the loo!!! must remember to get more Immodium! Its actually quite surprising how many conversations you have while travelling about your "movements"!!!!.

Potter around La Paz, its basically one big market. there are market stalls everywhere. its actually what La Paz is known for. the traffic is just mental. there are minibuses all over the place. we go for nice lunch at far end of town and then two taxis refuse to take us back. they claim that they are not licensed to go into that part of town !! end up walking most of the way and then hop in a taxi that will actually bring us where we want to go.

the shoeshine boys in La Paz cover their faces. they wear balaclavas and baseball hats so you can only see their eyes. apparently, its so there is no shame cast on their families. they dont do that elsewhere, so i dont know why its like that only in La Paz.

2nd December 2006 - Tiwanaku.

go on tour to Tiwanaku, a pre-inca site about 70kms outside the city. its on the southern shore of Lake Titicaca. guide does everything in both spanish and english. get a bit of a tour of the city, as we are the first to be collected, so go around teh city to pick up the rest of teh group.

the guide explains to us why there are so many "truffie"/public transport vehicles. in 1985, when the government closed the mines in the countryside, each employee was given USD20,000 (an absolute fortune to a bolivian). so teh people came to La Paz and bought japanese minivans for USD6,000 each and converted them to drive on the other side (hence some of them have sliding door on both sides) and they became public transport. hence the chaos on the streets.

she also explained about the traditional clothes the women wear. you start wearing the traditional gear once you get married. the skirts are big because they wear 8 underskirts. for festivals they can wear up to 30 underskirts to perform some of the traditional dances.  even though the skirts cost B$500 (€50 very expensive for bolivia) they wear them and spend all that money out of pride. the women also wear bowler hats. apparently some english guy came over in the 1920s and tried selling them to the men, but they werent interested. so in order to get rid of them he told the women that they were the latest fashion in Europe, and they have been worn daily ever since!!!

Get to Tiwanaku, Bolinias most significant archaeological site (UNESCO site). Generally agreed that Tiwanaku civilisation rose about 600BC. After 1200AD they faded into obscurity. evidence of their influences have been found throughout the area and of the later inca empire. the area consists of numerous stone slabs, a ruined pyramid, remains of a ritual platform and more. its really fab and the guide is brilliant. all her info and facts are very interesting and detailed. after going through all the ruins, teh sun gate etc we head into the little town and go for lunch. afterwards, I go for a wander with a german girl and a swiss woman. we notice that there are a lot of people hanging around teh church. its a wedding and they are waiting for the couple to appear. so we head into the church for a look and it turns out that the ceremony is actually taking place.  so we sit down the back and watch. all teh women are dressed in traditional clothes. Bride is as well, but all in white. Church is nice, very decorative, much more so than at home. the "peace be with you" bit is different to how we do it. they sort of almost hug and touch each other on the shoulder.  church is decorated all in gold and silver. the statues are way too colourful. i dont know what it is, but the statues in the churches here are a bit weird. i cant out my finger on it but there is something freaky about them.  want to get a photo but its not really appropriate, so decide to join the rest of teh group instead.  tour guide not impressed that we are holding them up!! oh well, I got to see a traditional bolivian wedding - I wasnt too pushed about the time!!

go to Tiwanaku museum and check out some of their art, tools and other artifacts. really interesting, but glad we are travelling up this way and have done this before we get to Macchu Picchu. Head back to La Paz and go for posh dinner with some of the group - cost all of €5!!!

Up early and check out tour groups. book  a 1 day tour of the salt flats. Basically, its the 4 girls, our driver and his jeep. (different one from yesterday!!). head out to a small village that makes arts and crafts out of the salt then move out into the salt flats. its unbelievable - 12,000km of salt. its just mind blowing. the photos look like antartica, there is just white as far as you can see. the Andes are on one side and there is also a volcano as well. then randomly located in the middle of this is a hotel made from salt. Serioulsy, you can stay in it over night! Its like something out of The Shining! the weahter is a bit strange, the sun is really hot in places and then its freezing a bit further in - strange. Move on and drive further out into the salt flats until we come to an island of cactus plants! its so bizarre, its called Isla Incahausi. its totally weird, there are hundreds of them, some are more than 15 feet tall. Altitude is 3,660m. pitstop here for lunch.

move on to go see teh volcano on the far side of some more salt! there is a little village at the foot of it called Coqueza. im in the front of the jeep with the driver and out of the corner of my eye notice that he is asleep. yes, he is actually having a nap while he is driving!! Clearly, running around after 4 western women is hard work!!!  Have to admit, am not to bothered by this, we are in the middle of a desert, so the chances of us hitting something are slim!

anyway, we get to the foot of teh volcano and the jeep is literally climbing up sheer rock. there is just roak everywhere and stone walls (reminded me of home a little) its amazing how far up we climb - the salt is beneath us and now looks like a massive sheet of ice. it twinkles in the sun. we stop and go to see some Mummy´s. Well, I am told they are Mummys. what actually appears before my eyes, once we enter a small cave thing, are the skeletal remains od Inca children. No mummys in here just human remains! its a bit creepy, epecially when you get close up. you can clearly see the positions that they died in - rahter freaky.

