Get your minds out of the gutter, we are of course talking about the height of our next stop (almost)!
DynamiteA six hour bus journey and a taste of local life (numerous stops to cram in villagers, people sleeping in the aisle, snotty nosed kids wiping their hands on Steve's trousers etc) brought us to Potosi - the highest city of it's size in the world (surely any city could make that claim?!). Still, at 4,070m it is pretty high - especially when you think Ben Nevis is 1344m and Snowdon is just over 1,000!).
A quaint colonial city whose main attraction is the Cerro Rico mine where the Spanish used to extract huge amounts of silver (apparently the expression 'es un Potosi' is still used in Spain for anything and anyone rich). The mine is now run by several co-operative groups of miners but these days it's mainly tin, zinc and lead that they are after, not to mention turism ...
Not for the faint hearted (and therefore Ali), a tour of the mine involved witnessing at close quarters the hellish conditions the miners endure - the average life expectancy is just 35! Before hitting the mine, Steve and his guide made a pit-stop at the local market to buy some gifts for the miners - a bottle of pop, a bag of coca leaves, some 94% proof local alcohol, oh and fuse wire, a bottle of ammo nitrate and a stick of dynamite (maybe that's why the life expectancy is so low - 94% alcohol and dynamite is perhaps not such a good mix)! Next up was the mine - 2 hellish hours in a rabbit warren crawling through tiny tunnels in about 40 degree heat with dust and material that looked suspiciously like asbestos everywhere - what a relief to get out! Definitely an experience but not something to do again - in fact in a recent survey(!) only 4% of miners claimed to work there because they liked it!
Walking with dinosaurs
Not looking forward to another local bus (fortunately as our reservation for it mysteriously disappeared - ie the agent forgot to book it!), we took a taxi on the three hour trip to Sucre - a much more comfortable option and a bargain at £5!
The ' official' capital of Bolivia (no, we're not sure what that means either!), the white city of Sucre is full of old colonial buildings, colourful people and daily dancing in the main square. It also has the Joyride bar - the perfect place to watch Man U's 7-1 victory over AC Milan (twice) and Chelsea's 2-1 win over Valencia - a long beer filled afternoon where Steve ended up thinking Man U had won by 14 - 2!
Sucre is also famous for its dinosaur footprints which we visited in the local 'Dino-truck'. However, call us cynical but since they were found at a cement works and we weren't allowed closer that 100m we're not entirely convinced of their authenticity!
High SocietyThe highest capital in the world at a breathtaking (literally) 4,000m with one of the best settings - at the bottom of a steep canyon ringed by snow capped mountains - La Paz was nothing like the dirty, dangerous and unwelcoming place we were warned to expect. Instead we found a vibrant, colourful and chaotic city that was full of life (except for the dried frogs, stuffed armadillos and llama foetuses that were in abundance at the 'witches' market). We had a great time here, good food, fantastic shopping and lovely people, especially in the tour agency we visited to find out more about the 70km 'Death Road' mountain bike trip to Coroico and found ourselves booked on a 40 seater military plane to the Amazon instead - a much safer option, or so we thought ...
After several false starts in which our plans were thwarted by torrential rain in the Amazon water-logging the landing field, we eventually arrived a day late at Reyes ... a surprise to us as we'd booked a flight to Rurrenabaque some 45 minutes drive away! Not to worry though as there were buses lined up and ready to go - for a fee of course! Apparently re-routing a flight with no prior notice does not entitle you to a free transfer in Bolivia! Still at least we arrived in time for Steve to see Man U beat Watford (FA Cup semi) at the local jungle bar.
Waiter, waiter, there's a fly in my soup ... and a spider ... and a beetleAKA 'how to get a seriously numb bum ... Take a 3.5 hour jeep ride on muddy, pot-holed roads in an ancient 4WD with no suspension! Just how were we to top that we wondered? Stop for lunch in a dirty, fly ridden 'restaurant' where there really was (half) a beetle in someones soup (and probably a lot of other things we just didn't want to know about!). Not a promising start for our Amazon adventure but hopefully it would get better ...
