From the driest desert in the world, thru the salt flats above the andes to the highest and the most depressing city in the world...what a journey it`s been in the last 10 days. After the last posting, we went to the oasis in the Atacama desert. The place looked like something out of this world, another planet, maybe what I would imagine the lunar surface to look like. It was weird how there was this real touristy town in the middle of nowhere. We rented bikes and decided to go sand boarding. The bike ride was real tough coz of the altitude (2900meters) and a little bit of exertion was making us dizzy. But sand boarding was rather fun but not an experience I would like to repeat. I can`t say I am a fan of having sand in my chucha (the spanish word for u know what!!)But I did enjoy visiting the inca ruins and the bike riding although at the end of the day I had a very sore and very sandy chucha. Had to put on pants saying ´closed for business´!

Atacama desert was our last stop in Chile and so the next morning we made our way to Bolivia. The Bolivian-Chilean border crossing is the funniest thing I`ve ever seen in my life. It's at approximately 12000ft and there is absolutely nothing there but a little office where they pretend to check ur passport. Anyway, we had our breakfast at this border crossing and set out in 3 4x4's to cross the antiplano (area above the andes) over the next three days. THe drive was breathtaking...green lagoons, red lagoons, white lagoons, flamingoes, llamas!! The pics speak for themselves coz it`s hard to put such beauty in words. We drove and drove for three days, stopping to take pics of these beautiful sites, staying the night in weird villages in the middle of nowhere! Finally after two days of driving we arrived at the salt hotel. This hotel is made of salt bricks...trust me I checked. The walls tasted very salty!! Beautiful hotel..but by this time all of us were exhibiting signs of altitude sickness...tiredness, headache, nausea, vomiting! But the troopers that we are, we drank some hardcore BOlivian alcohol and made the most of the nite. THe next morning started at 4 am to go see the sunrise. It was the most spectacular experience..to be sitting on what used to be an island in the middle of a salt lake and watching the sunrise. Sitting on top of the hill, u could see nothing but salt as far as eye could see. It looked like a sea of salt! Hard to imagine there used to be water and marine life there at one time. Very surreal! But after the sunrise, we set out on one of the longest journey`s of my trip. We drove and drove for hours and arrived in Potosi, the highest city in the world, at 11 pm. The bus that took us to Potosi was so battered that it was a miracle it could even drive on a flat road let alone the heights it was scaling! It was the most nerve wracking journey...sheer cliff on one side and a high mountain on the other, in the dark, with no lights. We were on what could definitely not pass for a road. It was at best a very narrow dirt road with two way traffic and lots of Llamas on it. When we came upon any oncoming traffic, our driver would stop the bus, get out with his flashlight to see how far we were from the edge of the cliff and to see if we were gonna be able to cross without going over the edge. In the end the decision would be made to cross each other real fast and see whatever happens! Gives the term living on the edge a whole new meaning!! I read my book (with a flashlight coz there were no lights inside the bus) to keep myself occupied with something other than the harrowing drive.

Finally, arrived in Potosi, a very dark, depressing, sad city. The city is known for its silver mines and we went to visit these mines, which again would have to be one of the most depressing things I`ve done on my trip so far. THe people working in the mines are as young as 12 y.o. and their average lifespan is about 10 to 20 years. SO, a kid who starts working in the mines at 12 should not expect to live past 30. These people work 12 to 14 hours a day, 7 days a week!! Very sad...went straight from the mines back to the hotel to drown our sorrows in alcohol. Just so happened it was Maharani`s birthday. We had a cake waiting for her and starting drinking at about 5pm. What started as a sad, depressing day ended up being quite a fun filled, eventful day after all. There`s so much we have to thank alcohol for :)

At the moment we are in Sucre, the capital of BOlivia. It`s a much better city than Potosi, especially our hotel. It`s a beautiful, colonial style hotel with a courtyard. Last nite was a crazy nite since we had three birthdays to celebrate. Went out drinking, followed by some real bad drunken karyoking. I can`t believe we actually got up on the stage in a club and sang `girls just wanna have fun`. It was hillarious how all the other people there were so serious about their singing. It was almost like they were auditioning for American Idol or something. But we had a great time and made total asses of ourselves. After that we went to a club and danced till 5 in the morning. Drank too much, and unfortunately smoked too much as well. My lungs and liver are recuperating today. TOmorrow I am finally gonna go jump off a cliff...i mean go paragliding! A little bit scared but mostly looking forward to it. Will keep u posted on how it goes.