After a night on the benches of the Santiago airport we boarded our jet and sped off towards the middle of the pacific ocean. After 6 hours a tiny island loomed out of the airplane windows, which were calling home for the next 4 days.

Rapa Nui, to give it its traditional name, is an anomaly on this earth. A tucked away, remote isolated haven where rugged terrain, magical vistas, folklore and tradition meet in a mythical melting pot of Polynesian and Spanish culture.

Upon arrival we were greeted by the kind staff of Mihinoa camping who had 4 laia’s ready and waiting for us. Donning our new flower necklaces we set up in our hostel and planned for the next few days. The campsite located in the town of Hanga Roa was fantastically situated a stones throw from the sea with its crashing light blue waves battering the rocky shoreline.

On one of the evenings we got a taste of Polynesian history and culture when we attended the Kari Kari show. It was a show full of traditional dance and songs where the audience got the chance to participate albeit not by their own choice. The performers on the show would come off the stage and go hunting for potential prey to dance on with them. Sitting at the back of the audience provided no safety net as me and Kev were eagerly targeted for a showdown on stage. Infact, what seemed daunting thing, turned out to be a great laugh where we got to dance with some pretty Polynesian girls and receive a huge round of applause from the audience.

Easter Island is well known for its beauty and Moai statues dotted all over the island which would take a long time to see if on foot. So we hired a small jeep which we affectionately named “Jimmy” after the name of its model. With our new friend Jimmy, we took to the road and visited Orongo village which gave us some information about the history of the inhabitants of this island thousands of years ago. We then went on to Rano Kau Volcano which hosts a vast amount of Moai statues of all shapes and sizes.

Before we went on to see the spectacular Tongariki statues (picture below), we chilled out on Anakena beach until it started to rain. We finished off the day by watching the sunset at Ahu Akiri, where we shared the stunning views of red skies over the big blue sea with 4 other Moais.

The island is also a hiking haven. We were recommended a long hike around the coast of the island. The starting point of this hike was about 20km away at Anakena beach and by then we had no longer had Jimmy. Fortunately, The island is hitch-hiker friendly, and we managed to grab a free ride on a back of a lorry. Along the hike we got to see the beautiful natural coast lines and the many strange rock formations and old rock structures from previous inhabitants. On the final part of the hike we got a little miserable as we veered off the track and got lost inland. Then it got more miserable when it started to rain heavily. We got back to the campsite after about 7 hours of solid walking. That never put us off a little more hiking the following day where we saw the Ana Kai Tangata caves and a few more Moai statues along the coast, closer to our campsite.

We spent the final days chilling out, enjoying the sun and our sea views, playing volley ball with the campsite owner’s children and reading some of the books that we have managed to hoard since we started traveling.

We leave this small gem of an island after four fantastic days after the owners kindly see us off at the airport where we leave for our next slice of paradise that is Tahiti.

We was already on a bad start for our journey to Rio De Janeiro. The previous night in Iguazu Falls we had ordered a large pizza each which also had for breakfast the following day. Upon inspection of our delicious breakfast, it had made new friends over night and was infested with ants. So now we are all faced with a twenty hour bus journey to Rio De Janeiro with no breakfast.

Day 1

After a tiresome bus ride we arrived in Rio De Janeiro around mid day and got the cheapest taxi possible to Ipanema. We checked into our hostel called the Girl From Ipanema (recommended by our Flight Centre Travel Agent) and went straight to the beach as its all we could think about. Pretty much every women on the beach was stunning and most did not leave much for the imagination.

Later on in the afternoon John wanted his hair cut after resisting for nearly 3 months. So I put our hair clippers purchased in America on its first outing (See later post for full details).

On our first evening we decided to go the Lagoon to watch the opening / unveiling of the Christmas tree. The Christmas tree itself was quite impressive. We was informed that this was the largest floating tree in the World. But with this fact, I would imagine most people couldn’t even name another floating tree. On the unveiling of the tree there was an equally impressive fireworks display and we got to enjoy lots of typical Brazilian street food such as meat kebabs and these delicious deep fried potato parcels filled with minced meat.

