Originally we had planned to cross back into Chile to visit the Atacama desert, and then go from there to the Bolivian salt flats. After looking into it though, it appeared that travelling from Salta to San Pedro de Atacama is tricky and expensive. It is also not recommended to go to the salt flats from Chile as the huge increase in altitude leaves most people feeling very sick.

With this in mind, we decided to travel up to Tupiza which is just across the border in Bolivia, where we would spend a few days acclimatising. Tupiza is at an altitude of 3000 m and is a nice little Bolivian market town. We stayed at the fanciest hotel in town, blowing £7 a night! It had a swimming pool and a tasty breakfast – well worth it.

We spent four days walking around the town, swimming and trying to use the terrible internet. There is no supermarket in Tupiza so we got to test out our Spanish, buying food at the market. We also tested several of the restaurants. Pretty much every place is a pizzeria, although they do also serve tasty Bolivian dishes. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable start to our time in Bolivia.

We also managed to take a few sneaky photos of some local women. Bolivian women tend to wear a bowler hat, with their hair in two very long plaits. Then they have a knee length swinging skirt and some knee high knitted socks.