On tour in Bolivia: Days 1-3

Our five-day tour would take us north from Tupiza up into the Lipez mountains and then down into the far south-west corner of Bolivia through an area full of lakes and volcanoes, hot springs and geysers, then finally across the Salar de Uyuni - the biggest salt flats in the world - and ending in Uyuni where we would continue our journey through Bolivia ourselves. We set off with Hernan our driver and Nancy our English- speaking guide - English not fantastic but comprehensible most of the time. We had the back of a 4x4 to ourselves, so there was no fighting over window seats!

The first day was a lot of driving through gorges of yet more red rock, and up into the Lipez mountains - all on winding dirt tracks, and we had to quickly get used to the bumpy ride.

We stopped in one of the many deserted mining villages for lunch and we were relieved to be offered chicken, vegetables, and fruit, yum! Then as we climbed higher, it got much colder. By the time we reached our destination for our first night, it was freezing. Our hotel was in a very remote village in the middle of nowhere at 4,200m - and we were the only guests so it was a rather bizarre experience. We had to get up at 4 the next morning for an early departure though so we were in bed by 9 and there wouldn't have been time to enjoy a nice hotel anyway!

The next day started with a two-hour drive in the dark, getting even colder as we climbed up to 4,700m to visit the ruins of a colonial mining town - the highest town in the world in its time, but abandoned about 100 years ago and now only inhabited by Andean rabbits!

Then for a long but enjoyable day of fabulous scenery, driving through the national park with a backdrop of volcanoes, often stopping to admire lakes of different colours depending on the minerals they contain - some with flamingoes yet to migrate. Numerous llamas and cacti until it got too high for anything other than a hardy variety of grass and a bright green moss called yereta.

We stopped for lunch at some hot springs at well over 4,000m - and although it was windy and rather chilly we couldn't resist jumping into the pool of 35 degree water to enjoy the warmth and mountain views. Also because the hot springs in the Atacama desert where David and I first met were only just a few km away over the border into Chile, so it was nice to be back!

In the afternoon we climbed further, past yet more volcanoes and lakes. Two of our favourite lakes were Laguna Verde, a gorgeous turquoise colour - and Laguna Colorada, a surprising pink colour with flamingoes.

We reached our highest point so far at 5,000m, to see some geysers with boiling mud pools. Such a contrast of hot and cold!

Then we dropped down and drove across the Siloli desert for several hours, past amazing petrified rock formations.

And finally, 14 hours after our very early start (!) we reached our hotel - in the middle of the desert - literally!

This hotel was much nicer and we had company, in fact it was full - there is nowhere else to stay after all! There was a big fire in the dining room - fuelled by small twigs and bushes as there is nothing else at this altitude. And there was fresh home-made bread with dinner. We celebrated the day with a local beer which at 4,600m may have been a mistake. We were in bed by 9.30 which was when the power went off!

The third day was a shorter one and we were allowed a lie-in until 7, what decadence!First through more desert and then past a series of lakes - the best two being Laguna Honda, a lovely heart-shaped frozen lake with flamingoes huddled in the middle of it - and Laguna Hedionada with a lot more flamingoes nearer the shore posing for photos.

We also managed to finally spot some Andean rabbits - called viscocha. They looked more like mini kangaroos to me, especially when they hopped around!

In the afternoon we left the lakes and headed for more volocanoes, including a semi-active one that is smoking - you can clearly see the smoke and scientists reckon it will erupt in about 20 years. So we were fairly safe!

We finished the day driving over a small salt-flat but it wasn´t very spectacular as it was only partly salt - it just looked like mud to me, but the llamas liked it as there was some water!