We got a taste of Bolivia`s far southwest by doing a three day jeep tour. The diversity of the terrain is phenomenal, some of the bleakest terrain on earth. The surreal landscape is nearly treeless, punctuated by gentle hills and volcanoes, with stunning lakes dotted at various intervals. Among them is Laguna Verde, a beautiful emerald green lake situated at 5,000 metres above sea level. All the lakes are inhabited by beautiful pink flamingos and other bird species. It`s incredible that these creatures are able to live in such an untamed and inhospitable wilderness. We drove across the amazing Salar de Uyuni, which covers an area of 12,000 sq km. It is the worlds` largest salt flat and looks like a hallucinogenic salt desert. On it sits Isla de los Pescadores, an island in the middle of the salt plane, bearing large stands of cacti. The landscape is a dream scape of mirages and unfathomable distances. It was a fantastic experience. Not wanting to waste any time in Uyuni, as there is not much to do there, we hightailed it to La Paz, the worlds highest capital city that sits at 3660 metres above sea level. the altitude literally takes your breath away. You end up walking really slowly. Not only because of the altitude but also because the streets are really steep. Residential areas fill the bowl and climb the walls of a gaping canyon, some clinging dangerously to the canyon lip. The whole city looks very chaotic from a distance. It was from here that we planned the next leg of our journey to the amazon basin for a bit of a jungle adventure. As our budget had taken a bit of a beating, we opted for the 18 hour, GBP5 bus journey instead of the 45 minute flight for GBP50 to Rurrenabaque. We had heard about "Death Road" but we only found out 5 minutes before getting on the bus that this was the road we would be travelling on. The first three hours were nail bitingly tense as we journeyed along a narrow dirt road carved into the side of the mountain, with sheer drops into a deep ravine. Crosses could be seen all along the path as the bus meandered it´s way dangerously close to the edge and wrecks could be seen closer towards the bottom. That experience was more than enough for one lifetime. No matter what the cost we would be flying back. We arrived in Rurrenabaque and jumped into a canoe like boat with three Irish girls and our guide called Fernando. We cruised along the Rio Yacuma and spotted a lot of wildlife. We saw caymans, alligators, cabybara (which look like giant hamsters) and birds galore. From toucans, kingfishers, paradise birds to grey harrows. An ornithologists dream. The next day we went on a four hour trek through swampy marshes in search of anacondas. Our guide was more disappointed than we were not to find any. We were just relieved to get out of the smelly swamps. That afternoon we went fishing for piranhas. We caught about eight, so guess what was for dinner that night. They are really small and innocent looking but do not be fooled, they have razor sharp teeth and devoured the meat (bait) we were using in seconds. On our last day the weather turned but that didn't´t stop us from swimming with pink dolphins and those friendly piranhas. We got back into the boat and 20 metres upstream spotted alligators. Our guide assured us that alligators and dolphins don´t swim together but one has to wonder how safe swimming in that water really is. The trip was adventure packed and thrilling and we had a drinking session back in Rurrenabaque to celebrate our survival against the elements. Due to the rain all the flights to La Paz were cancelled, leaving a back log of people stranded for the past two days. We grudgingly found ourselves hiring a jeep and driving back to La Paz via "Death Road" for the second time. Hopefully never to be repeated again. Back in La Paz we went to Valle de la Luna which is a bizarrely eroded maze of canyons and pinnacles. We also wandered through the colourful markets including the eary witches market where you can purchase anything from llama foetuses to tacky love ornaments for those singletons wishing to get hitched within a year. As we were heading towards Peru, our next stop was Copacabana on stunning Lake Titicaca which straddles both the Bolivian and Peruvian boarder. We had a relaxing time on Isla Del Sol, visiting a few Inca ruins and being spat on by a cheeky llama. The legend behind the island is that it is the Inca creation site and is the birthplace of the sun in Inca mythology. Unfortunately the sublime sunrise and sunset were a no show due to the bad weather.