The dreadful sound of alarm ringing in my ear at 2.00am came as bit of a shock, but hey, on the bright side we were off to Bolivia. With no taxis in San Pedro it was a 15 minute trek with our backpacks to the bus terminal through dust and darkness, only the amazing stars shining bright.

A dozen people were already awaiting the 3.00am to Uyuni, two of those being a sound northern couple called Connor and Nicola from the Wirral. Somehow a Korean couple had been locked inside the bus gates and slept in the freezing cold overnight.. later to find out that was their plan to save on accommodation. Madness!

To say the journey to the border was a bit sketchy is an understatement.. the non-English speaking driver and his assistant pulled up in a random spot in absolute darkness, switched off the engine, locked the doors, got in the back with us and went to sleep. Wtf?!

Unable to question what the hell was going on, we sat there dozing for around an hour until the driver woke up and felt like doing his job and setting off again. No idea what that was all about!

The border crossing, once again at high altitude, was a smooth operation but I literally could have smuggled anything into Bolivia. The luggage got a bit of a pat down and that's about it, didn't need to empty my pockets or go through a scanner, nothing of the sort.. on your way son. Passport stamped, Uyuni a few hours away.

It was midday when we arrived to the tiny Bolivian desert town. Thursday was market day and the place was already in full flow.. cars and buses jammed up, people everywhere.. frantic! The place looked liked a bomb site with tat and garments thrown all over the show.. like a Primark Boxing Day sale.. carnage!

One particular stall was just a massive pile of shoes, none of them paired up.. so if you'd lost a shoe this was the shop for you, but if you fancied a matching pair in the same size, you'd better have a bit of time on your hands.

It may have been sunny and warm outside but the hostel we checked in to was insanely cold! Requesting an electric heater was our only saviour from frostbite.

There is only one thing you visit Uyuni for.. to visit the largest salt flat in the world. With nothing else on offer here, booking onto a tour is pretty much your only option.

After having a good crack with Connor and Nicola earlier in the day we arranged to meet up to book onto a day tour together. Most tourists book onto a 3/4 day tour of the salt flats, staying overnight in worse than basic conditions in minus temperatures.. not an option for me, no chance, nada, a one-day tour was enough and thankfully for the others too.

Having struck up a cracking cheap deal with a tour operator we went on to scour the markets and stores for warmer clothing, which was paramount since we were both so unprepared for the cold temperatures in the mornings and evenings.

We ate some decent Mexican food with Connor and Nicola in the evening while teaching Ria about what it was like to grow up in the north of England. Was funny reminiscing about what we used to get up to back in the day.. the similarities between Connor, Nicola and I were uncanny.

Ria had been suffering with altitude sickness throughout the day and hit the sack early in hope of shaking it off before the tour in the morning.. but unfortunately she couldn't.

I left for the day and met up with Connor and Nicola as well as the Korean couple who had booked onto the tour with us. We'd be going out in an 8-seater 4x4 driven by our guide who spoke no English whatsoever. Fortunately a Brazilian couple booked onto the tour at the last minute so I could grab a refund for Ria.

Our guide took us to the old train wrecks just a few minutes drive out of town, to a nearby village where they attempted to sell us a load of crap, and then onto the famous salt flats. I thought I'd be bored here, because after all it's just a mass of land covered in salt but I found the whole place peculiar and interesting, constantly questioning.. how?!

Hundreds, maybe thousands of people come to visit here every day but even though the place is a tourist trap, there are still times where you can find yourself a moment of solace.. the sheer vastness of the flats allows for that.

After dinner (which I'm pretty sure was llama.. so tough it broke my knife!) in a restaurant made of salt where the tables and chairs were also made of salt, we drove at high speed across the flats for well over an hour. It felt like we weren't getting anywhere, almost lost with barely a reference point, just pure white everywhere, to a point where it would make your eyes ache. Our trusty driver kept drifting off, but it didn't matter.. there was nothing for miles around. If you're going to fall asleep at the wheel this is the place to do it.

However, we eventually found our way to a random island of cacti, but on land. Looking even more out of place than the salt flats themselves this rugged land of spikey plants looks like it's literally been dropped out of the sky and plonked in the middle of the salt desert for no apparent reason.. there are several others too. The whole place just doesn't make any sense but that's what I love about it.

I had a bit of time to myself to explore Isla Incahuasi, trekking through coves and caves scattered amongst the thousands of cacti.. some of them were monstrous, as big as houses! Memories of my primary school years spent collecting cacti came flooding back.. don't ask why? There was a fascination there though for some reason.

The panoramic views from the top of 'Cactus Island' over the salt flats and the distant volcanoes were just.. WOW!! Even better that I had a few moments up there by myself to take it all in before a few tourists decided to steal my thunder.

On route back through the white, our driver pulled up in a random spot where there appeared to be pot holes. These pot holes were filled with water, deep water.. were we under a lake? Things didn't seem to add up!

The driver dropped his hand into one of the pot holes, under the water and started digging around until he pulled out a cluster of crystals, perfectly formed in various sized cubes. Again, how? We all began digging after that grabbing ourselves a few souvenirs.

We drove on a little further to our own isolated spot and watched the sun setting over the flats.. another WOW moment, an unforgettable one. The whole place transformed into a gallery of colour, all four corners providing an alternative version to the other. Very special!

The temperature dropped immediately so we jumped back in the 4x4 and called it a day.. and what a day it was!

Back at the hostel, Ria was thankfully feeling much better so we grabbed some food in town and caught an early night.

Our bus to La Paz the following day wasn't until 8.00pm so we had time to kill. An awesome meal at a restaurant called Minuteman Pizza was the highlight.. a curry and coconut soup probably being the best thing I've tasted in South America thus far. Who'd have thought you could get such amazing food in the desert?!

Off on the overnight bus to the capital in a few hours. Looking forward!

Adiós xx