Firstly I will apologise about the number of photos……but this has been one of my favourite places………you'll see why

Day 1 - We left the hotel at 6am to make our journey to the Salt Flats in a convey of 4x4s. We made our way out of Uyuni past the train cemetery, which we will visit on the way back. We continued on the dusty bumpy road/dirt tracks and unfortunately passed the remains of a nasty road accident from the night before where the driver died. Once a car passes you on these roads it immediately fills with dust, making it like driving through dense fog, you literally cannot see a thing, you can easily see how accidents could occur on these types of roads.

Our first stop of the day was Rock Valley, which reminded me a bit of monument valley in the US. The rocks all sorts of different shapes and sizes. After a few pictures on various rocks we continued on the dirt track through a little village with tiny houses and a school. We continued to wind through bumpy roads surrounded by more suicidal lamas. The landscape is very baron as we approach Polques. A stunning area with a hot spring and quite a sulphuric smell to it, I wimped out of going in as it was so bloody cold outside, the pictures will show what it was like. Next stop was the geysers.

We hit 4900 m altitude today - the highest we have been so far. I hadn't realised that we were going to see all this extra stuff so a bit of a result! Now, we are in the middle of what can only be described as dessert with no facilities as you would expect, now, coupled with the strong sun and the need to keep drinking to ensure you don't dehydrate and the need to drink to conquer the worsening altitude sickness for me, you need to pee and you need to pee a lot. This has obviously been an issue for other fellow travellers as you can easily work out the best rock (not cactus) to seek shelter behind. Me and another girl in the group were obviously taking our hydration duties too seriously, and literally every stop we made was coupled with a visit to the little girls room, or little girls rock is probably a more apt name. We were then nicknamed the toliet twosome! To be honest the novelty of peeing in the open air was beginning to wear off, especially as later on in the trip I walked behind a rock to find a suitable spot for a quick comfort break and was confronted with some blokes big hairy backside! Not something I want to see again!

Having got over the bathroom dramas we made our to Lagona Colorada. Oh my god I was speechless at the beauty that was before me, and we know that I am not speechless very often - mum and dad enjoy the 3 wks of peace and quiet you have left! I digress, this place is absolutely magnificent, surrounded by stunning colorful mountains, providing a beautiful backdrop the red and algae filled laguna area full of flamingos, it was one of those travelling moments when you just sit very quietly and just watch, I could have stayed here for hours. I wish I'd had my journal so i could have just sat and written down there and then what I saw - just stunning! And one thing that was great was that although it os obviously a must see on the tourist list it wasn't over run with camera wielding tourists pushing and shoving for 'the' shot, people just walked around admiring the view quietly - just as it should be.

We left the Lagona to make our way to our accommodation for the night, this is when it descended into giggling chaos and i nearly blinded the driver with my flash. So in our 4x4 there is Maddy, Amanda, Santi (our lovely CEO) and our driver who we have called Pedro and the slat flats playlist that i was busting out from the backseat with my DJ hat well and truly on in the house/or 4x4 if we are being accurate…. our drivers name isn't actually Pedro but, he didn't know what Santi's name was so called him Pedro, so we have used that name too as after the whole day we didn't feel we could ask again! Poor Santi was made to listen to our really bad music for the whole day, but we think he secretly liked our tunes, although we did get the occasional disapproving look when some dodgy boy or girl band came on. I personally blame my brother, my music library was a direct copy of his!!!!

By the time we had arrived we were crying with laughter, and weren't really sure why, our poor driver was pleased we were getting out of he is 4x4 we think. We were also pleased to find we had running water and a toilet, no more rocks for us for 12hrs! Day 2 - we left at 8 am, and had a very bumpy and rough drive to a volcano, half is Bolivian, the other half sits in chile - Volcano Ollague. The colours of the Volcano looked like the sand ornaments you make as a kid. Surrounding the volcano was lots of rocks all with holes in. The volcano also houses the drug dealer road only used at night.

