When at home in the Leigh I will occasionally hear the distant murmuring of a turbo propped plane flying over head. It may seem strange to some but I find the sound relaxing - I often wonder where it is heading and who is on board. Little did I known when we booked the flights yesterday that I would be one of those passengers setting off on an exciting three day adventure to Uyuni. We arrived in good time to La Paz airport only to be confused by the boarding process. Luckily we were helped by a kind local who pointed us in the right direction. Our tickets had gate 7a printed on them - however we found ourselves boarding through gate 7b. Apparently it is common practice in Bolivia to confuse people and over complicate everything. We both walked across the runway expecting to board a Boeing of some description, however our plane was to be very small with two rows of seats either side a narrow aisle. As we boarded we both had a look of trepidation on our faces as we took our seats. It was at the point the propped engines started that I realised we were on the same type of plane that I always hear back in the UK. I was now to be that mystery traveller setting of on an exotic adventure.

After a short flight we were in Uyuni where we were met by our guide. Interesting we noted that there didn't seem to be a company name on the vehicle. We drove a short distance into town to an office marked Kanaku Tours - hmmm this isn't Tourism Bolivia Peru?! We quickly discovered that Kanaku Tours would be our hosts for the next three days - so much for fastidious planning! As we waited for the tour to start we were joined by an English couple and two Spanish guys that were to be our travelling companions for the next three days. We loaded our kit into a large Toyota land cruiser and set off on our tour. The weather was sunny with a light nip in the air. Our first stop was to be a train graveyard set to one side of the Uyuni to Chile main railway line. The graveyard consisted of two lines of old steam locomotives back to back. Their paint long gone they now stood redundant adorned with foreign graffiti. Foaming at the mouth I began to snap away like a man possessed. This was a visual feast... boiler boxes, old engine rooms, wheels half burred in the sand, rusting metal and the odd bit of scrub. We spent 30 minutes snapping away before moving on to our next stop.

We bobbed along buffeting from one side of the track to the other. Roads didn't exist in this area, hence the 4x4. It took me a while to adjust to the track roads and I watched the driver with judgemental eyes as he gently navigated the vehicle over rough terrain - to my relief he looked like a safe driver. We made a pointless stop at a little village (a ploy to get us to buy more tat) before heading on to the salt flats. I was astonished at how bright the salt was - even with sunglasses I was squinting. We saw how the locals mine the salt leaving it to dry in large piles before receiving 8 Bolivianos for 50kg... that's 80p! We then drove to a salt hotel which didn't really impress me. However there was a local band shooting a pop video which was hilarious and surreal.

For me the highlight of the day was Incahuasi island set in the heart of the salt flats. We took a leisurely walk around the island snapping every golden photo opportunity. The sun was blazing against the blue sky and the whole island looked magical. In the distant we could see huge mountains - this truly was a visual feast. After our walk we took several 'perspective' photos on the salt flats. Everyone was possessed with the same desire to get that comical shot to post on their blogs - check ours out! We then set off stopping once for some more shots before reaching our final destination for the night. The hostel was very basic with sand floors and walls. We enjoyed tea and biscuits with our travelling buddies before having a hearty meal later in the evening. The hotel wasn't as cold as we had been warned and given the fact we were sharing a room with the two Spanish guys the combined body kept the room warm. Before bed we all ventured outside to take in the stars. The night sky seemed to shimmer as the stars twinkled - this must have been due to the thinner air at altitude as I hadn't seen a sky like this at home. We turned in for the night, contented by the days activities... another 6 am start tomorrow!