Day 2

On the second day we went to the Maracana to watch Flemengo v Goias in what was once the largest stadium in the world. At its peak the stadium held nearly 200,000 spectators in the 1950 World Cup Final, but now the stadium has been reduced in capacity and seats approximately 90,000 spectators. The football match we got to watch was absolutely brilliant and completely end to end stuff. The final score was 3-3 with a nail biting ending where any team could have won. The stadium itself looked impressive from the outside but once inside it looked old and well used.

In the evening we decided to treat ourselves and ate at a typical Brazilian style restaurant called Choates. At this restaurant you are given a little disk with one red side and one green side. These are too be placed next to you on the table which are used to indicate whether you want more food or not. So naturally we all left ours on green and kept the food piling on, which we would soon later regret as we all suffered from ‘meat sweats’ because we neglected the vegetables and when straight for the meats.

Day 3

On the third day we had a pre-booked tour to explore most of the places of interest in Rio. Our morning started with a hike up a mountain weaving through a forest which I totally forgot about and showed up in my flip flops. The rest of the boys were prepared in their trainers but failed to inform me. At the top of the mountain were beautiful views of Rio and we could clearly with all the suburbs that swooped around the golden coast line.

Afterwards we visited that famous Christ De Redentor before a visit to Santa Teresa to see that famous colourful steps created by local artist Selaron. The steps are made up from tiles that have been sent to the artist from all over the world and where each tile is unique and representative of the country it came from.

In the evening we decided to go to a bar / club called House because they had a offer where caipirinha cocktails were free between 10PM - 12PM. Needless to say this was going to be a messy night as it was like our duty to get our moneys worth and drink as much as possible. From what I remember Kev caved in first and didn’t even last to 12PM whereas myself, John and Chris faired better but was not exactly in a conscious state to remember our exact movements throughout the night.

Day 4

Still feeling hung over, today was going to be our chill out day on the beach, soaking up the sun whilst drinking from a freshly cut coconut. The weather was absolutely stunning and we even managed to play a few games of beach football. However, we were totally out classed by the ‘Speedo’ wearing Brazilians and you could see they were playing around with us as they as went to the difficult but spectacular goal.

Day 5

For our last day in Rio was decided to explore the Favelas and get a real essence of Brazilian. A Favela is a shanty town where the majority of the working class live because it is cheap and not governed by local taxing laws. Here we saw the differences in the living conditions between the rich and poor, an art studio creating local Favela art and even visited a nursery that was funded by the tour company guiding us around. On the tour we had one hair raising moment where another member of the group accidentally took a picture of a drug dealer who was carrying a very large gun. Our tour guide had to react immediately by apologising to the drug dealer and deleting any photos that pictures the dealer.

Next stop Easter Island to explore that wonders of the Polynesian culture.

The long bus rides seem like normality to us now as we arrive into Iguazu Falls, Argentina at 9am after a 17 hours of traveling time. We only had to walk 5 minutes down the road to our hostel called the Iguazu Falls Inn. It wasn’t what we thought it was going to look like, as we saw pictures of this beautiful resort with nice big swimming pools surrounded by palm trees. We soon realised that we had mistaken this with the other hostel ith a very similar name. This place still looked ok with the odd few cockroaches and small lizards running around.

After settling into, we catch a bus to the Iguazu National Park to see the infamous Iguazu Falls. It cost us 60 Pesos per person for the entrance fee which isn’t too bad. We went for a walk along the upper, verde and Macuco trails. We saw some wildlife such as Coaties, praying mantis and tons of giant ants. We just had about enough time to go see the Devil’s throat where you get to go very close to one of the waterfalls. Here we got pretty soaked from the spray of the water hitting the lower river. It’s an amazing sight and much bigger than the Niagara falls we saw in Canada.

One day at the park was not long enough to see everything, so we went back the following day which was at a cheaper price of 30 pesos as we visited the day before. We took a trek through to the lower trail and then took a short thrilling jet boat ride that took us to the bottom of the waterfalls. We had planned to go to San Martin Island but this was closed due to the high water levels. We ended up going back to the hostel early and chilling out in the swimming pool before we went out to eat at a place called Colors where the owner kindly gave is 10% off our bill.