Next stop a salt flat but not the 'official' one. This one is not so pure white, it's more dusty. Speaking off dust, it's absolutely everywhere!!! We saw mini twisters of dust as we bounced our way through the sand and small green vegetation. As we make our way to the main parts of the salt flats it gets flatter and flatter in between the mountains with mirages appearing frequently . After lunch and use of flushing toilets (we were overjoyed at this prospect) we make our way to the salt flats, we again drive through baron land observing mirages, we look like we are driving into nothing , it's really odd. We enter the salt flats, and it's really strange, you don't feel like you are driving, it's like being in a simulator, with the land moving and not us. It's bloody huge, getting whiter as we drive in, it's 10,000sqkm in total, the shapes in the salt becoming more prominent the further we drive in.

We arrived at the island and made our way to the top, absolutely exhausting due to the altitude. But the views were out of this world! It's difficult to do justice in describing it, it's awesome. Miles and miles of white salt all in hexagon type shapes, it's epic (ah, i found a new word, I've been struggling to find new words for awesome!). We then spent ages messing about doing the perspective photos which was good fun, i think my favourite is the girls and I popping out of my filthy converse! From here we drove to the volcano, our hotel just beneath it, and yes its still active. A very cute little place. We watched the sun set, which was stunning and reflecting off some of the water, once the sun had set, the colour of the sky a complete mix of oranges, reds and above the salt flats pink and blue. Just stunning and possibly the best sun set I've seen! I hope the pictures will convey this, sorry there are loads, but i really had trouble picking - there are loads more on my memory card but i thought this might be enough already :) I then had to go to bed early as the altitude is really getting to me.

Day 3 - Still feeling rough as hell from the altitude, it's not my friend! Trying not to throw up, we depart at half 8, it looked like a winters morning, the sun reflecting off the whiteness of the salt which looked like a dusting of snow. A truly beautiful and a very very special place. We offered the chance for the driver to play his music and was told a flat no , Santi obviously does like our music after all. We make our way across the salt flats you can see the salt twinkling in the sun like small gems. We visited the dakar monument, the old salt hotel and the salt pyramids which is the start of the salt process, it drys for 7 days before it get taken for further processing. Then Hatgate started…….i've currently got 5!!!! We then visited the train cemetery - basically a massive playground for the boys, Santi at many points had his eyes shut whist saying don't jump! We all left without injury. It was then back to the hotel for a shower, the first in the last 4 days! But, it was then pointed out it was our last opportunity for a song, panic ensued, we must pick the right one to finish off our salt flats trip, Here Come The Girls blared out, windows down, sunnies on and with our best singing voiced we serenaded any lucky people that were on the same road as us. Santi's one worded response, REALLY????

So it would be fair to say the Salt Flats were just brilliantly fantastic, a very very special place indeed and I have to say, one of my favourite places! The same evening we were getting on an overnight train that was to get us part of the way to La Paz. The first of the times I was made to jump…again, we pile into the taxis outside, one of the girls then pointed there was a lady in the boot, i missed this completely, then turned around and was met with this a little peruvian lady smiling at me. Talk about heart miss a beat, I jumped out of my skin. Anyway i think i recovered by saying Hola in a very polite way having just sworn!!! The funniest thing was the boys in the front thought it was Sophie in the the boot and wandered why were weren't helping her out, and that when they did open to the boot the poor little old lady had no idea what was happening. On that note we moved into the station……..quickly, then the Saga French contingent arrived, all huffing and puffing we begrudgingly all got up to give up our seats to the silver haired brigade, luckily for us they found another waiting room, normally it wouldn't have been done so begrudgingly but we were all knackered and had over an hour till the train.

We got off the train at 7am having had no sleep and got on the public bus which had been referred to as the worst bus in the world, and yes i think it might of been. We were stopped by the police, the 4 hrs non-stop bus turned into 6hrs non-stop which tested everyones bladder control! Eventually we arrived at the hotel having had some great views of La Paz, we were all knackered. But in true traveller stylee, there is no time to sit about, we were off to the markets to do some exploring, which included stumbling in to the witches market which sold all sorts of weird stuff. We then made our way up on the cable car which gave us some great views, but blimey it was cold up there, slightly concerned I haven't got enough stuff for the inca trail, but we shall see…….Anyway, the vast array of stuff sold by the market sellers was impressive, anything from car parts, foods, sports gear to freshly squeezed juices. I still can't get over the amount of stuff the ladies carry in the material on their backs, and in most cases this is how babies are carried.

