We have now made it succesfully into our 7th country (Chile) after an amazing trip over the Salt Flats (Salar de Uyuni) and Bolivian Altiplano in Southern Bolivia.

It's difficult to describe the scenery going over the salt flats but stunning is part way there. We were lucky to get a good group and great driver who whilst he spoke no English was lots of fun to be around. He acted as guide, driver, cook and mechanic (coka cola seems to be good for radiators on old 4x4s....). We had great fun taking the obligatory 'fotos locas' (crazy photos) on the salt flats and got to see sunset (and sunrise the next day) as well as some stargazing over the Salar.

My arthritic joints were given a heavy pounding on the tracks but the scenery, interspersed with erupting volvanoes and beautifully coloured lakes full of flamingoes, kept us well distracted.

We made our transfer by the skin of our teeth as our driver remained "tranquilo tranquilo senor" arriving at the border 10 minutes late for our bus, luckily we are on South American time and so were actually early!

We have now been in the middle of the Atacama desert (a town called San Pedro de Atacama) for 3 nights and have spent the time enjoying the surreal but spectacular landscapes. A 4am start took us to a Geyser field and hot springs and later the same day we took the chance for a stargazing tour which has left our minds rather blown! Luckily the cold desert nights have given Rhian a chance to show off her special move of "i'm wearing everything i own!"

From here we catch a night bus tonight to a beach town further down the coast to soak up some Chilean sun before heading to wine country.