Head back down to the salt. you can actually see where the drivers have been doing handbreak turns in the salt! I was thinking it is an ideal spot for getting a 7 series BMW and just putting your foot to the floor!!

on the way down from the volcano, 4 locals appear around the jeep. apparently one of them has an emergency, so we agree to give him a lift. he just has to come on the rest of the tour with us first! its getting late, and we have a bus at 8, so we head off to go and see a train graveyard. we drop the local off and head out to a cemetry for trains. Its twilight, so not much light and I see a crater before me, but its too late, the jeep goes in front first. There are no seatbelts! so get thrown a bit forward and Tatiana, behind me, get thrown into my back. Thankfully, none of us were in the front at that point. we come out all with a bang on the head and a bad fright. so no injuries, thankfully.

move on and get to the train graveyard. its really cool. its literally hundreds of old rusty engines and carriages have been dumped. in the middle fo the desert there are hundreds of dead locomotives and train rubbish!! weird, but then again this whole country is a bit strange.

Head back to town and literally dash for the bus. the driver brings us to the station. and its another clapped out tin can !! About 10 gringos on it, and from the conversations we have all been charged different prices, and we are all going to la Paz! Gof bless Bolivia!!!

So set out on an 11hr bus journey in a sardine tin with the locals all piled in and standing!! Im convinced the gringos on the bus, me included, have paid for everyone to travel to La Paz! After about 8hrs, we finally hit a tarmac road. thank god, I couldnt feel my ass anymore! Bus is freeaing cold, even with the blankets. Am amused by the "demister" on the bus windscreen. its another man sitting beside the driver with a duster!!

30th November 2006

After been rattled to death in the ice cold bone shaker bus all night, arrive in La Paz about 8am. Hop in a taxi and check into hotel. have breakfast and sleep for most of the day. go for dinner to a "restaurant" - loosely, where you sit and get food!. notice on the way out that there are two guys, both peeing into the same toilet with the door wide open, which is opposite the restaurant door!. Nice!!

Get up at 5.30, bus to La Quinca (Argentinian side of border) leaves at 7.15. Journey is 8hrs, need to be on the Bolivian side of the border before 16.00, as there is no transport out after 4!!

For about 5hrs of the journey, there is stunning scenery. its all desert with spectacular rock formationas and the Andes along teh side. It is really something else - amazing. There are a few random villages out here - harsh lifestyle as it is completely dry out here. Then some parts have enormous cactus plants growing all over. Its like the wild west our here - I am expecting tumble weed to roll by!! It is just incredible, as far as the eye can see, its all desert and mountains. Beautiful.

Get to La Quinca - loads of kids begging and saying they will carry your bags to the border for money. I get talking to a kiwi and two American gilrs (Natasha & Tatiana) and we all head for the border together. The girls speak spanish, wich is a blessing. We have to walk across teh border!! not kidding, all on foot. Get to Argentinan side to get our exit stamps (another set of stamps from Argentina!) then walk across teh bridge, which is all of 6m long, to the Bolivian side. get Bolivian entry stamp - they keep a copy of my passport. Have to change my Pesos into Bolivianas at the Cambio next door. dont normally like using stret cambios, but as ATMs are rare in Bolivia, I dont have much choice. Get B$792 for P$300, which is about E75. that will do for a while.

teh minute you cross the border you can see and smell the difference! now in Villazon, Bolivia. older women are dressed in full traditional gear. they are wearing layers of clothes, even though its quite hot. Place is very dry and dirty, rubbish thrown about everywhere. Much poorer than Argentina or Brazil. Get to bus station and get tickets to Tipizu - you cant go direct to Uyuni. The 4 girls are all heading for Uyumi, so we team up together.

Well, the "bus" appears - its an ancient banger .it kind of reminded me of the ancient yellow school buses we had , but far worse! have already paid for teh ticket, but the police man at the bus door demands another B$2 from us. discover that B$1 is tax and he pockets the other B$1 for himself!! Corruption is alive and kicking in Bolivia!! There about 12 gringos on the bus, so we all get seats (cos we paid full fare!) and then literally the locals pile in. Its standing room only!! there are old women with babies strapped to their backs standing in the aisle! we set off and as southern bolivia is basically desert and mountian, there are no roads. Im not messing, we bump along dirt tracks and dried up river beds for 3hrs! Bus pretty much stops anywhere the locals wnat. Its a bit of a double edged swoprd with the windows. you either open the window and get some cooler air and let all the dirt and sand fly into your face OR you keep it closed and sweat like mad. Mine is nailed shut, so I go for the sweat like mad option!!  Aside from the most awful bus journey ever, the scenery is amazing. Its hard to explain, its such a contradiction out here. its so arid and is desert as far as you can see, but then there are green , lush patches with plants growing. its sureal out here - so beautiful but yet incredibly harsh and hostile at the same time. I dont know how people survive out here. 

