worst housing either of us have ever seen. Bolivia is the poorest of all the South American countries and you sure can tell. Some of the housing is atrocious and how these people still manage to smile is a credit to their hardy and resourceful nature. One little boy who had joined the bus was fixated with me and Rob and he would always look away if we looked over at him, but I caught him out and gave him a big smile and he beamed back at me then gave us a big wave when he got off the bus.

Driving into La Paz reminded us of a typical Indian city. Diesel spewing buses, extreme hustle and bustle, horns blowing and people just everywhere. After driving through the poorest part on the outskirts we started to head down the hill and into the city proper. The city suffers from terrible smog due to it being sat in a bowl at the bottom of a very steep valley. Mountains surround it and like I say it

does look breathtaking from afar.

I’m not quite sure where the bus dropped us off so we grabbed a taxi and shared it with another fellow Gringo. We arrived at Arthy’s Guest house and were less than impressed with its surroundings. It was situated on the main road, a 6 lane highway of constantly moving and dirty traffic. Still we’d heard good things about it so kept an open mind. We buzzed the buzzer and were greeted by a very friendly man who it turned out was one of the owners. He invited us in and after climbing the many stairs we arrived at the reception. Wow! It was a tranquil haven, far removed from the hecticness outside. We were shown to our room and instantly got a good vibe from the place. We then headed down to the cash point. We were a little nervous about this as La Paz does have a higher rate of crime than most places in South America but we were fine and we got safely back to