The rain is still teeming down as we arrive at the Bus Area with Chris in Unyuni, and we realize the bus has not arrived. Avan tells Chris not to wait, he has all ready provided much appreciated assistance, and we squeeze into the bus office with the rest of the passengers out of the rain. Eventually the Bus arrives and we set off on a very uncomfortable 13 hour trip to La Paz. There is no room between the seats at the start, but when the people in front reclined...

Feliz Navidat! Feliz Navidat!Can you beat Antarctica? We did today, in humble little Uyuni, Bolivia on Christmas Day.  As a group of 11 privileged Western travellers, we filed into a little whitewashed building , with squeaky wooden floors carrying 30 brightly coloured backpacks and our own Santa in tow. In front of us was a Nativity scene and home made Christmas decorations. Santa (aka Lance from Australia) sat out the front and we spread ourselves out around...

With excitement, but also a touch of trepidation, we view the old dusty Toyota Land cruiser that will be our transport for the next three days between San Pedro Atacama in Chile to Uyuni in Bolivia. There are 12 of us and two vehicles meaning seven, plus the driver in each vehicle. I just know with my short legs I will be in the "back back" as our kids used to call the extra two seats in the back of 4WD's. Our fellow travellers are a mixed bunch of independen...

It is 4am in the morning (why do tours always have to start so damn early!!) and the bus is rattling and shaking over unpaved and uneven roads climbing switchbacks to the very high El Taito Geysers. At 4,300 metres these are the world's highest geyser field. Most of the bus people are asleep for the two hour journey, huddled under supplied blankets. They don't know what they are missing - there out the window of the bus we are watching         ...

In the pitch black pre dawn hour of 6.00am we stumbled out of our hire car along with Brian the Canadian and Marina the Spaniard and followed a little procession of a dozen or so waving flashlights. Marina had the only light between the four of us but as we neared the grassy knoll where the other lights had stopped we glanced to the right and it was a complete "Wow" moment. Fifteen HUGE dark Moai were outlined in the faintly forming dawn first light.We sunk to th...