I said I been through the desert on a horse with no name...

...It felt good to get out of the rain. Actually we haven´t seen rain for a month and there were no horses involved at all. We did see two donkeys though.

But yes! We have been out into the Bolivian desert, starting in a little town called Uyuni. It was amazingly traditional and all the streets were full with market sellers. Within two hours of arriving we had all bought a sombrero and a llama wooly hat. Watch out for the pictures. The air is strange here at 3500m above sea level. Its like having a really heavy cold where everything you do makes you out of breath.

So off into the desert we went with our trusty tour guide, old man Raul who unfortuantely did not speak a word of English, or many identifiable words of Spannish. We began with a train graveyard which was pointless. You wouldnt go to see a landfill, so why would you go to see scrapped trains with graffiti. The tour quickly picked up, however, when we entered Salar de Uyuni - a blindingly white salt desert, the basin of a dried out ancient lake. The views were stunning but we had cause for concern that Raul may in fact be blind from 15 years of failing to wear sunglasses for the event. We trooped on.

Onwards to a Cactus island amongst the baron Salar desert, volcanoes, oddly shaped rocks (that did not look like a tree, Raul) and Flamingo lakes. The trip involved an overnight stay in a hostel made completely of salt - best hostel so far, and a second nights stay in the worst hostel I have seen yet. Not to worry though, we were off the next morning to see Gysers spouting hot steam and a themal spa, where we had a little dip. It was especially good after the rather uncleanly hostel.

Back to Uyuni, after taking a route Raul had never taken before to avoid protests blocking the nescessary bridges to get back home, we were off to La Paz where we have been settled for two days. Yesterday included Witches markets flogging dead llama foetuses, the legendary Black market (loads of tat) a long walk and shopping for Jonny´s birthday (its tomorrow, don´t forget).

To top off, we have spent today decending (brace yourself, Mum) the Road of Death on mountain bikes. 60 Kilometers of downhill mountain biking on the edge of mountains. It was once known as the most dangerous road in the world, but we consider it the Road of Moderate Danger as its really not that badthese days. Having said that, a definate Darwin Award candidate met her fate a few weeks ago after refusing to take off her sunglasses and (tinted) safety goggles when the supervisors reccomended - IN FOG - and slowly cycled straight off the mountain.

Tomorrow is Jon´s birthday as I mentined. God knows what´s gonna happen.

Keep reading!

Steve x x