Well! We are now in Santa Cruz (Bolivia, not California). We flew here this morning in a tiny 21 seat plane having had a fantastic experience on a three day trip through salt flats, mountain ranges and desert.

Day 1 was spent travelling across the immense salt flat near Uyuni which cover an area of just over 10,000 square kilometres making them the largest salt flats in the world. Formed when an enormous lake evaporated 12,000 years ago the salt extends to depths of up to 120 metres. In the dry season, which is now, the top 10-20 cm forms a hard crust which can safely be driven on. The salt cracks into polygonal shapes giving the whole area the appearance of a giant honeycomb.

The salt is very white and when we did a short cycle ride it was hard to avoid thinking we were on ice because it is incredibly flat and as there is virtually no horizon, depth and perspective become meaningless. 'Islands' poke up through the salt and they could be 500 m away or 500 km - it is impossible to tell. This makes it the ideal place to take 'funny' photos. So, for example, by placing a model of Godzilla close to the camera and then forming a line of people further away it can seem as if they are being chased by a huge monster. The best one we made was when our guide got us dancing and appearing to jump into a Pringles can. The effect was surreal.

Fun and games aside we visited an island made out of fossilised coral and covered in huge cacti, some hundreds of years old and stupendous views of the surrounding snow capped, and now extinct, volcanoes.

After a night in a hotel just off the salt flats (I use the word loosely but under several blankets it was at least warm - it gets very cold here once the sun goes down) we drove for a view of Ollague, Bolivia's only active volcano, and then through some very rough terrain to a series of lagoons. Incredibly we passed two groups of cyclists en-route to Chile, the hard way. I can't imagine cycling a heavily laden bike at an altitude of over 4,000m, in temperatures of up to 30 deg in the sun, into a very strong head wind and across very rough, and sometimes very sandy tracks that are barely passable in a 4x4. Chapeau!

The lagoons are all of different colours - green, blue, white, red, depending on the minerals present, the bacteria and algae in the lagoon and the state of the wind. They are all home to flamingos. Three species of these weird birds - Chilean, Andean and, my favourite, James, which was once thought to be extinct - inhabit the high altiplano and we saw several thousand altogether. The most spectacular lagoon is the aptly named 'Red' which is a deep red, almost crimson colour.

From there via some geysers we went to our second hostel. Much more basic than the first night's accommodation but located very near a thermal spring so we ended the evening sitting in a hot pool watching the stars. Pretty special.

On the last day we visited the 'Salvador Dali desert' which strange shaped rocks appear in some of his paintings, although he never visited Bolivia. Then onto the Green lagoon overlooked by Volcan Licancabur, 5868m high, which sits on the border with Chile. Here most of the group we were travelling with left to cross into Chile whilst we drove back to Uyuni stopping to walk through a spectacular lava field to yet another lagoon. No flamingos this time but plenty of wildfowl and llamas grazing the surrounding grassland.

All-in-all it was an amazing three days. I have to praise the company we went with, Quechua Connection, and especially our driver, Jaime. If you look on Trip Advisor there are lots of reports about poor tour companies and drunk drivers but we were well looked after and never felt unsafe. If you are ever in Bolivia I would say this trip is a must and at $180 each incredible value for money. I just wish I could post more photos from the trip but the limitations of the blog make this difficult.

Now we are in Santa Cruz and adjusting to a semi-tropical climate. It is quite a relief to be down from an altitude where even the simplest task leaves you breathless and you are always trying to escape the cutting wind that makes it seem like the temperature is well below freezing, even in the bright sunshine. Here it is 28 degrees and we can hear parakeets and monkeys in the trees surrounding our amazing hotel (look at Kate's pictures on Facebook). From here we travel for three days by train, bus and plane to get to Cuiaba where we start a tour of the Pantanal wetlands.