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With little to keep us in Uyuni we decided to take a longer route to La Paz visiting Potosi and Sucre on the way. Potosi is built around the Cerro Rico mountain and at 4060m above sea level it’s the highest city in the world and another UNESCO site. Despite acclimatising in the Salar we were still quickly exhausted climbing the stairs of our hostel and spent most of our time walking around at snail’s pace. Potosi was once of the most important city in Spain’s South American colonies due to vast amounts of silver discovered in the mountain. The silver is now long gone but mining is still performed for the many minerals found inside. The working conditions haven’t changed much since colonial times and the life-expectancy for miner’s is usually 35-40 due to silicosis of the lungs. Tours of the mine are available but we decided against taking one feeling it was a bit inappropriate, not to mention the fact that Helen is petrified of small spaces. Everyone here chews coco leaves for every imaginable ailment so we had a try but after enduring 45 minutes of it’s foul taste the old side effect seemed to be a numb throat.

On to Sucre we were greeted us with even more impressive colonial architecture. If there is one thing that the Bolivians do well it’s a Plaza and here was it’s jewel in the crown with immaculate gardens and fountains; it’s the real heart of the town. There was such a nice mix of women in traditional dress with bowler hats feeding birds, teenagers snogging and little kids hassling you to clean your shoes, that we happily sat and watched the world go by. We visited a traditional weaving museum and watched on as women created intricate patterns which made us appreciate why the work in the shop cost so much money.

After a few ropey buses our next to Le Paz exceeded all expectations. With Argentine style cama-suite booths we slept all the way to the capital. Le Paz is a hilly and hectic city with buildings clinging to every steep incline. We stayed right by the witches market that sold all types of souvenirs and a wide selection of dried baby llama foetus - yum! Between a lively reunion with our salt flat buddies and a cinema trip to see the latest Harry Potter film we mooched around the city taking in the local sights.