At 05:45 am we joined a gathering group who were assembling for a 3 day journey into Bolivia and across the Salt Flats (reputedly the largest in the world) to the town of Uyuni. The stories of the trip were legendary, drunk drivers, altitude problems, poor food, poor accommodation and sub-zero temperatures at night - Why wouldn't we want to do it? Twelve of us were loaded into a mini bus along with our luggage and "supplies" of water and food (just in case). W...

Breakfast at 05:45am after arriving back from our night out in Salta at 03.00am, it was a tough start to the day and the bus ride would be 12 hours, climbing to the highest altitude we had yet experienced. After an hour or so we passed the village of Purmamarca at the foot of the La Cuesta de Lipan. Purmamarca is a green oasis with many holiday homes and fruit orchards but it is most famous as the site of the Cerro de Siete Colores (Mountain of Seven Colours)....

Salta was to be our last stop in Argentina and it proved to be quite an interesting one. On the very first day Heather discovered the hill overlooking town but at least it had a gondola to the top (phew) - However, we did walk back down and met several fitness fiends jogging up ….. Crazy people - We went for a beer. We went to the "Museo de Arqueologia de Alta Montana" in search of culture and it proved to be a fascinating museum, their prize exhibit was thre...

We arrived in the town of Puerto Iguazu in the pouring rain, having met Fiona and Ross on the flight (our paths had crossed twice before in El Calafate and Buenos Aires) and we arranged to have dinner and drinks together that evening. The accommodation was above our South American budget at £70 a night but it was luxurious and although a bit extravagant, our currency dealing in Buenos Aires left us feeling the desire for lavish living. The Iguazu Falls are si...

The security check prior to our flight to Buenos Aires proved to be a slight problem as Heather was taken to one side and they discovered she was carrying a knife - Her explanation that it was for cutting meat for sandwiches, was accepted ….. But the knife was confiscated (no more sandwiches)! We stayed in a room in Palermo, one of the better barrios in Buenos Aires, which by chance was located directly over one of the best restaurants in the city (bizarrely ...