We arrived in Sucre later in the afternoon after our 4 hour bus from Potosi. We decided to stay in a party hostel (in dorms) and when we arrived the owner told us there was a party starting soon for Oktoberfest. This meant that at 4pm there was a free unlimited beer for an hour. We obviously took advantage of this. After the free bar we went to an amazing burrito place which was reccomended and then back to the party to carry on drinking. Lots of Bolivians came to the hostel party and we got speaking to a group of Bolivians around our age. Two of which (Walter and Mabel), spoke very good english and we spent the whole night with them, drinking and dancing. They kept on giving us free drinks as they had a bottle of local spirits. By the end of the night, Jonho was swigging this straight from the bottle on the dance floor. It was a top night!!

The next day, however, Jonho felt a little worse for wear and having checked out at 10am, he had to sleep on the sofa until around 3pm. SUCRE 1 – 0 JONHO.

When it got to 3pm, Kerry decided she wanted to go to the market so made Jonho get up… he didn’t enjoy the uphill walk BUT… ‘mission jumper’ is complete!!!

We had a little wander around the city and sat in the main square before heading for some food as we had an overnight but ahead of us.

We had agreed with Walter that we would meet him and go to the market and for some food with him, but he was also hungover so didn’t make it. As we got to the bus station, he was there waiting for us to say goodbye and bought us some chocolate!

Next stop, Argentina…

We arrived in Potosi at 1am after a horrible 3 hour bus and went straight to sleep!
On our first day in Potosi we booked onto a tour and visited a working mine. We went to the miners market first to buy the miners some presents (dynamite, water, coca leaves) and tried the alcohol that they drink which was lethal 96% stuff! We got kitted up in our overalls and helmets and went into the mine for 2 hours. We didn’t really know what to expect but the conditions they work in was shocking. They looked so tired and the guide told us most miners die before 55. Miners can’t eat whilst they are down there due to the dust, so they chew coca leaves which give them energy. Within the 2 hours we walked through the mine but had to run if there was a wagon coming, we climbed up and down the tightest gaps and the loosest rocks. They would never allow tourists to a place like this in England!

The next day, we were going to visit a natural hot spring lagoon. But, looking into this it is now closed due to people dying from the under currents. Instead, we went to a man made swimming pool close by which was full of the hot spring water. Next stop Sucre…

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From Coroico we took a collectivo back to La Paz and then a night bus straight to Uyuni. We paid extra for the ‘lie flat’ bus with the impression that we would have a 180 degree seat. We were far from flat but it was still very comfy!

We got to Uyuni at 6am, had breakfast, got changed and waited around for our Salt Flat tour starting at 10am. Our tour group consisted of us 2, an old japanese man who we secretly nicknamed JAP (legend), a middle aged bolivian couple who spoke no english and a young American girl. The Salt Flats are esentially a desert of salt which goes on forever. This means you can take funny perspective photo’s (see below). We had lunch in a restaurant made of salt, including the tables and chairs. We stayed at the Salt Flats until sunset where we were taken to a flooded part where everything is reflected and looked really cool.

Next stop Potosi..

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We took a 3 hour collectivo from La Paz and ‘checked in’ to the camp site. We were the only people camping, 7everyone else had lodges. It was a pretty cool campsite though, it had a little table with a light for us to eat our super noodles at and it had 2 pools, hamocks and a hot tub… and NO dogs! Once we checked in, we went down to the cafe to pay for death road and whilst there Jonho was chatting to the guide telling him we were going to get some petrol for the gas stove and he kindly went into the back yard and gave us a water bottle full of petrol (strange that he had it) and then called Jonho a terrorist!
For our first meal with the gas stove we needed some ingredients which was pretty hard to find as there was no big supermarket so we made tuna pasta in tomato sauce… which doesn’t sound so bad but the tuna looked like cat food and didn’t taste too clever either.

On our second day, DEATH ROAD!! So, this is the most dangerous road with the highest number of deaths in the world. It is a very narrow 32km downhill road, next to a cliff with a very steep drop into the bottom of the valley. It took us 3 hours to bike down and was pretty scary at parts, especially when you go fast and around the corners. None of us fell off thankfully.. Kerry had one near miss. It was so much fun! In the evening we chilled out in the hamocks, ‘cooked’ super noodles and played cards.

On our final day we rented the hot tub which was basically a hot bath…we should have realised this as the name of the camp site was “ECO” lodge so they were hardly going to have the bubbles going. It was actually really good though once Jonho got used to the boiling water and stopped sitting on the side dipping his toe in. Next stop Uyuni…

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We got the early boat back to Copacabana from Isla del sol and then a bus straight to La Paz. The bus to La Paz was 4 hours long and costed us £2. Around an hour into the journey, we pulled up at the lake and wondered what was going on before realising that our bus was driving onto a floating plank of wood with an engine.. Taking us across the lake. This was pretty scary as the bus was rocking from side to side. We arrived in La Paz around tea time, so treated ourselves to ANOTHER Chifa.
The next day we took a cable cart to the market which was absolutely huge. They sell everything you can think of. They kind of do this on the streets in La Paz generally too, anything from shoe laces in different colours, kittens, toothpaste, tv remotes, binoculars, sweeping brushes, stones, inner tube for bike tyres… You name it. Also, when traffic is stopped at the lights street performers will juggle/ do a short routine for the waiting traffic and then quickly before the lights turn green, will ask them for money. Later that day we went into town and explored.

