Blown away by Bolivia

Hello everyone!

I went from Salta into Bolivia about a week ago. I thought I would be by myself but there were two boys from my last hostel on the bus so I wasn´t even alone for the bus journey! We crossed the border from Argentina into Bolivia in the morning and got the train up to Uyuni in the afternoon. Bolivia is absolutely incredible. The culture is so rich and the scenery is breath taking. We arrived at midnight and stayed the night in a hotel before starting the most incredible tour in the morning. There were 6 of us in a 4x4 Jeep along with our driver and cook! We drove through the salt flats which were absolutely fantastic. It is so sureal driving through thousands of miles of salt surrounded by beautiful mountains and bright blue sky. We spent a while taking perspective photos and exploring the island full of cacti in the middle of the evapourated lake. We kept driving through dessert and beautiful scenery. I can´t begin to describe it, you will all have to come out here and see it for yourselves to truely appreciate it! The altitude took me a bit by surprise...our guide thought it would be funny to make us walk up a hill which we were all dead at the top of! I am always short of breath, it´s really strange and it gets very cold at night. Luckily I have bought alot of Bolivian clothes (llama jumpers etc!) so I am very warm but look like a bit of an idiot!

We stayed in a tiny village in the mountains with more llamas than people! The stars are huge in Bolivia and absolutely stunning so we star gazed for a while. In the morning we began bright and early and set off to see coloured lakes full of flamencos, strange rock formations in the mddle of the dessert, multi-coloured mountains, active volcanoes and more! I have never seen such an incredible variety of scenery and nature in such a small amount of time. Completely breath taking! The next morning we woke up really early (4 am) to see the geizers which were bizzare and pretty cold and smelly! But all was worth it as we swam in the natural thermal baths at sunrise! Such an incredible experience and such great people to share it with! We then drove back through more unbelievable scenery, to the border of Chile then back to Uyuni.

I got the bus to Sucre by myself getting a seat for the small price of holding a Bolivian baby the whole way! I did offer the mum a seat but I think she was more excited that a white ginger person was holding her baby! I arrived in Sucre and spent a really great three days in the beautiful Colonial town. I have been a bit ill so it was nice to relax and spend some time by myself (the first of my trip!). Sucre is really beautiful and further increased my love of Bolivia.

I spent the weekend in La Paz with my friend Rachel who I met in the airport of Buenos Aires which has been fantastic. Such a crazy city with so much culture and herritage, so interesting. We spent today at a pre-inca sight Tiwanacu which was incredible. Bolivia is so great, I can´t rave about it enough! It is the real south america and I absolutely love it!

Off to Lake Titicaca tomorrow to make you all jealous! Then up to Cuzco this time in a week for my next project which I can´t wait for! I love it here (as you can probably tell!)

Love to everyone xxxxxx