Now that we have seen the Argentine side of the Iguazu Falls, we wanted to go see the Brazilian side which was supposed to give great overviews of the national park and its falls. Getting there was surprisingly easy, despite having to cross the border. We simply caught a bus from the bus terminal which took us to the Argentine immigration which gave us departure stamps and then went straight past the Brazilian immigration with no checks whatsoever. The bus driver then dropped us in the middle of nowhere, where we then flag down and catch a bus to the park.

We arrived at the park and had to pay an entrance fee of 20.50 Reais which more than expected. When we were in the park, we caught the bus straight to the viewpoints and got to see the Iguazu Falls in its entirety. It was a beautiful view but that’s was all in the park that interested us.

There wasn’t much else apart from a few adventure sports like rafting or jet-boating. I feel the entrance fee is somewhat extortionate for what was available in this park. Needless to say we never spent much time here and headed back to the hostel early where we enjoyed the swimming pool yet again. And because the food at Colors restaurant was so good, we went back again the following night and were happy chappies when we got 10% off our food bill again.

Our two days a Iguazu has been fun. I  much prefer the Argentine side because there was more trails you can complete that take you through the falls where as the Brazilian side merely offers a overview, which is still not to be missed.

o we arrive in Buenos Aires after a long 22 hour drive from Mendoza which turned out to be a luxurious ride with a stewardess at our service. We got some tasty hot meals and a choice between red or white wine to wash it down with and had some movies to keep us entertained.

We get to Buenos Aires at about 7am and check into the party hostel called Milhouse. We didn’t mess about when we got there and booked ourselves on city tour with the hostel which took us around the tango area called Caminito street where Argentine tango was born from the sailors and hookers that hung around that area. The streets were brightly coloured due to the many nationalities that moved into the area and decorating buildings with their national colours.

We got our first taste of Argentine tango with many people dancing outside on the streets. We stopped for a beer and a photo opportunity with some tango dancers.

The tour also took us to the famous Boca Juniors football stadium. It was much smaller than I thought it be. It was a shame that we there was not a game being played here during our stay in Buenos Aires as the atmosphere is renowned to be absolutely electric. The tour lasted quite a few hours and we were dying for a beer to relax for a bit. We ended up going for a Bife de Chorizo steak and a beer with Jane who was an english lass and her daughter who we met on the tour. We pretty much drunk for most of the night and moved on to the new Milhouse bar for a few more.

The following day, after a lay in until about 1pm, we planned to go to the River Plate football stadium to buy some tickets to see a match between River Plate and Argentine Juniors as the hostel was offering this trip for 150 Reails whereas the ticket themselves are only 50 Reails. We pretty much wasted the rest of the afternoon trying to find the place and eventually completed our mission at about 4:30pm. We had just enough time to go visit the Recoleta which is where the fancy tombs of famous families and individuals are laid to rest. Many of the tombs were very big like houses and elaborately decorated.

We also stumbled across one of Argentina’s famous icon, Evita. We soon had enough of the cemetery and headed off for another steak dinner. We ended up getting a mixed grill platter for 4 people which was huge. After the meat fest we had a few drinks at the hostel before we headed off to the Sunset bar which was a huge club just outside of the city centre.The club had 2 main dance floors where one was playing dance infused Argentine music and the other played drum and bass. The only problem with this club was that it was full of kids who seemed like they still went to school. It wasn’t the best of nights and I had wished I went to club 60 the previous night now.

Following our new routine, we get up fairly late again and have just enough time to visit Palermo to have a look at the many boutique-ish markets. Palermo seemed to have a very trendy feel to it. It contained lots of independent shops, some quirky looking cafes and some crazy street performers. After a bustling time at Palermo, we managed to get our selves some tickets with Jane to see a tango show at Tortoni’s Cafe.

We entered this very old but grand building and were taken to downstairs to a small room where the tango show was to take place. Anywhere you sat in that room you seemed to be close to the action on the stage. The show was a fantastic mix of tango dancing, acting and some man who likes to make  melodic and rhythmic beats with some string and rocks.

