So bolivia is very very different to argentina and brazil!! nowhere near as developed, you can tell it is the poorest country in south america and yet at the same time there are some really beautiful bits too!! The first place we went in bolivia was Santa Cruz, a pretty little town with nice markets and some amazing cake shops!! Our hostal also had a pet toucan called simon who would happily perch on your arm which was pretty cool! Also went to a zoo here which was more of a sad experience as the jaguars, oceltots and pumas were all kept in tiny cages smaller than what you´d see in dog kennels!! but probably our only chance to see them out here as we had no such luck in the pantanal in brazil (though did see howler monkeys, capybara- giant guinea pig things, caiman, piranha and lots of parrots!)
Next stop in bolivia was sucre. Our stay here was made up of an odd combination of nights out in kareoke bars singing oasis and savage garden, a trip to see some dinosaur footprints and a 10mile hike through some mountains (the andes?) and along the river bed, pretty hard work walking back up in the heat and altitude though!!
WE then went to potosi, the highest city in the world i think, we were going to do the tour of the working silver potosi but emily got ill so we couldnt, maybe a good thing as ive heard theyre pretty dangerous and not a particularly nice thing to see!
Next was the salt flats tour from uyuni! 3 days in the most barren landscape i have ever seen, miles and miles of salt as far as the eye can see with a few mountains in the distance! almost looked polar-esque! also saw active volcanoes, geisers and weird shaped volcanic rocks! pretty cool but after 3days squashed up in a jeep with 5 tourists, the guide and his son, freezing freezing temps at the highest point we got-4,800m, and way way too much baños naturales as our guide put it (peeiing behind whatever rock we could find) i was quite glad to get back to civilisation!!
Since then we have been in La Paz, at a awesome hostel, wild rovers, comfy beds, great food, hot showers and a fun bar= bliss!! Also did death road yesterday on mountain bike, about 3hours of fast downhill riding on rocky roads that fell away to nothing below! absolutely beautiful scenary if you dred take your eyes off the road! I only almost fell 3 or 4 times so it was fine! Afterwards our guide told us since the new road was built and cyclists were the main users of the old death road 15years ago about 28 people have died, and before this when there were cars using it regularly about 20 people a month died on here! pretty scary im glad he told us after the ride!
Currently in rurrenbaque about to go to the amazon basin jungle tomorrow, cannot wait!!!
adios for now xx
