So the plan was to get to Uyuni today. I first took a bus to Oruro (4h south of La Paz), from where an express train goes to Uyuni twice a week. Unfortunately the train turned out to be fully booked, so now I find myself needing to take a night bus over bumpy roads. I've bought tickets for two seats, one for Filip and one for C., hopefully that will make it more tolerable and hopefully they won't give me shit for it. We'll arrive in Uyuni at 4am, I hope I don't have to wait for dawn outside in the freezing cold but I'm not counting on it. I'm gonna try to still arrange a tour of the salar plains and set out immediately, but I may well lose a day. In that case I can make sure I'm with a good company though.

Since I have to wait for the night bus here (no bus to Uyuni during the day) I checked out Oruro - nothing to see but not a bad place - and am now using the rest of the day usefully by uploading my best pictures to my gmail account so those are 100% safe at least. Takes ages for each pic on this slow connection but I have the time :)

Now for the medical report. Yesterday evening I got feverish but I took one of the Panadols I have with me and that helped (thanx mom). Had the feeling of having to throw up all night but didn't, and felt okay this morning. Feeling weak and a bit sick again now, but at least it's not getting worse. It's definitely not AMS, I must have eaten or drunk something bad again, bah. Yesterday I decided it was the juice I bought in Tihuanacu so I threw that away and am drinking only water now. I can't eat much but just had half a spaghetti in a vegetarian restaurant here that's ran by Hare Krishna, cool eh? :)

Some good news to finish with. The English guy I shared a room with turned out to be a very nice bloke, had nice chats with him yesterday evening and this morning as well.

Also, I've made a reservation to climb Huayna Potosi, the 6088m mountain near La Paz. Next Friday I have to be back in La Paz (I'm probably gonna skip Sucre and Potosi), Saturday morning I go to the refuge at the base of the mountain. I'll get one day of basic mountaineering training there (crampons, ice axes and roping up) and then the next two days we head for the summit. We'll be sleeping in a tent at 5600m, that's gonna be uhm, an interesting night :)

I'm so looking forward to this for three reasons: 1. I'll do my first real climb on a snow-capped mountain, 2. We should have fantastic views on lake Titicaca, 3. I'll learn and practice the main climbing skills which opens up a whole new world of climbing possibilities (in Europe I'd first have to follow a weekly course for half a year to get to do stuff like this, too much hassle for me). I just hope I get healthy again in time, but I'm optimistic about that.

Alright I'm heading to the bus soon, if I don't update the next four days it means I got on a tour of the Salar de Uyuni right away, otherwise I'll update from Uyuni tomorrow.