The live band glued together the whole show with their contemporary tango music. After a fantastic show, we feeling good continued to have a few beers in the hostel. Before we knew it, it as 6am when we made it to bed.

We wake up late again the next day and leave for the River Plate vs Argentine Juniors which wasn’t a great game in the end. The River Plate fans certainly sang their hearts out for their team which was heard constantly throughout the game.

The stadium was about half full but surprisingly there was quite a atmosphere. The game ends with River Plate winning 2-1 over their opponents. After a long walk back to the hostel from the stadium, we make it back in time to enjoy the open mic and jamming session going on in the hostel. As usual this kept us up until the wee hours of the morning.

We had a great time in Buenos Aires and would love to come back again. It’s a huge city where you could easily spend a days just walking around and explore without getting bored. We didn’t think we would go out as much as we did but it was so easy to meet people here. The sad thing about leaving this lovely city is that it will be our last time we’ll be tucking into a nice Argentine Steak.

Arrival in Mendoza only holds very deep and sad memories for us, if you have read the previous posts you will know why. With “the incident” aside Mendoza is a very laid back city with plenty of small parks plaza’s and retail therapy outlets. All these public spaces were immaculately kept and provided much relief over the time we were here, chilling out in the afternoon heat.

The real reason why we were here is that Mendoza is set in the heart of the Argentinean Wine Region producing some of the world greatest wines. So before we headed off to the wineries we thought we would do some tasting sessions of our own, Backpacker Style. So with our connoisseur hats on we visited the finest of wine locations, the supermarket. In true budget style no wine was to be more that 5 pesos. Here was our haul.

I will be the first to admit that these we not the greatest, but you can’t complain when you spend that little really. A short aside from wine is the perfect counterpart to such a drink, steak. While here we ate Prime Argentinean Steak everyday and “half a cow on a plate” pretty much sums up the quantity of meat were talking about here! See exhibit a. They were amazing and a great relief from the ¼ chicken, chips, rice and salad (carb overload) we were used to eating up until this point.

Returning once more to wine the main winery region is just outside Mendoza in a small area called Maipu and this is where we headed to for a day of fermented grape goodness. What’s the best way to live the Argentinean wine valley lifestyle? That’s right, on a bike! After hiring Bicycles from Bike and Wines we set off to the furthest stop on our self guided winery tour. This took about an hour to conquer but the hard work had been done.

During the day we managed to visit a total of XX wineries in each one we sampled some of their favourite wines.  The wineries each had their own little charm, whether it was an astrological theme, vintage cellar or wine museum. Of course visits to wineries would not be complete without the best bit… the tastings. We found the region to be especially good for the cabernet Sauvignon & Malbec grapes, which were very good and also very much out of our price range.

As the day progressed the cycling became more erratic as the alcohol took its grip but no harm was done. In fact the riding was extremely quaint and peaceful wit the hot sun peaking through trees onto the small lanes which lined the vineyard boundaries. A feeling of being in the south of France was dominant throughout the day.

The tour wasn’t all bout wine however. We also popped into a olive oil producer and a chocolate liqueur maker. The latter was superb with creamy chocolate heaven in a glass with alcoholic infusion.  The range of flavours was huge, peppermint, toffee, caramel, hazelnut you name it they had it!

Mendoza for us could be summed up in 3 words Wine, Steak and Relaxation.

We arrived in Salta after our journey by private taxi along a lot of twisting and winding roads where we didn’t see another car or another person for a long long time, stopping along the way for some lunch in a roadside cafe in the middle of nowhere. As we headed into Salta we made our way up a two-way single file road on the edge of a cliff before hitting the city centre. We arrived at our destination Terra Oculta, a lovely hostel with plenty of amenities, including a roof top bar with a very British bartender.

Our first night in Salta we went to Don Jose’s restaurant recommended by the owner of our hostel where we ordered Bife de Chorizo with Chips, a fried egg and some jugs of the house red wine. The steaks were huge slabs of meat that left no room for anything else on the plate and they were cooked to perfection, the wine was cheap, but drinkable and the large side helping of chips helped to soak up some of the beef juice and to dip into the still runny yoke of our eggs. Steaks, done.

