Whistestop tour of Bolivia

I left Cusco heading towards the border with Bolivia. Lake Titicaca is the natural border with both countries claiming half of this lake each. It is the largest freshwater lake in South America and the highest navigatable lake in the world at over 4000m. There are still communities of Uros Indians who live on floating reed islands in the lake and the things they can make out of reeds are truely impressive. We spent the night on the lake staying with local families. In the evening, we were all dressed in traditional clothing and made to dance alot. The boys got of alot easier than the girls- they just had to wear ponchos. Female outfits consist of multiple skirts, shirts, corsets and shawls. We were certainly not cold! I looked very colourful in my heavily embroidered outfit - wait till you see the pictures. After formally crossing the border we headed towards the Bolivian City of La Paz. All of Bolivia is very high - most over 3700m and the towns are all built on the sides of mountains - making walking up and down the streets very difficult. Alas I still hadn´t manage to shake my infection totally, so could not take advantage of the shopping to be had in La Paz.
By the time we got to Potosi though I was completely recovered so I was able to take a trip down the mines. Potosi had a moutain full of silver until the Spaniards discovered in and mined it completely - killing millions of slaves and locals in the process. Mining practices have changed little here in the last couple of hundred years and I watched as the miners dug the minerals out by hand. I also listened apprehensively as the dynamite explosions were going off in the mine whilst we were they. There has been enough Silver taken out of this mine to create a bridge that spans all of South America and reaches Europe. Ironically Bolivia is one of the poorest countries in the world as it was the Europeans who took all the money. Potosi mine is also the largest cemetary in South America with over several million workers buried in the mountain. When the Spaniards first starting forcing people to work in the mines, most only lasted 3 months on average before dying! Standards have improved since them but it is still a haunting experience. I did get to hold some dynamite though, and we blew a stick of it up - all for the grand total of 75 pence! It was great fun though!
After the thrills of blowing things up I headed off for the amazing visually spectacular Uyuni Salt flats - If sunglasses are not worn here you become blind as the reflection off the salt burns the retina - like snow blindness but worse. It is so white and bright here- The salt flats cover a vast distance - the only activity being a couple of towns on the edges where the locals dig out the salt and process it - selling it on to businesses. It some places they have found the salt to be over 50 metres deep. It was here I aso saw the oldest catus in the world - over 1000 years old - very tall it was too.
Bolivia has been a strange country - very high, with Salt flats at one extreme, and the continents largest body of water at the other. It also has the worlds most dangerous road within it but going on my past performance you will be pleased to hear that I was unable to cycle down it. But now I´m fully recovered I will be able to do the next madcap thing - which rumour has it may well be a skydive. Watch this space...