We awoke on day 3 of our 4WD adventure feeling exhausted. No time to lie in though, up and out. Cold start at 7.30am but soon the sun's rays were warming us. We stopped for photos of us riding camel rock, then a short drive to a maze of rock formations known as the lost Italian city. The origin of the name is hard to determine, one version is it resembles the winding streets of an Italian City, another is it was named after an Italian tourist who accidentally got left behind by his tour company, a third is an Italian cycle tourist was trying to find Laguna Colorado and ended up here, he eventually found Laguna Colorado with the help of a llama train! Nicholas said it was time for trekking, but actually it was scrambling. We (except Donna) followed Nicholas up this close to sheer rock wall to reach a narrow crest with frightening drops. Then he climbed higher and showed us how we could pose for photos by hanging off a rock - no thanks. There is no way a tour company in the western world would be allowed to take you up anything like this without a rope, harness and helmet. The descent was precarious - wise move Donna. Next, we stopped at another Laguna to see more flamingos. The lake was frozen and there was only one flamingo, skating about and trying to stay upright. The bonus though was loads of llamas, very close up. How many Lagunas can you do in one day? We had a walk to Laguna Negra and a drive to another where we had lunch Al Fresco. The bottle of red wine was available but there were no takers with the afternoon drive left. The tracks today were brutal, we were shaken to pieces. Nicholas certainly knows his way around, we made endless turns off what seemed barely a track to an even worse and hardly defined track. We always got to our next destination without getting lost or going around in circles. We had an afternoon stop in Julaca, a settlement built around a freight railway line in the desert. The only reason it exists is for whatever they are mining here? It did have a bar though, we tried Cactus beer - delicious. All the children are moving away once they are old enough and who can blame them - there is nothing here. Shortly afterwards we arrived at Chuvica, it was only 3pm - time for a power nap? Our digs just looked like any other ramshackle building on the outside, but inside all the walls, beds, chairs, tables and floors were made of salt (except for the toilets and bathroom). We were staying on the edge of 'Salar de Uyini' the largest salt flat in the world, 4086 square miles that's a lot of salt. At 4.45pm we found out the day wasn't over, we were going back out to watch sunset. We drove onto the salt flats along with every other tour vehicle on a raised road which came to an abrupt halt - and was blocked by a lorry sunk in the salt. In the wet season most of the salt flat acquires a few inches of water and this remains all year round in some parts. What look like huge lakes are easily traversed by 4-wheel drive vehicles (except in the wet season when they only venture around the edge). The done thing seems to be jumping up to be photographed, so we did. Donna went from a feeble jumper to a real Pete Townsend! We wandered around the salt and slush until sunset which was dramatic then hightailed it back to our salt cellar. Hot shower - really hot shower, too hot at times, oh bliss, great to feel clean. For our last dinner Nicholas conjured up a 3-colour alcoholic cocktail, and I ensured a bottle of red wine was opened - we now had two last nights and tonight's. Again, I had a good dinner but Donna's was lousy - good job we brought biscuits and goodies with us just in case. Flora cleaned away the plates, but what to do with the unopened bottle of wine - we had all paid for it after all. Sebastian gave it to Flora, but later Donna caught him collecting it from the kitchen and taking it to their room. Donna stared at him with daggers and he looked very sheepish, but he still disappeared behind their bedroom door with the bottle - not very considerate at all! We had dropped altitude by around 1400 feet, we felt we would sleep well tonight but we had to leave in the morning at 5.30am without breakfast!