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Our last monstor bus journey was to El Calafate – 29 hours down south. Normally you would get a hot meal at least on a bus journey this length but nothing this time! We were given a lunch at 11.30am and then that was it til we arrived at 1.30pm the next day. Luckily we were prepared with ham/cheese/tomato/crisps rolls – the food of kings!

We checked into Che Legarto hostel and booked to do our tour of the glacier the next day.

As you can see from the photos, El Perito Moreno glacier did not disappoint. First we did a short hike over the glacier (the crampons were back in action) before going on a boat trip to a viewing point to look at it from a distance. The glacier itself is very active, moving 1m to 2m daily in the middle section and 20cm at the edges.

The next morning myself and Claire left at 8am to go by bus to El Chalten. This pretty village is the base for many hikers to start their treks to the Fitz Roy and Cero Torre mountains. We stuck to an easy hike for the day, staying well away from the treacherous peaks (many people have died trying to get to the top) but still got to enjoy the impressive scenery.

After our recent adventures in Tyrona, we were well prepared for our next day in the mud. On our last day in Cartegena, we went to visit “Vulcan de Lodo El Totume” – a mud volcano! This 15m mound looks like a miniature volcano and is a phenomenon caused by the pressure of gases emitted by decaying organic matter, or so says lonely planet.

After changing into bikinis we all walked up the specially built stair case and down the ladder into the “crater”. We were helped in by the official “masseurs” (local men of the area) and then there was an optional massage. It was quite strange sitting in a vat of grey mud – if you tried to stand, it was like being suspended in space, no hope of reaching the bottom but it was very relaxing.

After about an hour we all got out and then were sent to the lagoon down the road to wash off. Here the local women flocked to “help” us. We didn’t have much choice in the situation and before we knew it bikinis were being stripped off for washing. A couple of buckets of water over our heads followed as we sat in the cloudy water.

After some fruit and paying off our local helpers with the expected tips, we all headed back to Cartegena with super soft skin!

We arrived in Uyuni after a long journey from Salta, bus  to La Quaica, border town in Argentina, then walked through the border and on to Villazon, a small town on the Bolivian side. An immediate difference in the people, buildings and atmosphere there. Having booked our tickets we had to hang around for the morning waiting for the train – we did get to stock up on wooly hats, leg warmers and gloves!

We started the salt flats tour the next day – 6 of us plus a cook and a driver in the 4×4, a bit of a squish, specially in the back row! The Salt flats are pretty impressive – it´s like a white desert and theres a really stange perspective there so it was really good fun taking photos! Internet here is pretty slow so I will upload more photos later.

After the salt flats, we were driving for the next 2 days stopping at different points – pink lagoon to see the flamengos, the green lagoon on the border with Chile, different rock formations in the desert and geysers with hot springs.

The first night, we stayed in a hostel made of salt – even the beds were made of salt! The second night we stayed in a regular hostel but the cold was awful – I had dinner wearing thermals, leggings, combats, socks, leg warmers, string top, tshirt, long top, thermal top, hoody and fleece plus a hat and gloves. but besides the cold, it was a great trip!