Arriving in La Paz

Our 11 hour overnight bus journey from Uyuni to La Paz didn't depart until 8pm, so I spent that day lounging around the town, reading, using the Internet and watching passing brass bands (they were practising for a big religious festival the following week).

We'd waited a couple of days in Uyuni as Sarah was still feeling a bit sick, although the morning we left she had a bit of a panic attack about her stomach cramps and rushed herself to hospital in a taxi (which turned out to be just 300m metres down the road!). After a couple of jabs and a prescription for anti-cramp and antibiotics she calmed down completely and was fine for the rest of the day (all the pharmacies were closed for the whole afternoon, it being Sunday, so she didn't get the drugs until much later that evening).

So anyway the bus journey started out pretty well really with the bus being quite comfortable (we had seats right at the very front of the bus on the top level, but being overnight meant we only had a view in the early morning). The bus also left pretty much on time, but the road for the first few hours was in really bad condition, being basically just a very bumpy sand track.

Another few hours into the journey and I started feeling a bit dicky myself. Luckily the rest stop came up before I felt anywhere near needing an emergency toilet stop, but after we set off again I gradually felt worse (basically just a very mild case of the runs, which Sarah had had the previous few days). It turned out that there were no more rest stops for the remaining 5 hours of the journey, but I managed to get a few hours sleep and hold myself together, so to speak!
But the last 2 hours of the journey were quite a nightmare, as the high-altitude cold really kicked in. We'd been given heavy blankets, as the bus was completely unheated, but it was our feet that were really getting painfully cold by the time we arrived on the outskirts of La Paz. It was an amazing relief to arrive at the bus station at 7am, use the toilet and start walking towards the hostels to try and get some warmt into my feet.

After checking a couple of worryingly expensive hostels we came across La Solario (appropriately enough), which is a real treat of a place. It's very central, very cheap, very comfortable, very quiet and has free Internet. So we've been relaxing here for the past 5 days.