La Paz is an absolutely insane city. It is th highest capital city in the world, which is enough to leave you literally breathless, and it is a bizarre mix of the old and the new, indigenous Aymara and Quechua culture, witches markets, churches, gringo bars and the most hideously dangerous roads....

1) The thin air means you are simultaneously freezing AND manage to get horribly sunburnt

2) Your shower gel explodes all over your bag

3) Nosebleeds

4) You feel like your legs are encased in cement and your lungs are about to explode each time you walk up the slightest slope

5)...

So I set sail across the deep blue lake, praying that Pachamama had had her fair share of human sacrifices lately and slightly regretting not having made more offerings to her (you are supposed to pour a little of the first of whatever you drink onto the ground in her name. She´s thirsty....

Sunday is a good day to be in Copacabana because hundreds of pilgrims flock to this tiny town to be blessed in a bizarre mix of catholic and indigenous Aymara rituals.

The first I knew of this was a row of lorries, vans, minibuses, coaches and trucks lined up in the plaza in front of Copacabana´s...

I jumped on a bus out of the dusty, sad, poverty-stricken little town of Uyuni and spent six hours crossing yet more desert to the mining town of Potosí. The landscape is dramatic and barren, but after a week in the desert, it all starts to look a bit the same. Also, the sheer drops by the side of the...

1) A lukewarm trickle of water becomes the best shower you´ve ever had in your life

2) Your hair starts to dread itself on account of the dust

3) Your nose is constantly crusty

4) You get moist eyed and nostalgic for green and pleasant England at the sight of a scrubby, half-dead bush...

I left Chile through the most well-trodden backpacker route ever - across the Bolivian border in a jeep, heading towards the Salar, or salt flat, of Uyuni, 4000 metres up on the Altiplano. The Altiplano does exactly what it says on the tin, it is high, and flat, and covers about a third of Bolivia. so...

1) Altitude sickess is overrated

2) I am not scared of heights as long as I am tied to a rope

3) "Bad" weather depends completely on the context

4) Deserts are very, very lonely places

5) Your perception of a place depends almost entirely on who you experience it with

6)...

I hauled myself out of bed at 3.45am to catch the 4am bus out to El Tatio, a vast geyser field 4300 metres above sea level. It is a two hour drive from San Pedro, so tried to sleep, but the unfortunate combination of ancient minibus and unpaved dirt track full of huge chunks of rock meant I wasn´t...

What a culture shock. I´ve gone from what felt like the wettest, greyest, windiest place on the planet (Chiloé - annual rainfall 2000mm), to what really is the driest place on the planet (the Atacama desert, annual rainfall 0mm).

It´s just as well it doesn´t rain here, all the buildings are made...

1) Mountains Mountains are massive. It sounds obvious, but I don't think you can actually grasp the concept of massive until you have seen some really big mountains. In Madrid you can squint on a sunny day and catch a glimpse of the Sierra. In Santiago, due to the pollution, it looks like there...

Arriving at Santiago airport at 7am bleary-eyed, after a 12 and a half hour flight, I was particularly relieved I could speak Spanish. The airport is like every other airport I've ever been to, except full of touts offering you taxis, minibuses and colectivos, which are sort of a cross between the...

I've had Yellow fever, Typhoid and Hepatitis A. I decided not to have Rabies or Tetanus - they sounded a bit nasty. I've got three months worth of anti-malarials, anti-diarrhoeals, anti-histamine, antibacterial lotion and earplugs.

I know you have to singe a leech with a cigarette rather than pull...