In an ancient, long-lost travel manual somewhere there must be written a formula that goes something like this: the more you suffer to get there - the more spectacular the reward.
Just reaching the departure point for the world's biggest salt lake required a bumpy seven hour bus journey along unpaved roads through the Andes. Having both been a bit unwell, we held on to our stomachs whilst others around us argued over who got to sit where.
Arriving in Uyuni didn't bring much relief either - its an ugly town in the middle of nowhere that just about survives on mining and a steady stream of tourists. But the reason everyone comes is to leave again - heading off on three day expeditions across the Salar. We signed up with one company - only to get shunted on to another because they'd overbooked. As our rucksacks were loaded on to the roof of the Landrover, we wondered what was ahead...
But we needn't have worried. The salt lake was incredible - a solid white expanse that naturally forms in almost perfect pentagon and hexagon shapes. Its like another planet. In the middle sit little islands made of ancient coral, where giant cacti grow - some hundreds of years old.
After a night in a hostal actually made of salt we went south to see volcanoes surrounded by multicoloured lakes, each one rich in either copper, sulphur, iron or lithium. It all looked a bit like an explosion in a chemistry lab. We saw our first flamingoes, as well as vacunia - curious, cuddly animals that look like a cross between a llama and a deer.
After a second night at over 4000m altitude, we travelled so far south through Bolivia we're now back in Chile - in the desert town on San Pedro de Atacama. We'll spend a couple of days here to enjoy hot showers and warming sunshine, before working our way back once again into Bolivia.
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