The adventure continues

Katie and I are sick. We believe the tuna we had for lunch on the last day of our tour made us really sick. So we went to bed after packing and decided to try and hope we are better. We really didn't want to miss our bus to Potosí.

Katie woke up in the middle of the night to throw up and I just couldn't bring myself to do it. We woke up at 7 am hoping to get a good breakfast, but we were still sick. My body was shaking all over due to a fever of about 101 and Katie's stomach was still not up to par. The only thing that got us up and out of bed was that we were going to Potosi on a nice bus.

We barely make it to the bus station and I could barely carry my bag out of the taxi into the office. The lady pretended to be really caring and sweet asking us if we were sick and hoping we would get better. Then she informs us that the bus we paid to take wouldn't actually be in Uyuni until Sunday night, but we could take the normal bus and she would give us the money back. Okay so we spent 17 dollars on a nice bus and the crappy one costs 5 per person, the money wasn't really the issue. It's all we were looking forward to; however, we really didn't like Uyuni so we took the other one instead. We get on a bus that has about only about fifty seats. The seats are a little caved in where your butt goes. There isn't a bathroom, which is a bad thing since I feel like throwing up. And the worst part was that the seats didn't recline. Yeah. I know it sucked. But that's not the worst part....

About an hour into the trip we break down. It was hot and I couldn't stop crying since my body was aching from my fever and just wouldn't calm down. About 20 minutes of working on the bus they got it running again, only for it to break down about 30 minutes later. This time they couldn't get it fixed. Imagine a bus full of Bolivian women all in their traditional dress yelling at the bus driver to just call for another bus and the bus driver telling them he can fix it. I was so ill, I just kept asking Katie for a doctor or something and I couldn't sleep. Finally, she just held me and told me to calm down and talking to me really calmly, I fell asleep.

I woke up just before the next bus arrived and we all switched to the other bus. The breakdown took about 2.5 hours almost 3 according to Katie. And our new bus driver was really crazy, he stopped and yelled at friends at lot in Spanish and the girl behind us thought he was drunk. However, we made it to Potosi around 7 pm last night. The good part was I was able to sleep and so did Katie. During the trip, my fever broke which makes it so much better. Poor Katie has never seen me so sick.

We paid for a room with our own bathroom which was 17 dollars a night, and not per person, that for both of us!!! This way we can get better and not have to worry about running down the hall to the bathroom. We like Potosi so much more already. We are going to stay another night leaving Tuesday morning around 7 am for Sucre. Potosi is already cheaper and much more friendly. However, it's at an increadibly high elevation, 4060 meters which is 13,316 feet. We practically need our own oxygen tanks to carry around.

We are starting to like Bolivia more. We eat for so cheap -- lunch was about 2.7 dollars today. And our fruit was 2 dollars (that's a bag of apples and oranges!). It's great. Oh and I went to the doctor for my chest infection and some altitude pills last night. No perscription needed and I bought cough syrup, antibiotics, a pack of altitude pain killers, and two sticks of halls all for only 15 dollars. Now Amber can go on to getting better!! (The irony being the pharmacist was a chain smoker. There were about 20 butts in the ash tray and she just finished one as we got there. Crazy lifestyle).

The internet is faster here. And cheaper. So we will try to keep in touch. We love you all and miss you lots too.

-- Amber and Katie