TWO teenagers caught up in violent rioting during a gap year trip to South America have returned home.

As the SNJ reported last month, Saskya Vandoorne, 18, and Rossie Dawes, 19,(corr) both former Westonbirt School pupils, were caught up in the unrest while staying in Bolivia.

Now they are back in Gloucestershire the girls have spoken about their adventure - which included being tear gassed.

Rossie, from Painswick, and Saskya, from Cirencester, began their trip in March in Argentina.

Saskya said: "It was a really beautiful country and it was really diverse."

Then, after a trouble-free stay there, the girls headed to Chile where they had their first experience of tear gas after getting caught up in a student riot.

Rossie said: "We couldn't escape it because suddenly everyone started running towards us.

"There were people falling over everywhere and we could just see smoke - it was just chaos.

"I thought tear gas would just make you cry or something but it was actually really painful, you can't breath because it stings so much."

But by the end of their trip, the friends were in the thick of tear gas so often they were beginning to just think 'here we go again.'

They then headed to Bolivia, where there was a double murder outside their hostel in a small village and protests raged in the capital La Paz over new government taxes.

While in Bolivia, the girls cycled down the world's most dangerous road and visited mines that were so narrow Saskya said she felt extremely claustrophobic.

The girls were then invited by the miners to watch a ritual llama sacrifice. Rossie - a vegetarian - said: "They stuffed the llama mouths with cocoa leaves and poured alcohol over them before slitting their throats.

"It was a really slow death and we had to have blood smeared all over our cheeks.

"We were quite relieved when it was time to leave."

Despite the riots, being tear gassed, bribing guards and witnessing violence and murder, the pair said they had a great time.

The girls, who are both heading to Durham University in September, agreed that despite all their trials they got a lot out of the experience.

Rossie said: "Going away to university won't be so difficult now that we've done this."

Saskya added: "I couldn't even read a bus timetable before we went but because I speak Spanish I had do all the communicating while we were out there, so I became a lot more independent."