The following day we booked up a luxury bus to Mendoza and went sightseeing, including a cable car ride on the teleferico to the top of Cerro San Bernardo and a look at the arts and crafts in the local market. We also found a very nice food stall beside the cable car station which sold delicious empanadas, we stocked up and headed up the teleferico.

Today’s weather gave us a stunning view over Salta but it was still slightly hazy which blurred our vision of the mountain ranges in the distance. At this point we had visited a few mountain top viewpoints in South America, this was the first one to have an open air gym at the top, which Kev and John had to have a go on.

In the evening we went to the supermarket and got ourselves a bag of potatoes and a steak each which would be cooking this evening together with several bottles of beer, that were alot cheaper than the ones sold in the bar on the roof. We cooked and ate our steaks in the kitchen whilst watching Andy Murray beat Roger Federer in the tennis, once full we continued drinking on the rooftop bar with an American we had met during dinner and another friend we had met in Potosi. Later in the evening there was a powercut so all the lights and music went off as did the beer fridges!

Kev to the rescue, he grabbed his iPod and speakers to for the music, the barman came and delivered some candles to the table and we got some more beer so they didn’t get warm in the fridge.

The next day we jumped on our Andesmar bus to Mendoza, but not before stocking up on those delicious empanadas for the journey. We had treated ourselves to Semi-Cama seats, which is not quite first class, however the seats almost recline flat and are wide enough you aren’t fighting for the armrest with the person next to you. Plus we had bus bingo, loads of films and a meal that rivals most airline food.

Bye bye Salta, hello Mendoza. Another glass of wine anyone….

We ended our Salt Flat tour in San Pedro, we were a little concerned as we approached the border due to our tour company telling us the border could be closed due strikes but they continued taking us towards it anyway. We were able to go through the border albeit after a pretty long wait in a stiflingly hot bus and more stamps in the passport, yay!

We arrived late in the afternoon and started the hunt for accommodation, we found a nice YHA hostel from the guide book, John had his own room whilst we shared another room with 3 story bunk beds of which Mike and Kev were on the top some 5 metres off the ground, it was quite a climb to the top, especially after a few drinks.

After looking around San Pedro we discovered the Geysers and lagoons we could see from San Pedro were already covered with our guide on the Salt Flats, it became apparent we maybe stuck in San Pedro with little/nothing since both the buses out of town were fully booked and we would have to wait for the next ones in 4 days time. Our hostel was advertising Sand boarding along with a tour of some caves and the chance to see the sunset and moonrise from an exclusive location. We had heard it was a fun thing to do and since we missed it in Lima we decided to give it a go here. With our activities sorted we went to find something to eat.

After eating we decided to spend the rest of the evening in a very productive way and went to the bar for one or two drinks, which turned into several more. We spent the evening drinking under the stars alongside an open fire to keep us warm, joined by Barry someone in our room in the hostel who was also trying to get out of San Pedro. To conclude the evening we left the bar after it closed and bought some more of our own beers to drink back at the hostel.

The next day we got up late and went to find out how we could get out of San Pedro, the result was a private minibus costing almost triple the other buses, but after we weighted up the pros and cons of stay in San Pedro it was our only option. With a big hole in our pockets after paying for the bus we headed off Sand boarding. We left in the back (me and Kev) of a pickup truck, everyone else had a nice seat in the front of the pickup.

After a short drive we arrived at a sandy hill with no ski lifts! I tentatively put my hand up when asked whether anyone had snowboarded before which meant I could keep my trainers on and us a board with bindings, everyone else had to do it in their socks and on a board with hoops for their feet.

We began waxing our boards with the supplied candlesticks and started heading down the slopes, head first in some cases. It was harder than it first looked with Mike slowing to a complete stop down the hill and Kev doing one or two face plants into sand.

