still in bolivia

I´m going to apologise now, this will be a long entry, internet is very slow in the smaller towns so I just haven´t bothered.
I don´t know if I´ve mentioned the effects of altitude, I´ve not been effected too much, just a bit breathless and lightheadedness when doing a bit of physical activity, some of the group have been worse but here in bolivia I´ve been at the highest altitude for this tour.
So our first stop in bolivia was a small dusty town called Tupiza, we are now staying in hostels and hotels, no more camping till macchu picchu!
The scenery is getting less dry desert but still quite dusty. There was not much to do in Tupiza, it was just a stop off as the distance to our next stop was too long a drive to be done in one go.
Hello Potosi, one of the highest places we stay at, altitude 4070m it´s one of the highest cities. Potosi used to be an extremely rich mining city, the mines are still functioning today, mainly silver, but I´ll get back to that.
After one night in Potosi we went on to Uyuni, an interesting little town that exists because of a large salt lake nearby. We did an overnight tour, driving across the lake to where they mine the salt, a very primative set up, then on to an island in the middle of the lake that was once coral, millions of years ago, and is now covered in cacti.
The lack of perspective due to the vast expanse of white it is a great way of creating silly photos with warped perspectives. We left our hostel early the next morning to watch the sunrise across the lake, really spectacular made even more so by the fact that there was a thin layer of water across parts of the lake, some amazing reflections as the sun peered up over the horizon. (great photos) It was apparently very rare to have water on the lake so we were quite lucky. Then on to a volcano, we walked part the way up to look at an ancient tomb with mummies in pristine condition, then continued futher up but nowhere near the top as it would take at least 4 hours for the experienced, most of us were well and truely feeling the effects of altitude.
Arriving back at our hotel in Uyuni we spent our last night there celebrating one of the guys from the group´s birthday in the hotels restaurant, a famous pizza place who also do the most amazing pancakes, if anyone ever finds themself in Uyuni ask for Minuteman pizza.
Next was back to Potosi, for two nights, we did a tour of the local mine which was really interesting. Our guide was very knowledgeable, we went to the part of the town where miners purchase all their equipment, including dynamite, 96% alcohol and coca leaves. (essential for miners) We purchased gifts for the miners, as we got to gear up in gumboots and hard hats and actually wander through the working mine, giving the miners cigarettes or coca leaves when we bumped into them.
So as I said I´m in Sucre which is the old capitol of bolivia, it´s a pretty town, there´s some spanish colonial buildings scattered around, the low income of this country is still obvious however. Last night we went out for dinner as a group, the food is much better here than Potosi, the cakes and biscuits found all over south america are always good though.
Tommorrow we drive to La Paz, sounds like there´s some fun to be had there, including a four hour mountain bike ride, or should I say descent as 99% of it is down hill. I´ll let you know how I go.