Bloomin` Bolivian Buses

We`re now in a place called Cochabamba where we arrived yesterday by bus.
La Paz was quite an uneventful few days for us to be honest, for a few reasons.
We were both ill with cold`s (me worse than Matt) the altitude, the pollution from the cars and we were both feeling a bit homesick.
We tried to make the most of it, but it was a struggle as it it such a hilly place and all of the above did nothing to help our spirits.
We were in a great Hostal (4*) though with cable TV and hot water 24hrs, which as any traveller will vouch for is an absolute bonus!!
We took a cab yesterday morning to the bus terminal, and within seconds of arriving were escorted to the bus ticket office and sold our tickets for the 10.30 bus, it was 10.35 at this point!
We didn`t think too much of the time as I don`t think we have got away on time yet, so we idled about, got a drink, paid our departure tax(!) and started ambling towards the gate where we needed to be.
Once we got through we saw our bus about to pull away (typical) so we started hurtling towards it, trying to establish that it was the correct bus and that our backpacks had been loaded onto it.
We were just told to get on the bus (Vamos!!) by the driver as they obviously wanted to be away.
I couldn`t help but think the worst at this point (being Friday 13th too) and started to worry that our bags hadn`t been loaded, anyway they had luckily.
The bus was to take 6 hours from La Paz to Cochabamba, 8.5 hours later we stepped off, this was after we had to stop 3 times as there was some kind of problem with the bus, and again there are no breakdown services or roadside assistance in The Andes, you just have to hope that the driver knows something about buses, other than where the steering wheel and the loud pedal are!
The bus was horrible, again it was filthy, full of locals and their offspring (of which there were many) and it stank of the deep fried chicken that they clog their arteries with day in day out.
There was no leg room either and the people who were in front of us reclined their seats for the duration, which meant that their heads were literally in our laps.
It was bad enough for me, but I did feel for Matt who is a good few inches longer than me in the leg department, he put on a brave face :-)
We didnt have a hostal booked but we had managed to pick out a decent one from our Rough Guide, which was only a couple of blocks from the bus station (no taxi required) we did struggle to find it though as the place was absolutely packed, and NONE of the streets had name plates.
Matt asked one of the locals eventually where the street was, and luckily we were heading in the right direction.
Tomorrow we take the night bus to Sucre, booking the tickets for this journey was an experience in itself, but I can`t be bothered to go into detail.
It`s another mammoth bus ride (12 hours) but hopefully we will be able to sleep most of it.
We`ve not done a great deal since we arrived in Bolivia, but then we never really planned to see that much here, we are visiting the silver mines in Potosi later this week and then we go to a place called Uyuni where we will go on an organised trip to see the Salt Flats after this we will cross into Chile, which will mean 3 down two to go!!