the world and to be able to travel with the locals makes it all the more fun. The smell of the bus can get a bit ripe at times though. Who knows what was carried in some of bags that blocked the aisles of bus but they did have a pungent smell to them. There also seems a casual payment system. We had tickets so we had a seat as did many other people. But the bus often gets flagged down and people just get on for a short while, these people don’t sit down and often have a few children clinging to them.

Also what we noticed especially with Bolivia is that gold and silver teeth are very popular. Now we didn’t know if this had anything to do with the rich silver deposits in the country and that it is a fashion thing, or that they just have bad teeth and this is cheapest thing to fix them with. You may smile at the thought of it being a fashion thing but these people seem fiercely proud and

rightly so, they have managed to keep their traditions strong even with the onslaught of the Spanish and the influx of western travellers.

As I was musing over these thoughts whilst listening to my little mp3 player I was shocked to see that George of the Jungle was being shown on the video - what an awful film! I had no intention of listening to it but my mp3 player ran out of batteries so I had no choice. At least the dubbing into Spanish made it a little more amusing! The Bolivians on the other hand thought it was hilarious and you couldn’t help but smile at all the laughter that filled the bus.

The views coming into La Paz were nothing short of stunning. We came in on the high road and to see the city sprawling out in the sunken valley was something else. We also past some of the