After a couple of hours of wandering around we made our way back, you notice that the streets all sell different stuff, so you have a street that is full of baby supplies, then you have the off licence street and then the clothes street. Bit like an open air department store. We then met the rest of the group for our last dinner with Santi, we went to an amazing Thai restaurant, the food delicious and a fun night was had by all. We then had to say our farewells to Santi, Santi has been fab and yet again the groups misses him, and I also owe him a massive thanks for retrieving my cash card. I don't think Santi will ever have a journey across the salt flats again like he did with us……..Here come the girls!

Death Road!!!! Today is the day we take on Death Road, Bolivia'a imfamous road, named this because of the number of deaths on it each year. The road remained the main road up until 9 years ago when an alternative safer route was opened up. If you're a Top Gear fan you'll remember Clarkson driving down this and passing another vehicle with half a wheel hanging over the edge, yeah, not the safest road, and again another activity i thought best not to share with mum before i did it and came back unscathed. 18 cyclists have died on this road. Death Road is now mainly used by tourists on bikes and the tour de france stylee support vans. Its probably a good job that its not that busy when you see the bends, the steepness, the drops and they are massive, and then you see on many bends, crosses, this does make you feel quite uneasy, especially when there are so many. Prior to booking Santi gave us the safety info, which included; it is dangerous, you have to be very very careful, if you go over the edge it is well and truly game over……..permanently! Bloody hell!!!! I was looking forward to this a few days ago. In for a penny in for a pound! Whats the worse that can happen………….hmmmmmm, exactly!

We set off and reach the starting point, we get full helmet, elbow, arm, knee, shin guards, biking trousers and jacket, and managed to attach my go pro, so we looked the part, but for me its more like, 'all the gear - no idea!' We set off on the first section of the tour, this was all tarmac and quite busy, but wasn't too bad just freezing!!! We were starting off 4000m+ high again, my favourite, mr altitude! Then the bit i'd been dreading started, the bumpy gravely, steep and bendy bit, immediately I knew i would be in a whole world of pain the next day, but at least this time I could reach the breaks properly. Ive managed to video the whole thing, so watch this space. We had to stop every 10 mins to give our hands a rest, its surprising how much hard work it was going down hill, my legs were in bits and it was beginning to get very hot, so at the next stop all the layers came off, this was a bit concerning as it you did hit the deck you would lose layers of skin, but hey no different to skating i suppose. We cycled through a water fall which was nice and refreshing, then the downhill stopped and it became flat, the sun was now out in full force and i was beginning to struggle a lot, I'd lost all the group with just the guide at and the back and support van shouting encouragement, i was done! But then i remembered if i didn't finish a)id have the massive hump with myself, no pain no gain, then i remembered the 75mile mark of my 100mile skate and told myself to man up! and b) i wouldnt get my i survived death road t-shirt. so i powered on to the rest of the group and was handed a red bull. Now, for those that know me well will know i absolutely detest red bull, and downed the whole lot. Thats how in need of sugar i was! the good news for me was we only had another 20 mins to go, result!!! Then i got my 2nd wind and that was it i was off, flying down the hill at speed, such fun! It was a great day. The views were spectacular what i saw of them, you spend so much time with your eyes on the rocky road choosing your route that you don't really look up off the road that much, but the pictures will give you an idea.

I do think things are beginning to take their toll, we have been on tour for nearly 30 days and i am absolutely exhausted, a good exhausted though, but the things that id normally be fine with exercise wise are now all beginning to seem harder, or maybe thats just the age thing lol. Either way i plan to fully make the most of the rest of the trip, including the inca trail which I'm excited about but also a bit nervous. I will then collapse when i arrive into Chicago for a rest and winter shopping!