We all came to the conclusion the hardest part of sand boarding was the climb back to the top of the hill on scorching hot sand and we should also not take cameras because we almost lost another camera, Mikes, when it was dropped into the sand and the lens got stuck out luckily hitting it against a hard surface sorted it out.

The caves we were taken to were not very spectacular and somewhat disappointing to look at, not quite what they had been built up to be. After leaving the caves on the advice of our guide we grabbed a few beers to take with us to drink whilst we watched the sunset.

We headed to our exclusive viewing area for the sunset and full moon experience, it just so happened all the other tour companies must have got wind of this exclusive location as they started arriving too.

As the sun approached it’s final moments before disappearing behind the skyline it started moving very fast, so we had to work fast on our photos and almost as soon as the sun had gone a very fast rising moon on the began to appear which we all had a go at pointing at, with some success.

The following day we left in our very expensive taxi towards the Chilean border enjoying some chilled out music courtesy of the line out cable and iPod once again. We reached the border and got into another 2 cars to reach our first destination in Argentina, Salta.

Bring on the steak and wine, yum!

After flying over lake Titicaca after the unforeseen issues with blockading Peruvian farmers, we headed out a short way from La Paz to grab a glimpse of what we missed. The journey itself was cool and having to depart the bus and get on a tiny fishing boats to get across a large body of water was, well, interesting! The bus arrived from its huge wooden transit across the water to shore where we continued onwards to Copacabana, a town on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca.

Copa is definitely not as heady and euphoric as its Brazilian counterpart, with 2 streets of action and no bars open post 10pm, party party party hey! Still it retained a sleepy vibe and a nice place to kick back, even if the hostel room was a dive!

After a day or so of relaxing and climbing the local mountain lookout we hopped aboard a boat and set sail for Isla de la Sol. The Island of the Sun is a extremely picturesque island in the middle of lake Titicaca and is steeped in Inca traditions and sacred sites. After milling around the dock we managed to arrange a tour with a local guide which was pretty cool. Problem being is that our Spanish isn’t that great! But 2 handily places Spanish girls helped to translate, phew. Just strolling around the bays and foothills was incredibly scenic and pleasant.

Not leaving enough time to hike across to the south of the island, or get back to port for the last boat, we were a tad stuck. If it wasn’t for a school group who had chartered a boat we might still be there! Grateful for the lift we posed for a few photos with them, a strange fascination, and returned slightly sun dazed and very relaxed.

After a 10 hours bone shaking bus ride from Potosi we arrived in a place called Uyuni where the gang would begin a 3 day tour across one of the largest salt flat planes in the world. With a 9:30AM start we turned up out outside Cordillera office who we had booked our tour with and was greeted with an Australian born Argentine couple; Surge and Silvi who would be joining us on our tour. Taking us through the salt flats was Richard or how he pronounced it ‘Zicard’ who did not speak a word of English and would be our driver and supposedly cook for the next few days.

Day 1

In our 10 year old Toyota Land Cruiser which clearly looked well used, we pulled up at our first destination which was two steam trains with approximately 7 carriages each that sat in the middle of no where. The steam trains look like they had been abandoned sometime ago as they were rusting away and covered full of graffiti. Either way they were unusual props and perfect to start our array of catalogue poses.

With our photos entries ready for Littlewoods catalogue we pressed on west into the heart of Salar De Uyuni which is where the salt flats are located. Here we stopped off at what was once a hotel made out of salt but had to be abandoned as it was now illegal to have a hotel on the salt flats. The hotel has been converted into a “covert museum” where you had to buy a chocolate bar to enter. Continuing further west we arrived at a place called Isla Incahauas which was like a raised island of rock that was filled full of cactuses. We hiked around the island for approximately 40 minutes whilst pulling out a new string of catalogue poses as there was nice views of the salt flats.

For the remainder of the afternoon the group devoted all of it’s time in taking perspective shots on the salt flats, which basically is a large white canvas so it is easy to make impossible shots looks possible.

Here are a collections of the perspective shots we took.

In the evening we carried on driving west until we hit the border of the salt flats where we would rest for the night. On the border are lots of salt hotels which we had the privilege of staying in. Quite literally everything in the hotel was made out of salt; the dinner table, the chairs we sat on, even the base of our beds.