Help, I'm a Travelling Percival - get me out of here!!!There were 8 of us in our group, us, a lovely French couple called Estelle and Christophe, a nice Bolivian guy called Douglas, 2 horrible German girls whose names we didn't bother to ask and our womanising, drunken guide - Rambo (yes, seriously!) We 'lost' the germans who decided our group was too old and couply for them and thought they would have more fun in a camp of around 70 Israelis ... we later saw them on their own and being ignored (surprise!) - suddenly they wanted to be our friends!
We'd signed up hoping to see some amazing wildlife and on that front we certainly weren't disappointed - lots of animals enjoying their natural habitat completely oblivous to our motorised canoe chugging down the river. It took less that a minute for us to catch our first glimpse of pink river dolphins, not to mention Tucans, Malibu Storks (with identical colours to the bottle), Parrots, Eagles and a whole heap of other birds we don't know the names of. A quick swim with the dolphins and a trip further down the river brought us cute little squirrel monkeys, noisy howler monkeys and even cuter Capucin monkeys - wow, this was turning out to be a great day ...
Until, that is, we arrived at our camp to find there was no room at the inn as the company had overbooked the place. They took us to another 'better' camp down the river - 4 wooden shacks (3 twelve person 'bedrooms' and a 'dining' room), 2 outdoor toilets and rubbish everywhere - nice!
Determined to make the most of things, we went for a sunset drink at a local bar(!) before taking a night canoe trip to search for Crocodile, Alligator and Caymen eyes which glow red in the dark - something that is quite scary when you realise there are 4 of them living in your camp! It was then we met an altogether less welcome creature - the mosquito! Not just one either but thousands who were completely indifferent to our 80% deet 'Bushman', even when mixed with the local 'Off' brand! They even bit Steve's feet - through his socks and trainers!!!!
It was later that night that the real nightmare began however ... too hot and sticky to sleep having covered ourselves with insect repellent, tucked our trousers into our socks, put on the thoughtfully provided long sleeved shirt and crawled under the mosquito nets - only to encounter the nastiest of animal yet - the bedbug!!!
The next day began with some very tired, miserable and itchy people (we had over 300 bites between us - and that was just on our legs!) being woken at 5.30am for a sunrise trip down the river ... which we unfortunately missed as Rambo had gone back to bed to sleep off his hangover, leaving us waiting in the boat! The day got better (not!) with an hour long trek through mosquito infested swampland in search of Anaconda - luckily Rambo neglected to mention the Rattlesnakes and poisonous spiders or Ali would have really freaked out!!!
After a refreshing swim (also our bath for the day!) with the dolphins we went fishing for piranha - about 100m away from our swimming spot! Between us we caught 8 (though Ali caught a sardine!) which we later had for dinner. Later we saw some pretty big crocs on the riverbanks too - perhaps swimming here isn't such a good idea?!
After another night at the camp where Ali seriously considered bribing someone whatever it takes to get her out of there, we awoke to the sound of a family of squirrel monkeys frolicking in the trees outside our shack and suddenly it all seemed worthwhile - though perhaps that's because we were leaving?!
Accommodation and bites aside, it was a fantastic trip and getting to hear the insect chorus at night and see so much wildlife at close quarters is something we will never forget. Plus we met a great couple whose friendship we hope will last a lot longer than Anaconda Tours - the company who run our camp!
'At the copa, copacabana ...'After a brief stop in La Paz to fumigate our clothes, report Anaconda to our agency who in turn reported them to the tourist police, and get a refund (hell hath no fury like an Ali bitten), we headed to the sapphire blue Lake Titicaca for a spot of island hopping and R&R. Overnighting in Copacabana - a lovely little town ruined by hippies - and daytripping to the Isla del Sol - the mythical birthplace of the Inca - we got to see our first (but by no means last) Inca ruins.
And that was that, bye bye Bolivia, a shame as we were really enjoying ourselves! Whilst it is one of the poorest countries we've visited, it has by far some of the most diverse and spectacular scenery we've ever seen, not to mention some of the happiest and friendliest people too.
"...and that stick of dynamite on the right please mate"
"Hubble, Bubble..." - Ali needed a few things for her cauldren
Man Utd v Watford: FA Cup Semi-Final
Cheeky Monkey
....and the red-bellied pirañha.... 
Snake Charmer - oooh errr!
(Isla del Sol, Lake Titicaca, Bolivia - 19/04/07) 
