Hostal Las Tres Portadas Potosi

Turns out that Uyuni is a very small town. I ran into everyone from the tour group twice after we cut each other loose at the end of the tour, and it turned out that two of them were on the same bus as me to Potosi. I think I made a slight tactical error with my bus choice though. All of the bus companies offices are located on the same street in Uyuni and they all have two buses per day at the exact same times. They´re all petty much same same so I just went to the first one ...

Gruessi!<br>Aaaalso es sind schon 4 tage vergangen seit dem letzten Eintrag. Aufgehoert haben wir bei der Homeparty in Sucre die sich als ziemlich interessant und lustig entpuppt hat, da wir mit zwei Argentiniern (die wir bei dem Ausflug untertags kennengelernt haben) hingekommen sind. Es waren zwar nur fuenfzehn Leute dort aber dafuer von verschiedenen Teilen der Welt. Also zwei Argentinier, ein Detuscher, ein Englaender und drei Oesterreicher(^^). Es macht echt Spass ...

... don´t know what they are letting themselves in for having ¨I know it all¨ Sam in the game (his words not mine). <br><br>For me this was the worst day of driving, maybe because the altitude was starting to take effect or maybe because of the bumpy roads of Bolivia roads seemed to last forever. Luke our driver kept reminding us that all the pain was because the Uyuni Salt Flats are ...

... and gear - rubber jacket, rubber pants, rubber boots, hardhat &amp; lamp. There were 5 in our group - a couple from Belgium and 2 Israeli guys. Next, we stopped at a shop to buy ¨gifts¨ for the miners = cigarettes, alcohol, coca leaves and dynamite - a safe &amp; sane combo dontcha think ;-) <br><br>The pic of all 5 of us (me on the far right) smoking local cigs (black tobacco) sold in packs of 15 for BS/ 1 (one bolivian soles ...

Suellen happily informed us that we had a private bus to Potosi (yipee, considering its about an 8 hr journey). Unfortunately though the bus had seen slightly better days and Darren, Sabine and I spent some time duct taping the window together so that it didn´t fall out!!! Lets say the road to Potosi could do with some work.........at least 3 hours of serious all over body shaking, I´m sure you could have ...

... the surface and the tour leader asked for the fastest runner... Kate was volunteered!!!! She carried the lit dynamite several hundred feet away and then sprinted back to us, arriving safely.<br><br>In the afternoon we took a visit to some hot springs, apparently where the King of the Incas used to bath, although we were a little scepitcal. The waters were lovely and warm and we sat for ages looking at the mountains and admiring the view. Kate dared me to swim to the middle of ...

... on Spanish keyboard!)) and our argument over directions at the paeje. <br><br>The reality was that the first 10km at the Potosi end is new<br>tarmac. Then the roadworks begin. They are obviously aiming to pave the<br>road to Uyuni but it´s early days.<br>Here they do not close the road<br>as they pave it! So there are sections of single lane dug up (muddy)<br>slippy road to get through as the grading machines and opposing traffic<br>use it at ...

... is this some sort of environmental protection guy for the reservoir? Looking at the ground around the reservoir I saw burnt tires, used batteries, and all kinds of other trash littering the grounds. I figured this guy was not really doing a good job, if thats what he was doing and so I filled in the notebook with the names 'Charlie Tuna' and 'Roland Garros' with random numbers next to them. No questions. He ...

... regarding how to cook, which mostly confused us. For example, it was very important that we toast the rice. We were also a little unsure what exactly one cooked with rice, potato, and egg. This led to them concluding that we did not know how to cook, despite our explaining that we did, just in a different style. Part of the problem is that we just couldn´t seem to communicate with them. Neither of us could understand the other´s spanish. Anyways ...

... just unbelievable what we got to see. The most shocking thing was that we met the youngest mine worker: He was only sweet 15 and had been already worked there for 2 years! &#8211; Considering the miners' burden, it is just remarkable that they were always welcoming the tourists. They carry out their work with such an honor that we should learn from their mentality!