Finally arrive in Tipizu, only to discover that there are no connecting buses to Uyuni until 10.00 tom morning. None of us want to stay here - we are literally in the middle of an enormous desert, so nothing here except poeple wanting money from you. Tatiana negotiates eith a local guy who has a 4WD. For B$700 (USD70) he will drive us to Uyumi tonight. so we accept with pleasure. he ties our backpack to the roof and covers them with a sheet of tarp, to protect them from teh dirt! Its a 5hr drive in a jeep, but averages 9hrs if you get the bus! so off we go on more dirt tracks and dried up river beds! Again the scenery is out of this world. you can imagine it more  like a film set, you are just waiting for John Wayne to appear over the mountain top!! so glad we hired the jeep, have to admit, I would have been terrified on the bus as the tracks preogressively get worse the further up you go. Altitude sickness is begining to kick in, am lightheaded and short of breath. Did buy a 2 litre thing of coca tea in Villazon (which I was done for , the woman kept telling me I owed her money!) . am so glad its dark, as you can tell there are sheer drops on the sides of teh dirt tracks.

Arrive in Uyuni about 23.00 - so tired, have been on the raod since 7.15 (I use teh word "road" loosely!!). Eventually get accomodation. It is bitterly cold. its bizarre, went from searing heat to freezing temperatures in a few hours! am thinking I might need to buy gloves, its that cold. Now I can see why they wear layers of clothes!.

24th November 2006

Arrive in Resistencia about 8am. buy ticket to Salta for tom evening. Get taxi to hostel in guidebook - its closed!!! Then go next door and its full!  there is another hotel next door, splurge on a room in there. its E12 each for the night!!!! get our own room and ensuite, nice for a change. Wander around town and its siesta time, the place is dead. hardly anyone around. 16.00 and siesta is over and the place is a complete contrast, its alive with people everywhere. there are hundreds of sculptures all over town, on every street corner. Its really cool. Lovely park in the middle of town. Go for dinner, get steak & red wine (half bottle) all for a grand total of E4!! its unbeliveably cheap here.

 Finally, the massive bite on my ankle (which was swollen and discoloured) has gone down after copious amounts of germaline, tea tree oil and tiger balm. my ankle can be seen again in public!!

25th November 2006

Check out of hotel, bus to Salta isnt until 18.30, so hang around town and people watch for the day. Nice place, easy going.

26th November 2006

Arrive in Salta about 7am - think we gained an hour, but an too tired to know for sure! Arrive at hostel and am in bed by 8am. Sleep for hours, just get up later and go for food and a wander about town. Get the biggest steak ever - its about 2.5 inches thick and about 5inches long. delicious and only E2ish.  Meet a french and an english guys in our room , so get a few tips on Bolivia from them.

27th November 2006

get up early as we have to sort out a money transfer via Western Union to confirm our places for teh Inca Trail. Wander down town and find western union. they dont accept Visa, so had to run around to Citibank and get cash instead. they are loading teh machines, so wander about the shops while we wait. clothes shops are fab and really cheap. anyway, get money and finally sort out western union. relieved, as was nercous we would loose our places on the inca trail.

teh only real thing to do in Salta, apart from soak up the atmosphere, is the Train to the Clouds "Tren de la Nubes". Its a train ride up to approx 4,000m & goes across a viaduct, which apparently is an amazing feat of engineering! Teh views are supposed to be amazing. The others in the hostel said it was about USD75, which is a bit much. Check it out anyway in the tourist office. turns out it is not running until March, so thats that decision made!! Kind of glad really, am not feeling too good today, so just head back to the hostel and sleep for hours.

head for dinner and have delicious "empanadas" - pastry filled with cheese/meat/chicken. Beats the food on the bus. it turned into a bit of a joke. the meat we got was unidentifiably, even after tasting it!! it was kind of brown and was battered in something! joke was that a day before it was a little girls cat snowy!!

Dont really do much today, just hang out by the pool. Make plans for our next port of call. decide Resistencia in Northern Argentina is teh way to go in order to get to Salta. Just watch films and have a few beers today.

23rd November 2006.

Have to get up early, as check out is at 10am and I need to go to an ATM to get money first. Only 2 ATMs in the place that accept international cards, so have to trek out to the airport in order to get cash.

Bus to Resistencia isnt until 21.30, so just hang around pool all day and watch more films.

Taxi collects us at 18.30, and boy was it fun trying to cross the border into Argentina!!! Go through the Argentinian side, get stamped, even have all my luggage x-rayed. then I realise that we were supposed to get an exit stamp from the Brazilian side and give back the immigration paper that was still in my passport! So have to return to the Brazilian side and find the federal police to get stamped and return the paperwork. all done, so now head back to the Argentinian side to go through again! Woman at teh desk is looking very confused as her screen tells her that i was there 5 mios ago! so eventually get sorted and are on teh way. Fun and games!! Taxi driver thinks we are nust, but these things happen.

 Buses in Argentina are better than brazil, they are enormous. Double deckers, first class on the bottom and the other reclining seats on the upstairs. couldnt get a first class ticket, sold out. seats are really spacious, plenty of leg room, dinner service, tiolets, air con & heat. Dinner was nice - chicken and rice with unlimited amounts of sprite. take a few sleeping tablets and finally nod off.