Ah Bolivia ... it sounds so far away and remote doesn't it?

We left Chile on a 4x4 tour across the desert and into Bolivia, past high Andean lagoons and on to the world biggest (and most pretty damn amazing) salt lake.

As we joined our tour Polly announced that she had left her toothpaste in the hotel. Being the wise traveller that he is Pete loudly declared "Don't worry I'm pretty sure you can get one at the boarder". Two hours later we stood on a high mountain pass with a cold wind blowing through us, looking at someone's garden shed - "ah the Chile Bolivian boarder any of you young army types have any toothpaste ... no?"

Once into Bolivia the road ends and for the next three days our path was set out by the 4x4 tracks that had gone before us. It was pretty bumpy going but our driver Alberto saw us right with some narly driving, a big smile and an excellent display of botch up DIY motor mechanics. Honestly next time your radiator breaks ask Kwik Fit if they have explored the Bolivian plastic bag method.

We were joined in our 4x4 by two lovely English sisters (Hi Charlotte & Elly) and a top Dutch guy Koon. We should have also been accompanied by a Korea gentleman Mr. Kim (no joke that was his name "hello my name is Mr. Kim") but at the boarder Mr. Kim was turned back due to his lack of a visa. So instead of being squished 6 into van we were 5. It also meant that we had an extra portion of food and drink at every meal so the toast of the trip was "To Mr. Kim and the frosty Bolivian-South Korean relationship, salute". Anyway Mr. Kim if you're out there ... thank-you.

I digress ... The trip was ace. On the first day we swam in hot springs and stood on the edge of steaming bubbling geysers ... Geography is fun people.

We also stopped by a lagoon and took hundreds of photographs of three lonely flamingos. At this point our driver reassured us we would see "muchos Flamingos'" and you know he was right by day three it was a case of "oh there's another hundred Flamingos" it's quite surprising how something so exciting and special can quickly become common place and boring ... well we are the MTV generation we demand constant entertainment.

One thing that we would never have got bored of was the Salar Unyuni. A giant Salt Lake high in the desert. "What's a Salt Lake?" I hear you ask. Well it's a giant lake of salt - hope that's cleared that up. Oh ok then, basically it's when a sea evaporates rapidly leaving behind a magnificent surface of brilliant white salt. Ok it sounds a bit s*** I admit, but I cannot explain how amazing it was standing on this totally alien surface and looking around and seeing nothing but salt and sky. As you may have picked up, we can occasionally be a little sceptical but this was and is something truly mind blowing. Plus the barren whiteness makes an excellent canvass for novelty photographs, we'll put them up asap but we guarantee you'll be mildly amused.

So anyway it was an awesome trip and so far Bolivia is working out to be a true gem. We even picked up a tube of pasta dentifrica for less than 60p bargain.