P-A-R-T-Y-!

Today was the 2011 Pacena Parade in La Paz and it was so much fun. The parade began at 9am and the morning and lasted until midnight. We spent hours sitting and watching all the bands and people dressed up in costumes and traditional dress. They would even get you to join in and dance with them as they passed. It was such a good day.

Geysers and hot, hot springs.

Day 3. We visited the sulphur geysers (which smelt like rotting eggs) in the morning and then Zak took a swim in the hot thermal springs. Then we stopped off at a few more spectacular sites before ending the tour and heading back to Uyuni to catch a bus back to La Paz.

Wow.

Day 2. After spending the night in a hotel made entirely from salt we moved on into the National park and spent the day driving from one spot to the other. And the landscape was nothing short of spectacular. One minute you'd be by a lake, the next at the bottom of a mountain, or driving over cold volcanic lava and baron desert. The terrain just kept on changing!

It's not snow, it's salt!

Still Day 1 of the tour and after a short stop in the salt mining town of Colchani we took the 4wd out onto the worlds largest salt flats. Here the salt is dug from the plane into piles weighing a ton each, and left to dry in the sun before transported to the refinery. It really did feel like we were surrounded by snow.

R.I.P Thomas.

Day 1. The first stop on the tour was to the Train Graveyard which was full of old, abandoned steam locomotives that used to run along the railways from Bolivia to Chile. Great for climbing on and taking photographs.

4 wd, 3 days, 2 nights, 1 amazing experience.

We got an overnight bus from La Paz to Uyuni and to say it was an uncomfortable ride would be an understatement. Luckily for us this was the worst part of what was to be an awesome 3 days travelling around the salt planes and national parks of Bolivia. But don't be fooled by the sun in any of our pictures ... it was freezing cold!

Cochabamba.

We left Santa Cruz and made our way up into the hills to Cochabamba. It is a very pretty place but not really meant for tourists so after a day or so we decided to move on. As we prepared to leave we found that all the roads had been blocked and we could not travel by bus. Luckily we managed to get onto a flight to La Paz and arrived later in the day.

The real macaw.

Today we spent the day at the Guembe Biocentre Resort in Santa Cruz. The weather was great so we (mostly Zak) had a swim in the rock pools. We also took a stroll through the bird and butterfly sanctuarys and seen other wildlife like monkeys, turtles and other native animals.

Casa de Fitze.

We arrived in Santa Cruz, Bolivia and spent a week staying with Miriam, Sammy and their three beautiful little girls. They spoiled us rotten and took us quad biking, horse riding and much more. We had such a great time there with their friends and family and can't thank them enough for their generosity.

Obrigado Brazil.

2 amazing weeks in Brazil, full of Rio de Janeiro, caipirinhas, sports socks, Zona Sul, por Kilo, Buzios, Pete and Rowena, pick pockets, the cold from hell, Bob's burgers, havianas, Oi!, Jesus, tresty five, favela taxis and a whole lot of samba. Good times! 

Favela forever.

Today we took a trip to Rocinha, which is the only favela (or slum) in Rio still run solely by the drug lords and where the local police have no jurisdiction whatsoever. We were taken to the top of the hill on taxi bikes then we walked through the narrow streets stopping off to see the locals on the way. The people here live in poverty but were some of the happiest and friendliest people we have ever met. It was an awesome and very humbling experience.

Sugar Loaf mountain.

Later in the day we took the cable car up to Sugar Loaf mountain in the middle of Rio. The cable cars take you up around 400m in only a few minutes. We went up as the sun was setting and we were lucky enough that it was a clear, sunny day and the views were amazing.

Lapa steps.

We took the bus to the suburb of Lapa to the famous tiled steps. The steps are approx. 230m long and made out of more than 2000 brightly coloured tiles sent from all over the world and placed together by a local artist who devotes his life to upkeeping the steps. If you ever get the chance to come here be sure to visit him as he is a very interesting character.