As it turns out an 8 hour overnight bus on an unsealed road is pretty average in the comfort stakes. When the entertainment is rise of planet of the apes its even more dire. Things did not improve once we arrived in Uyuni; it's hot, dusty, extremely unattractive and void of anything to do, plus it was sunday so everything was shut. Being there had been a public holiday 2 days beforehand there was also no gas in town, meaning no tours seemed to be going. We checked into a very crappy hotel and spent the day watching English movies. Emmett experienced for himself the worst superhero out there, spiderman.

We ended up finding a tour company that didn't seem too crap, Oasis, and signed ourselves up for a 3 day tour. No one had an English guide available so Spanish it was. When we rocked up the next morning I was delighted to find a land cruiser that appeared to originate from this century and a friendly driver/guide and chef. They rode in the first class front seats. 6 of us rotated the back seats, Emmett and I, 3 Brazilian girls and and American girl. All lovely.

Day one was all about the incredible salt flats. White earth as far as the eye can see. Apparently the whole area used to be an inland sea. Due to the never ending whiteness, visual perception is affected, this is where you get the funny photos of people walking out of Pringles tubes and the like. We all had a lot fun playing around there.

A couple of islands dot the salt flats. We stopped at fish island. In the midst of all the white pops up this red island covered in huge cactuses (some over 1000 years old!). Quite the contrast. Climbing around we were puzzled to see little furry wallaby looking things with huge whiskers. Turns out they are Chinchillas. Personally I'd pick somewhere a little more hospitable to live.

The night was spent in a salt hotel. As the name implies salt makes up much of the hotel, the bed base, the tables, lamps and floor. Very cool except for the beyond dry noses we all woke up too.

Day 2 was all about stunning scenery, quite other worldly. Very desert like with volcanos and mountains in every shade of red. The area is dotted with lagoons of various colours due to different minerals. They are also home to flamingos, hundreds of the pretty pink birds. Looking at lagoons filled with flamingos with imposing mountains reflecting off the water is not the worst thing to do with ones day.

Crazy rock formations were also a feature. At around 3pm we found out first hand how they are created; the strongest, coldest wind all while the sun is shining. I had iceland flashbacks and refused to get out of the car. We had also reached some fairly high altitude and the headaches were setting in. Have I mentioned I immensely dislike altitude?

That evening at our very basic dorm we met one of Bolivia's characters, Jimmy, or Oscar, we're still not sure, a super cute 5 year old local. We had just arrived and I was standing at a poster looking at the wildlife in the area. He came and stood in front of me, lifted his arms to the side and said 'up'. I picked him up he took my finger, pointed to the animals and said their name in Spanish. After that we couldn't shake him for hours; played strange games he made up, card games he made up and then he made himself comfortable on my bed and slept. He made me quite sad with his sunburnt cheeks and holey shoes, i just wanted to take him home. I will definitely be sponsoring a child when I get home. Hopefully give another Jimmy a hand in life.

A very, very early morning had us up before dawn. We passed some bubbling geysers before stopping at some hot springs for breakfast. Much too early for me to appreciate any of it. Our car then dropped us off at the border, signified by the lone tin shed one gets their passport stamped out, then it was off to Chile. Bolivia was pretty much summed up by the dirt road (which we'd been on for 3 days) taking us out of the country. It eventually came to an intersection; left Argentina, right Chile, both options were paved roads. Back to civilization!

The road into San Pedro de Atacama headed down over 2000 metres and was surrounded by canyons and rock formations. The town itself is a crazy little place. Literally a couple of dusty streets in the middle of the desert with a whole lot of restaurants, tour operators and shops. Three things were immediately evident; lighter skin, much higher prices and incredible heat. We stayed for a couple of nights, looks like many backpackers have been there for years. Strange place to drop out of society.

There really is so much to do there but much of it is to do with lagoons, mountains and geysers. Being we'd just had 3 days of that we concentrated on food. My favourite places you walked into the restaurant and there was no roof with a bonfire in the middle; eating under the stars by the warm of a bonfire is especially pleasant.

We did try and be good tourists and booked ourselves to do some star gazing. Unfortunately our driver was sick and the French astronomer wouldn't wait 10 minutes for our group as he'd have to change the telescope settings. Jerk. Next day we headed out the death valley and valley of the moon. Some pretty spectacular wild west scenery, but it didn't blow me away when it really should have. Clearly all deserted out; time to head to Argentina.

In all honesty we did totally short change Bolivia which is a little silly considering how cheap it is. We thought of heading up to the Pampas (wetlands) to swim with the pink dolphins (though, let's face it, I wouldn't be getting in the water with them) or booking ourselves on a Che's last days tour. Perhaps Potisi, a silver mining town and also the highest city in the world, or Tupiza, a wild west town where reportedly Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid came unstuck. But after 4 fantastic weeks in Peru and Bolivia we were done with dust and altitude. The race was on to the vibrant cities of Argentina and the relaxing beaches of brazil!