Once we’d had a hot shower though things began to look a little more rosy. Included with the room was a home cooked traditional Bolivian meal, which was delicious, and after a couple of beers from the bar we had all warmed to the place a lot more. The bar was especially amusing - it was in fact a table with a selection of beers at room temperature with an old guy sitting next to it!! The shop was a very similar affair but the shop keeper was actually asleep - check out the photo!! When the bar finally closed this was achieved by an old cloth being draped over the beers and the old guy hobbling off to bed!!

Once the electricity was switched off though the staff had lit loads of candles, and all our previous misgivings disappeared!! The place really did take on a whole new ambience by candlelight and we spent a very pleasant last

evening together listening to a couple of French guys playing guitar - they were fantastic and reminded me very much of the style of guitar that Russ plays in his more mellow moments!! We went to check out the amazing stars outside a few times - the high altitude and lack of light pollution really made for a stunning sky. Then it was finally off to bed for an early night - the next day was our earliest start - in the jeep and ready to go by 5am so that we could get to the Salar to watch the sunrise - apparently one of the highlights of the whole trip!!

---