a bolivian drive and a bolivian winter

So you might be wondering why we are blogging so soon when we have just recently done so., perhaps something catastrophic happened... Actually it is ripping cold outside, as well as in our hostel and this internet cafe is wam so here we are.
So to start when the lonely planet "strongly suggests" taking a train because the bus is bad they mean it(as well as a friend who had the unfortunate experience). We boarded our bus at 8pm in oruro, popped some gravol and settled in for a good ride. I was expecting switchbacks and craziness(which we were used to) but was actually surprised to find it rather tranquil and we soon fell asleep. All of the sudden we were awoken from our sleep by an earthquake of unbelievable magnitude. I quickly realized that there was not in fact an earthquake but only an infamous bolivian gravel road. This destructive washboard road rattled us untill it felt like our lungs were all mixed up in the bottoms of our stomach. Everynow and then we would get a small break (which we hoped was the end) and seemingly each time the earthquake would begin again. The funny thing is that the locals didnt seem to mind one bit, and as the bus was oversold as ussual they were comfortably sleeping in the seats as well as the aisles.
The bus ride itself was really cold(even with the help of our sleeping bags) and when we arrived we found that it was -13 explaining the cold ride. We grabbed a taxi with some cool germans we had met at the train station and searched for a hostel(at 4 in the morning). Thankfully we found a bed and curled up for a few hours. This is an interesting town, which would probably be a ghosttown except for the tourist draw of the salar salt plains. It is quite and a bit rundown but at the same time safe and easy to explore. We are going into their winter and the temperatures drop to -12 to -20 at night which is chilly considering they dont have much indoor heating. So needless to say Liana and I hit up the market today for some much needed warm alpaca socks, mits, and scarfs. We also booked a three day tour of the salt plains leaving tomorrow morning and are quite excited. Liana(although a canadian) is somewhat nervous as to the cold temperatures as they are exceptionally cold in the barren salt plains with no escaping the cold.