Hotel Coloso Potosi

... dust, sand and mud. 3 hours in, the random old Bolivian sitting next to me fell asleep on my shoulder too... Going around some corners and up some hills, we were going slower than walking speed. I´m too lazy to research the distance from Uyuni to Potosi but we probably averaged no more than 50km/h.<br><br>I don´t want to give out about it too much though, because in a way it was the best journey so far. There were very good views and it was my first experience of those ...

... unserer ersten Nacht in einem wirklich sehr chilligen Hostel gingen wir uns mal den Hauptplatz anschaun und sind in einer riesigen Menschenmasse gelandet und ueberall auf den Strassen waren Paraden von Schulkindern. Es schien als waer die ganze Stadt auf den Beinen gewesen und wir wussten einfach nicht was abging bis wir dann erfahren haben, dass es erstens ein Feiertag war und zweitens, dass der boliviansche Praesident, Evo Morales, zwei Tage danach zu Besuch kommen sollte. Das ...

... some different areas and the devil the worship and leave offerings for called ¨Tio¨. A cross legged man made of clay with a large, erect member.<br>We had been in the mine and everyone was anxious to get a breath of fresh air so the guide started to lead us out. The climb(or crawl) up would have been challenging in any state but at 4200mtrs it was agonizing. As I crawled on my belly with my bag in front of me to get thru ...

... walk around the town. It was a national holiday and so everything was closed but we did manage to find some water at the bottom of the town and then poor Sam had to exhaust himself carrying the load up the hill, not recommended on your first day at altitude. The effect is so noticeable its hard to imagine how we will be able to hike the inca trail in a week or so time, i guess it gets ...

... the mine tour we visited the museum which is in one of the old mints. Up to mid-way through the last century they were still producing the countries coins which they had been doing so since the 1600s, now apparantly all bolivia´s money is made elsewhere. I got to 'mint' my own silver coin, unfortunately i didn´t have quite the power to make a nice clear impression like Chris´...sometimes its a bugger being a ...

... was a block of solid ice in the morning - and it was quite a chilly wake up...<br><br>We got to packing things up - and got a visit from a local sheep farmer out herding in the morning. He stopped by and had a cup of coffee with us and was fascinated with our solar-powered flashlight/radio. A real simple guy but very nice. Back on to the road ...

... disturbingly, a man will marry and have a family and then just &#8216;disappear&#8217; leaving his first wife and children to start another family. Apparently it is less common in the rural regions but, for the first wife, the stigma of being a single mother is unwelcomed despite the habit of men walking away.<br><br>Another oddity about La Paz is that whilst it is regarded internationally as the capital of Bolivia, to the locals Sucre in the Southwest is ...

... the bus turisto (more comfort for a 10 hour journey!), wandered around, tried some local street food, went to the mercado negro (black market), and I think thats all... although my mind is starting to switch off for the night... next update will be uyuni - very excited about that &amp; hopefully my cold will be gone by then too... hasta luego mis amigos...xxx<br><br>ps, photos will be uploaded soon, they take too long on this computer!<br>

... the full extent of the mornings efforts began to dawn on me. As soon as we stopped and sat down, the adrenaline disappeared and I suddenly felt like I had the body of a little old man. I eventually got back to La Paz late afternoon and promptly hit the sack!<br><br>A truly fantastic experience and one which has definitely whetted my appetite to have a go at more of the big mountains dotted around the world (in fact there's one in Argentina I've got my eye on as I write....)<br><br><br>

... obviously) plus another guy doing the bike ride like us who was Argentinian and sporting the ludicrous barnet made famous by Sideshow Bob from The Simpsons.We picked up a Swiss girl shortly after this, then stopped at Free Bikes` offices for breakfast. After this we set off.<br><br>The bus moved through the early morning city traffic, then began to ascend into the hills. This took around an hour and a half, until we arrived at a big open space next to a lake. We were given ...