Bye bye Bolivia

After getting back to La Paz from the jungle I had a couple a day before starting on my last GAP tour from La Paz to Rio. The day we were due to depart was unfortunaly also the day that workers in La Paz decided to go on strike and bloke the only road out of the city. So had en extra day in the crazy city, but by this point I'd seen pretty much all of it. Our original plan was to get a train to Ouru and then bus from there to Uyuni we ended up getting a night bus all the way. Was possibly the worst journey I've experienced. The driver kept stopping to pick up and let off random people and at one point he decided to get through a traffic jam by driving on the hard shoulder (which was just a dirt track). Was quite scary when he tried to get back on the road by going in front of the on-coming traffic! It was also freezing cold and very uncomfortable. Has put me off going on more night buses (although suspect I won't have much choice!).
We finally arrived in Uyuni at about 7am and don't think I have ever felt so cold in my life. We went to the hotel for breakfast and showers and then set off for a drive to the train cemetry and then through the salt flats. It's a really amazing landscape and we had a long time for a special-effects photo shoot! Also saw how they collect up all the salt before it's shipped to Chile for processing. A bit more driving and we saw a brilliant sunset, then went on to out accomodation for the night- a hotel made of salt! We had a couple more days touring round the area, and at one point we were going though the snow, which I wasn't expecting on this trip and can't have been more different to the weather I'd experienced in the jungle just a few days before. We were really close to the Chilean border and could see an active volvano in the distance (apparently not the one that has been disrupting all the flights!).
After Uyuni we went on to Potosi, which is the highest city in the world (about 4,100m). It's a really nice colonial city but the main reason people visit it for Cerro Rico- the mountain where all the mines are. On our first evening we watched a documanraty 'The devils miner' about a 14-year old boy called Basilo who worked in the mine. It was quite sad to see the conditions he had to work it- shifts can be 24 hours and the only thing the miners have to keep themselves going is coca leaves. The next morning we had a tour of one of the mines and it turned out that our tour guide was Basilo from the film! He's 20 now and working as a guide, which he says is a lot better than working as a miner. Wasn't a very pleasant experience going inside but because it was Sunday we didn't see any miners working and didn't go right into the deepest parts, which can ben 40C.
From Potosi we had another bus journey to Sucre, where we stayed for three nights. Sucre is lovely, it's known as the 'white city' because all the buildings in the centre have to be white. Had a good few days chilling out, doing a bit of shopping and eating food in the market (delicious and cheap). The weather was nice, a bit warmer than we'd had before, and this was our last stop a high altitude. From Sucre we got a flight to Santa Cruz, which is a balmy 400 metres above sea level. Felt a lot different to the rest of Bolivia but I met up with my Bolivian friend from Cochamaba and went to watch the Cuppa America semi final in a very Bolivian bar (great experience- I'm actually looking forward to seeing the final now!).
Sadly that was our last night in Bolivia. The next day we got a night train to the border and crossed over into Brasil, a whole different experience.....