Dynamite, dinosaurs, despair and darn beautiful sights!

The last week has been kind of a blur. Swaying back and forth on a rocking chair in a bright orange room, with the smells of 2 French people cooking bacon and Lost on the TV, I finally have the time to write down the week events that could potentially change my life!

The week has been filled with excitement, confusion, disaster, despair, lots of tears, lots of laughs and total amazement. A week ago, I was laid out in a bed in central Bolivia having blood tests, 5 days ago I was on a night bus in extreme pain hiding the smells of a tummy upset, 4 days ago Terry was climbing through the highest mine in the world and blowing things up, 3 days ago I was walking across lakes made of salt in awe of the magic it presented, 2 days ago I was cruising in a 4x4 watching flamingos search for their dinner in the bright blue lagoons of Uyuni and 1 day ago I was in the set of a ´saw´ horror movie having electric impulses pushed through my brain. Who else can say they have had such a diverse week?!

Bolivia was completed on a high. Crawling through the mines of Potosi, the highest of its kind in the world, watching thousands of men breathing in asbestos and other just as life threatening diseases, to do everything they can to make a Boliviano for their families was inspiring yet overwhelming to see. Terry blew up dynamite and dressed in bright yellow overalls pretending to work for a few hours, amazing fun as you can imagine for Mr. enthusiastic. I recovered from probably the worst night of my life in yet again probably the highest hostel in the world.

From Potosi we moved on, with our new travel buddies Sam and Ade, to Uyuni, the home of the Salt flats and the classic salt flat ´must do´ photos.

Six of us all jumped into a brand new 4x4 and headed to the train cemetery, attempting to translate what the driver was telling us to the rest of the car in my dodgy Spanish. After the train cemetery we headed into the heart of the trip, the salt flats. The heat was pounding down on all of us as it bounced off the white floor and back into our faces. Scorching. We all tried to get the classic picture of us standing on marmite jars and Pringles and then headed to our hostel for the night..of course all made out of salt. A night of cards and beers followed and an early knock on our doors arose us to day 2.

(That dinosaur was seriously scary!!)

Day 2 was spent catching flies..with our mouths wide open in awe of our surroundings...molten lava everywhere, desert sands, volcanoes, colourful lagoons and flamingos. The wind picked right up too and any attempt to walk around the lagoon was met with a faceful of sand and sometimes even rocks. Two steps ended up feeling like five miles. But it was worth it. Our new number one most beautiful place in the world goes to…….the red lagoon and volcano alley in Bolivia.

Day 3 was spent waking up at literally the crack of dawn, freezing cold to the bone, stripping off to our underwear and lazing in the thermal baths the local volcanoes had provided. We saw geysers as high as two Terrys and more amazing landscapes only pictures can describe.

We managed to book ourselves on the next train to Argentina and said our goodbyes to our lovely travelling buddies Sam and Ade as they headed north to Peru.

Welcome to Argentina! Argentina looks different, smells different and does everything different. Bus prices are fixed, wine is served, music is loud and proud, no one bargains or haggles with you and everything is double the price of Bolivia. Hmmm…a bit of a shock to our systems, oh and it rained for the whole 8 hours to Salta.

We have been in Salta for what seems like forever now, well 5 days to be exact but in travelling terms that’s a lifetime, we actually have things on our bedside table now and food in the kitchen. What is going on I hear you say...well Argentina has presented itself to be the place where I have had to have tests on my wonderful brain. Having had a random seizure in La Paz (cant call it a fit to the fact that people use the word fit for when you are angry so a website tells me) I was sent to see the lovely Dr Emilio Benitez in the neurology department on Salta.

Then as described above the horror movie scenario began and I was tied to the oldest chair in Argentina and had electricity glued to my head to read my brain. Consequently I was informed, all in Spanish, I may have epilepsy. As you can imagine, tests, epilepsy, abnormalities in my brain and the fact that no one spoke English, made me extremely uncomfortable. Not only my brain but my Spanish was also put to the test. I am having more tests tomorrow to determine whether we should come home or not. It´s in my opinion to finish our trip as we had always planned, sunning ourselves in Rio. Life’s too short to worry about tomorrow and plus we should always do as an wonderful friend in New Zealand once told me,

Always rejoice in the impossibilities, the incompletions, from within which alone the future is shaped and given meaning. Listen to the whisper of the thunder on a distant shore...

The IIama wanted to say goodbye...