The next day we went to Valle de la Luna which is apparently the closest landscape to the moon on earth. Kerry was not impressed by this as it was not like the moon at all.. There were houses all around it and a main road. On the way back into town we took a collectivo (mini bus) to go jumper shopping for Jonho. Unfortunately, Jonho is quite small and has VERY short arms so no jumper in Bolivia fits him. The search continues…
In the evening we went out for a nice meal… Steak! (Which only costed £4.60) And a few beers which Jonho was very excited about as he got 700ml of beer for £2.50.

On our last day, we spent the day on the cable carts hopping on and off. Cable carts are a form of public transport and we got a bit excited by this. We went to the posh part of La Paz which could have been anywhere in Europe. It had a big shopping center, but we still didn’t manage to find Jonho a jumper. The houses were big mansions and it basically didn’t feel like you were in La Paz. Next stop, Coroico…

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We arrived in Isla del sol, after taking a 2 hour boat from Copacabana. Isla del sol has no roads, rocky paths, no street lights at all, has donkeys walking around and everyone lives a very traditional basic life. We went to a party at the school which consisted of Lots of people dressed up doing traditional Bolivian dancing (which to us looked like they were doing the two-step repeatedly to the same song… For hours). Because of the party, it meant that the whole village was pretty much on shut down. The party at the school had no children there, it was mostly the fathers getting pissed & dancing.

The next day, we hiked around the island… Got some beers and sat on the terrace and chilled out.

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We arrived in Copacabana which is on the shore of Lake Titicaca which is the biggest and highest altitude lake in the world, around lunch time. We treated ourselves to a 3 course meal with drink included for £3 each. Then we chilled on the “beach” aka rocks and rubbish. We then hired a duck and took it out on the lake. In the evening we went out for a meal… Jonho’s first ever vegetarian curry.

The next day we had a wander around and then went to one of the huts by the lake and had some trout (which is their speciality and was bloody nice). We then sat by the “beach” and there were some kids playing volleyball. The ball came towards Jonho, he kicked the ball up and then volleyed the ball back to the kids…. Unfortunately it didn’t quite make it back to them and instead smacked a Bolivian lady who was sat on the bench next to us straight in the face. It was awkward…So we decided to take a walk around the lake, stopping for a beer.

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We arrived back in Cusco at around 1am to find that the room we had booked was for some reason, not available. So we got 2 single rooms and Jonho did some bartering via google translate to get discount due to their mistake…it worked out quite well as we ended up with a nicer room for the same price and didn’t really leave the room all day due to being tired/ not very well/ wanting to chill out.
On our final day we went to San Pedro market, which is basically the biggest market ever and they sell everything you can think of and also have benches where you can eat food. Jonho had a 2 course meal for £1… and it tasted like it too. We walked around, got a coffee and it started to rain. We headed back to the place where we stayed and watched Breaking Bad until our bus at half 10! Next stop, BOLIVIA.

We woke up nice and early (thanks to the dogs), we chilled out at the campsite and got ready for our 1.5 hour hike uphill to one of the seven wanders of the world! Kerry wasn’t really looking forward to the hike due to not being very well, but we powered through. We started the hike and 15 minutes into it, a police car pulled up at the side of us and the officer asked if we were going to Machu Picchu. He offered us a lift to the top, and with great delight, Jonho accepted the lift!! We walked around Machu Picchu for around 4 hours, it is an Inca city ontop of the mountain surrounded by lots of other mountains and was pretty cool!! There was also lots of Llamas (Kerry loves them). We hiked back down the mountain as Mr Officer did not offer a return ticket, when we got to the bottom, we packed up our tent, went for a quick Chifa (amazing) and got our train & collectivo back to Cusco.

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We got a collectivo (mini bus) from Cusco to Ollantaytambo, spent the day there. Lots of people were going up to the ruins so we thought as we had all day before our train to Aguas Calientes, we would too. We got to the entrance and it was very expensive and not really something we were dying to do so we turned around. We explored the town and went up to the ruins which were free.
We got the train to Aguas Calientes and used our tent for the first time. We camped at the bottom of Machu Picchu, which wasn’t the most pleasant experience. There was quite alot of dogs chilling around the campsite. Two of these dogs particularly liked us/ our tent and Jonho got woke up once by one of them jumping on his side of the tent and once sat on his head. We were both woken a number of times by them barking at other dogs.

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