We arrived at the office of our tour company a few minutes early and the town was deserted apart from a few stray dogs and a couple of homeless people sleeping it off in shop doorways. There was a little trepidation on our part due to the horror stories we'd heard about bogus tour operators, drunk drivers and sub standard vehicles so when our departure time came and went we started to wonder. Thankfully we were just operating on South American time and by 9am we were loaded up into a minivan for our trip to the border. There were 11 of us in the van so I was hoping there would be two jeeps at the border otherwise it would be a cosy 3 days in a 6 seater jeep!

The exit from Chile was smooth and we then took a 1 hour drive along very scenic roads to the Bolivian border where we met our TWO jeeps and guides.....phew! Immigration was a breeze although the toilet facilities consisting of the rusting shell of an old coach were basic and extremely fragrant to say the least! We were placed into a jeep with four others (from Turkey, Germany and the USA respectively) and our driver Jonny who spoke no English at all. Thankfully our new companions all spoke decent Spanish so translation wasn't a problem although the awkwardness of regularly asking "what did he say?" and "can you just ask him...." merely reinforced the desire to learn Spanish when we got home! The other jeep was filled with a group of young English lads who provided plenty of entertainment through the course of the day as we ploughed along the dirt tracks and rock covered roads and marvelled at the amazing landscapes, lakes and mountains on the drive to our hostel for the night. The itinerary stated that the accomodation was basic and it certainly lived up to it's billing with dodgy food, concrete beds, draughty windows and doors and two resident llamas. Bolivia is one of the world's highest countries and the altitude was proving to be an issue for everyone with headaches, nosebleeds and shortness of breath affecting the whole group. Naturally high altitude means cold temperatures and as the electricity cut out with no warning at 10pm on the dot we all snuggled down fully clothed on our concrete beds as the temperature dropped rapidly. We were told in the morning it was -7 degrees during the night but it felt like double that and the bright sunshine was most welcome in the morning.

To protect against the cold all our beds had big thick woollen blankets covering them which would have filled a backpack on their own so we were a little surprised when the owner of the hostel came in in the morning and accused our group of stealing two blankets. Even the Spanish speakers struggled to convince the guy that it was near impossible to hide the blankets and after 30 minutes of bag searching and finger pointing we were allowed to leave. Needless to say he didn't get a tip! We set off for more bone shaking on the roads and more amazing scenery where the colours and sheer vastness of the country were truly stunning. There was also lots of wildlife along the way and we saw hundreds of flamingoes, llamas and a wide array of different birds. The hostel for our second night was a slight improvement on the previous one and we had the luxury of beds with springs this time although hot water was a little too much to ask for! I joined in with the rest of the group for a game of Phase 10 (a card game from the makers of UNO) which was great fun although rest of the group seemed a little surprised at how competetive the English players were!

Our last day saw our route changed due to flooding in parts of the country so we took the long way round to the salt flats via a fascinating train cemetery in Uyuni. The salt flats (all 200 square km of them) totally lived up to expectations and it was an unforgettable experience to see nothing but white as far as the eye could see in several direction. Due to the recent weather there was about two inches of water on the flats which made for some amazing reflections and made the horizon almost invisible. The English lads had a bagful of toys with them which made for some great photos as we messed around with the perspectives and optical illusions you can achieve in this incredible place. After a couple of hours at the salt flats it was time to say our goodbyes and we were dropped back at Uyuni where we used our trusty Lonely Planet to find a very nice hostel/hotel where the comfortable beds and hot water were very welcome. Uyuni was a very nice town and it felt like we were experiencing the real Bolivia as we wandered through the local markets. A skinned cow's head sitting on the pavement next to a phone box on the walk home merely reinforced the fact! Sarah had been affected by the altitude and was quite poorly so my first job was to head into town to find a pharmacy. Armed with my phrase book (and some comical sign language) I somehow managed to procure the required drugs and returned to our room to tend to the patient. Thankfully the drugs, a good nights sleep and lots of water were enough to have Sarah up and about the next day.

Time was flying by and our original plan of spending four weeks in South America had long since blown apart so we decided to head back to Argentina on our way to our rearranged tour of Iguassu. A night train south to the Argentina/Bolivia border was the first stage of the trip and we boarded the 'luxury' coach at 10pm hoping for a smooth trip. What followed was a slow and jerky trip on possibly the world's slowest train but we arrived roughly on time and set about navigating our way across the border and then on to the Argentinian town of Salta. We left the station at 7.30am and met an old guy selling bus tickets. We followed him to the ticket office and bought two tickets for the 10.30 bus giving ourselves plenty of time to make it across the border. He led us to the border which can only be described as chaotic with hundreds of people milling around and all manner of vehicles crossing the bridge which linked the two border posts. We joined a long queue which snaked it's way to the border post and waited.....and waited......and waited! We were roughly 300m from the door and it took nearly 6 hours to make it inside for the 5 second process of stamping our passport. South American efficiency at it's best! We then had another big queue to negotiate to enter Argentina which ate up another 40 minutes so needless to say we were delighted when we jumped into a taxi to finally take us to the bus station. We'd enjoyed what we'd seen in Bolivia but were glad to be heading back to Argentina with it's 'normal' altitude!