Some of the best scenery we've seen has to be the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia. Despite being an incredibly poor country and home to some of the most deceiptful people we've met, the south of Bolivia is beautiful.

For the duration of the 3 day tour of the Salar de Uyuni, along with 4 others we were squished into a 1980's Toyota 4x4. Driving for up to 8 hours a day, the entire route is unpaved yet breathtaking, truly no sign of life for miles, aside from the odd alpaca or flamingo. Our driver, Edgar, assured us he knew the 'roads' like the back of his hand after 16 years of driving the same route, day in, day out. Lucky for us really as he was nearly nodding off behind the wheel!

After 2 nights and 3 days we were full to the brim of sprawling scenery, sounds strange but we did tire of it eventually! So, it was a refreshing change when we arrived in San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. In the middle of the Atacama desert. we were back in warmer climates and in a more civilized nation, woohoo! After weeks of doing very little physical exercise (the altitude in the Andes makes it difficult to even walk down the street!) we had an amazing time sandboarding in the desert, stunning scenery and an exhilarating experience!

We spent a few days chilling and pigging out, before heading south towards the capital, Santiago. We were craving the beach again, so we stopped off at La Serena, a pretty town on the coast. It's autumn here now but still pretty hot, like the August weather in the UK. Still in the desert, we had a great opportunity to go star gazing. Chile is one of the top 4 countries for astronomy meaning the telescopes are huge and the stars are out of this world!!

From La Serena we headed south to Valparaiso, a quirky port town perched on steep hills overlooking the Pacific. The town is decorated with some amazing graffiti but unfortunately is home to most of Chile's stray dog population, walking the streets was like negotiating a dog poo mine field!

Finally, Santiago. Another great South American city. Really cosmopolitan with cool little bars and restaurants - the taste of home we'd been craving. A flying visit here as we return in 6 weeks after our trip to Colombia...