Bolivia keeps on throwing more curveballs, yet I’m becoming more and more attracted to it.

Thinking we were taking the easy way out by flying to La Paz, it ended up being the most nervous two flights of my life. I don’t know if it was because we were flying over huge mountain ranges, or the fact that they were such short flights - but they had some of the most violent turbulence I’ve ever experienced. It appeared to be the norm for the airline staff and locals flying, although Will and I exchanged a few pale looks and nervous laughs as the plane threw us around during takeoff for each flight.

But we made it in one piece. We met up with Klaus at the airport and, walking past a couple of tourists hooked up to oxygen masks (we were now at 3,650m above sea level), we grabbed our bags and took a taxi to the hostel.

Having only one day in La Paz before heading to Uyuni, we took the opportunity to go on a walking city tour. Although probably too quick, it was a good introduction to what La Paz has to offer. We visited the infamous San Pedro Prison (made famous by the book “Marching Powder”, which seems to be the book of choice for all tourists visiting South America), the Witches Market (where every stall you walk past has a couple of dead baby llama’s hanging up for “good luck”), and a couple of historical churches and plazas.

It was then time to catch our overnight bus to Uyuni, and begin our tour of the famous Salar de Uyuni. Spanning 10,582 square kilometres, Salar de Uyuni is the world’s largest salt flat. It is located in in Potosí in southwest Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes and is at an elevation of 3,656 metres above sea level.

Having never taken a bus in Bolivia before (but hearing plenty about it), we opted for the Cama (most comfortable) option. It was all well and good until around midnight where we were swapped into a far worse bus for no apparent reason. Not only that, we proceeded to take an off-road route, constantly being thrown up out of our seats for the following 6 hours. Needless to say I got very little, if any sleep that night.

Pulling in to Uyuni at around 6AM, we immediately felt the cold and were reluctant to get off the bus. We tried to stay on for as long as we could, but for fear of losing our bags we soon hopped off. The -4˚C swept straight through all four layers of clothes. Losing feeling in our fingers and toes, we walked around the city in hope of finding a place to drop our bags and warm up. Of course at this time of the morning, nothing was open and so we resorted to playing with the stray dogs to keep the cold at bay.

At 7:30 we were able to check in with the Red Planet Tours agency and headed off for breakfast. Then at 11AM we begun our 3 day tour of Salar de Uyuni.

Being stuck in a car for days on end with the same people can be great fun or a horrible experience. Luckily, we had a great group of solo travellers and we all got along really well. After loading up the 4X4, we begun day 1 which included visiting an old train graveyard, a salt miner’s workshop, and the famous salt flat itself. We were then treated to lunch at a salt hotel.

The Salar is covered by a few meters of salt crust, which has an extraordinary flatness. The large area, clear skies, and the flatness of the surface make it an ideal object for taking notoriously touristic photos like this:

We spent the night at a salt hostel in the small village of Atulcha. Even though we had about 4 layers of clothes and 4 blankets each, it was still unbelievably freezing. Somehow, I managed to have a decent nights sleep. The worst fear before falling asleep was having to wake up during the night to use the toilet!

Day 2 was long. Getting up at 6AM, we spent the whole day visiting various volcanoes, lagoons, huge rock formations and animals (llamas and flamingos to name a few). Although exhausting, the landscapes we drove through were incredible, and at times you could be forgiven for thinking you were on Mars.

Afterwards we were taken to the top of a huge volcano called Sol de Mañana (5,000 metres above sea level) where we stepped around the crater to see bubbling pots of mud caused by volcanic activity (the mud was over 100˚C). We were then taken to our accommodation for the night, a small village called Polcas which sits at an altitude of 4,300m above sea level.

The highlight of the tour for me was saved until after dinner. After being treated to some spaghetti bolognese and a glass of Bolivian red wine, we walked outside in the dark to a nearby natural hot spring (caused by the previously mentioned volcano). Being so incredibly cold outside, we quickly stripped down into our swimming gear and stepped into the spring... Absolute bliss. At around 40˚C, it was the warmest we'd been in days. And once we got used to the water, we looked up and were treated to the best view of the stars I've ever seen in my life. You could see shades of the Milky Way arching across the sky, and within it we spotted dozens of shooting stars. It was another one of those fleeting moments I've had on this trip, where you just need to sit back, forget about everything and just appreciate where you are in the world at that point in time.

The final day we visited a few more lagoons and deserts, and then made the long drive back to Uyuni. We arrived just in time to pack our bags, then take another overnight bus back to La Paz.

Almost as good as the hot springs was the feeling of having a nice, warm shower at the hostel when I arrived back in La Paz. After 2 overnight bus rides, 3 days exploring the dusty terrain of Uyuni and no showers in between, it felt good to be clean again. But it was an experience well worth being dirty for.