Day 2

Having decided the night before, the group opted for an early start in an attempt to stay ahead of the other flurry of tourist who were on the same tour. Leaving the salt hotel at around 7AM we quickly stopped off in a town called San Juan to pick up some basic supplies. Now we started to head south in the direction of Chile crossing a railway line to a place called Salar De Chiguana which had a small military boarder control and views of ‘Ollague’, which is one of the highest volcano in Chile.

Our next destination of the day is a place called Arbol De Piedra which is an area full of tall weathered away rock. There was one particular rock that is well know which has suffered quite severely from wind erosion and a semi ‘apple core’ effect has occurred. Most of the base has weathered away meaning the top section was a lot larger than the bottom and it is only a matter time as to when it would topple over.

After another cracking performance in front of the camera we continued south to a lagoon called Colorada. The lagoon itself was pretty stunning with amazing views of the surrounding of glacier topped mountains, but what made the Colorada lagoon special is that it is home of the famous pink flamingos. The lagoon was filled full with pink flamingos which were an absolutely delight to watch, especially when you see a flock hurl across splashing in the water as they fly off into the air.

After lunch we continued further south to our final destination called the Red Lagoon. This lagoon was quite literally a large lagoon filled with red water and apparently the water is red due to the algae.

On the way to the lodging where we would be resting for the night we had Kev’s iPod plugged into the auxiliary on the 4×4 stereo. Here we had a ‘free for all’ where each person got to take turns in picking any song of their choice. It got to Surge’s turn and he picked an absolute classic that was Bohemian Rhapsody. It was just like the scene out of Wayne’s World and when the guitar rift kicked in everyone was head banging like crazy including our driver. The video would have been a classic but unfortunately we have lost our copy and looking to retrieve it from Serge and Silvi, so watch this space.

Day 3

On our final day we had to get up at 4:30AM so we could see some geysers in action. This type of ‘geysers’ is different to a ‘geezer’ known in the a UK which as Microsoft Works dictionary puts it, is an “eccentric or irritable senior citizen”, they are a spring that gushes out hot water and / or steam. The geyser that we approached first had steam gushing out furiously and smelt of sulphur, but in this case we had no problems touching the steam as it was only mildly warm. Warming our hands is exactly what we all needed because the temperature was below freezing to the point where everyone’s fingers and toes was hurting. Chris even had a bottle of water we left in the car overnight that had frozen.

Desperately needing warmth to prevent us loosing a limb we arrived at our next destination. It was an outdoor hot spring that would solve all our problems. All but one problem as there was no changing rooms meaning we had to get changed in the freezing cold, but it was totally worth it. The hot spring was so heavenly that we almost considered skipping breakfast, but unfortunately hunger got the better of us. After getting changed for breakfast I left my swimming shorts on the wing mirror of our 4×4 to dry and upon returning back they had frozen despite the sun shining in its full glory.

The very final stop of our salt flat tour was a trip to the Green Lagoon. Of all the lagoon’s we had visited the Green Lagoon was the most picturesque. The lagoon was large with still, undisturbed water that made the whole area feel so tranquil with reflections of the glacier topped mountains on the lagoon that were truly stunning which you can see for yourself below.

Next stop; a quick stop in Chile to one of the driest town in the world called San Pedro De Atacama.

After a long journey from Copacabana via La Paz we made it to Potosi in about 20 hours. I took the cheaper bus to save a bit of money and Chris, Mike and Kev took the more expensive one that left earlier. I got to Potosi at 5:30am whilst the others met up with me at the Koala Hostel at 6am. In English money, I probably saved about 3 quid but it goes far in Bolivia.

So we arrive in a nice little hostel called the Koala Den that has a very homely feel to it. We pretty much check in as soon as we were there and showered up ready for the the day’s activities. We only planned to spend a night here before we move on to the salt flats in Uyuni.

