The Bolivian tour can only be described as breath taking! We have never seen landscapes and scenery as beautiful as this and we highly recommend it. Bolivia is never really mentioned much in the guidebook and it definitely should be as it has alot going for it. The three day tour took us to see some lagoons that where a variety of colours: Blue, Red, Green and White with flocks of Flamingos, Some bubbling Geysers, Hot Springs, Rock Valleys, Volcanoes, Train Cemetery, Salvador Dali Desert (which resembles landscapes within Dali paintings) and the wonderfully vast Salt Desert! We were accompanied by a German couple who luckily could speak Spanish as our tour guide knew no English so was able to translate the information for us.

We started day 1 viewing the various Lagoons and Geysers. The White Lagoon, the Green Lagoon and the Red Lagoon complete with hundreds of Flamingos. We also viewed the Geyser field which was bubbling and steaming away. We then relaxed in a nice relaxing hotsprings, Bliss!

Day 2 took us to more Lagoons and also to the Salvador Dali Desert to see the Rock Tree. These are natural rock formations which have been carved by the landscapes and weather over the years. We also viewed a huge Rock Canyon and an active Volcano which was both very amazing.

Day 3 took us to the Train Cemetery, the amazing Salt Desert and the Salt Museum/Hotel.

I can't really say much about each of these places as I would just be repeating myself continuously; It's best looking at the photos as I think they speak for themselves as it truly was very beautiful.

Some interesting things to note about this trip however are:

1) The tour guide: A small Bolivian bloke called George who loved to play us his Bolivian band music. A member of a band called 'Alaska' we now know all the words/tunes to his songs from his repetitive stereo playing. Unfortunately I still can't get the songs out of my head!

We also realised on this trip that they love to race the landrovers against each other; Slipping and sliding over the various sand dunes and valleys etc definitely made this seem like a white knuckle ride. As there are no roads in these areas, only sandy tracks, you are often left in a dust cloud from any passing vehicle. The morning of the Salt Desert tour woke us to a nice 5:30am start in which due to the colder morning temperatures the dust clouds on the roads dont settle as quickly. George actually made the sign of a cross as we went through one dust cloud from a passing car which in turn left him temporarily blind for about 5 seconds. It's a good job the roads are quiet!

2) The Altitude. Cruising to around 5000 metres above sea level definitely takes it's toll. You become easily dizzy and out of breath even walking very short distances. We think we will buy altitude tablets for the Inca trail, just in case!

3) Some interesting facts: The Lagoons are coloured so differently due to micro organisms and minerals within the water. The Salt Desert is around 12000km squared and is expanding every year due to the rain. The salt is around 9 metres deep within the centre and it does taste very salty!

4) Llama is meant to taste great so will soon be on our menu.

5) Bolivia is cheap! About time after Brazil, Argentina and Chile and I bought a lovely handmade Llama wool scarf and Llama salt keyring for under 4quid! Lots of nice souvenirs to choose from and I could easily kit out my winter wardrobe here.

Finishing the trip left us in the small Bolivian town of Uyuni. Due to the size of the town and the lack of things to do here we decided to catch the first bus onwards to La Paz. Unfortunately as my luck would have it I got Ill again straight after purchasing the bus tickets! I think 4 days with no shower, the Altitude, dehydration and tiredness has finally taken it's toll so another 12 hour overnight bus journey tugging very bumpily (to the point where you was often thrown from your seat!) over the Bolivian landscape I barely survived this one and I wasnt a happy bunny upon arrival. A raid of the pharmacy (in Bolivia you can quite literally buy any drug over the counter!) and now holed up relaxing in a lovely hostel in La Paz, and with it being St Patricks day I'm wondering if I'll handle a drink so I can keep up the yearly tradition! Tomorrow, the Witches Market and exploring the city. Exciting! Hayls and Jonathan x