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Like something out of the wild west, San Pedro De Atacama is full of adobe buildings and surrounded by dry deserts and volcanoes. As the starting point for our tour across the Salar De Uyuni into Bolivia we spent a few days acclimatising to the altitude and taking some much needed rest.

The 3 day 2 night trip was spectacular and we couldn’t have been luckier with our fellow travellers;, Canadians Paul and Nalin, Irish Paul and Austrian Lizzie who became the official translator of driver Reuben’s Spanish commentary. Climbing to almost 4900 meters at the highest point we visited some very smelly geysers and angry pools of boiling mud. Despite the strong sunshine it was bitterly cold. Braving the weather and lack of changing rooms we stripped off to bathe in a natural thermal pool; lovely on the way in, excruciating on the way out! At 4300m our first night’s accommodation was freezing and we piled on the layers to keep warm.

As the only couple there with altitude sickness pills we became the official drug pushers on the trip as people frequently sidled up to ask if they could have some pills to cure their ’soroche’. I was happy to share them as they disagreed with my system and I have never needed to pee so much in all my life. I can now fully sympathise with my pregnant sister’s situation.

We visited many lakes that were teeming with Flamingos and they were so graceful to watch as they noisily chattered amongst themselves. Our second night was spent in a hotel made from salt, slightly warmer and lower than the first and the interesting floor of salt crystals made you feel as though you were living in a large tray of cat litter. Alcohol wasn’t recommended on the first night due to the altitude so here we were able to enjoy a few beers before another chilly night’s sleep. In the morning only the impressive Salt flats separated us from Uyuni. Stretching as far as the eye could see in every direction. The bright white conditions remove all perspective from photographs so we had lots of fun posing for different shots. Lunch at an oasis full of Cacti was our last stop before heading to Uyuni. We got our one and only flat tire a few kms outside of the town, so watched on as Reuben got covered in dust as he changed the tyre, not an easy task in deep sand.