It wasn’t long before we managed to book ourselves on the mine tours. We left promptly at 8:30am to go collect our equipment required for the tour, where we also met our guide for the day named Pedro AKA “Batman”. We were given some overall trousers and jacket which were supposedly used to protect our own clothing. However, they didn’t really stand up to the job. We were also given some wellington boots, a hard helmet and a head torch so we could see inside the dark small mines.

Before we went to the mines, the plan was to go to the miner’s market and see the Ore Refinery. We got to the miner’s market where we were told by the guide that this is the place where the miners buy their tools to carry out their tasks. This included 96% proof alcohol, food and drink and of course, dynamite. We bought 5 sets of dynamite of which 3 will be gifts for the miners and the rest for our own entertainment later. The miner’s life here is hard and it is customary to get the miners some gifts as we were visiting their place of work. In addition to dynamite, we got some coca leaves and fizzy pop for the miners as gifts. After the market, we moved on to see the see how the minerals in the rock are separated in the Ore Refinery.

Soon after we finally entered the mines. The entrance was a small dark opening in the side of a hill. We turned on our head lamps and walked in single file. I could see as I walked along the mines that these holes were all hand made as the sides of the walls were not in perfect shape and the ceilings were all at different heights. For most of the time I had to bend my head down and walk looking at my feet so I didn’t hit my head against the ceiling. On a few occasions the height caught me out and a massive *bang* would echo through the mines because the height of the ceiling unexpectedly changed. Fortunately, the helmet did its job and I never felt a bit of pain.

The mine went as far as 18 levels down. Our guide took us down 3 levels of the mine which was 120m deep. All of this was was done without lifts but with climbing, scrambling and crawling through small holes. The further we went down, the smaller the mine holes got. At one point we had to lay flat on our stomachs to get to a small cavern where a miner was working. we could see him hammering away at a small hole just so he can put a stick of dynamite in. He had already been working on it for 3 hours and it didn’t seem he had got far. We gave him some dynamite as a gift and moved on out of the mines. It was getting a little harder to breathe towards the end of the mine tour because a miner close by had let off some dynamite and we had walked through the aftermath of it where there was small floating particles and gases from the explosion in the air. We had some masks but they were pretty useless.

When we finally got out of the mine, I was glad as it was very tiring getting around in there at my height and it was much cooler and easier too breathe. The miners certainly have a tough life working there daily and It’s something I would never would like to do for a living. The good thing about this tour is that a percentage of the cost is put forward to the miners at the end of the year to help them out.

The day we were in Potosi, also happened to be the 189th Anniversary of the town which is a big event in the country. To celebrate, everyone in every possible job in the town comes out on a big march, donning big banners and shouting chants. We were invited to join the march with the tour guides and tourist association and we happily agreed, not knowing what we were actually in for.

After dinner, we went in search for group we was going to join the march with. As we walked along the streets of Potosi, we could see that the march had already begun. We walked against the march hoping we would find the tour guides group at the end. We followed the march for a about half hour and it still hadn’t ended. The streets were lined up with crowds watching the march. The march itself had an estimated 100,000 people in it. We never realised the sheer scale of this thing. We eventually found the tour group who were already preparing everyone by giving out the flag of Potosi to wave around and a Potosi lapel to wear with pride. We all received one along with the other gringos that decided to join in the march. The march itself turned out to be lot of fun. We mingled in with the other tour guides and getting to know them with some banter on the side. Someone in the group managed to sneak in 2 bottles of Bolivian whiskey for us to enjoy during the march. After about 2 hours, the march was still going strong. All of us were getting a little tired, but we were told that it wasn’t far to go. It wasn’t until an hour later we got nearer the end of the march were things got a bit stricter. Our group was organising themselves so that we were in a perfect rows of 4 people with the men and women separated in each line. We were then told to look right and hold up the flags. We then realised that we were marching past some important political people of Potosi and Bolivia and so had to be on best behaviour!

The march finally ended with a high. Everyone cheered each other as we marched past the finishing line. We marched for a solid 3 hours and it was tiring, but such an experience. This was our first and only day in Potosi but it felt like we had done so much and met lots of new people. It was sad that we had to leave the place so soon but it’s definitely one place we will be remembering for a long time.