Lonely Planet describes Puyo as Disneyland made of reeds, or something to that extent. It was my least favourite place on the trip so far but one I wasn't going to miss out on as there is nowhere else like it on earth.

Las Islas Flotantas are situated on the Reed lakes just outside of Puyo, somewhere all visitors will pass through if coming from Lake Titicaca. We decided to do a tour which included a homestay on another of the islands on Lake Titicaca a had heard how touristy the reed islands were and didn't want this to be our only memory. A good decision. The reed islands where amazing and great inspiration for artists or story tellers, tiny islands made completely out of reeds, come on! However the whole thing felt not only as though we the tourists were manipulated (every 10 steps something cost you more money, a boat ride here, a souvenir there) but also that the inhabitants were trapped in a tourist machine. They sang us a song in numerous languages and showed us inside their homes while their Adidas tracksuit bottoms snuck out from under their traditional dress. It was worth going but totally weird, especially as they shouted 'hasta la vista babies' as we set sail and waved goodbye.

The homestay had a similar feeling but nowhere near as bad. We stayed in a beautiful farmhouse with children's school achievements pinned to our bedroom wall. We hiked to the top of a ceremonial mountain, leaving rocks of thanks and wishes at the alter on our way up to watch the sunset and then dressed up in traditional clothes to go to a dance. This last part was a little awkward but it was fun to dress up and dance stupidly to the local band.

Our last day consisted of going to another island where the men wear hats to show their status, single, married etc and the men with more decoration showed their wealth or political status. Very cool.

SURVIVAL TIP: Take extra cash when visiting Puyo, it's expensive but the island people are generally ripped off by the tour operators and at least when you buy their local crafts you know the money's going directly to them.

The Uyuni Salt Flats Tour is a must do on the Gringo trail and a great way to get from one country to the other without the hassle of border crossing (there's a special border just for the tour, otherwise you have to go way up north to cross).
The 3 day tour has become some what of a blur, I have never seen such diverse scenery in so short a time. Within 3 days we saw countless mountains, lakes and volcanoes speckled with llamas and flocks of flamingoes. It even got a bit boring, "Oh great, another lake", I now cringe at my lack of enthusiasm! We drove through the desert named after Salvador Dali for its likeness to his surreal paintings. We climbed giant rock formations and relaxed out muscles in hot springs. We saw natural gases bubbling out of mud pools from the earths core and felt the strange sensations of altitude sickness after climbing to nearly 5000m in a day. It was awesome! And we had Abba's greatest hits as our soundtrack. Say no more.

We were moving fast and managed to visit the train cemetery on our second day, the place where trains go to die! So that we could get up early to see the sun rise over the Salt Flats. A peaceful if freezing morning we watched the sun dance over the thin layer of water that lay on top of the ice. We moved further onto the flat to take our trick photos and be dazzled by the bleak expanse of blinding white salt.

This tour was a definite highlight, magical scenery, great friends and good food.

SURVIVAL TIP:
It's bloody freezing! Take all the warm clothes you can and some coca leaves to kerb the altitude sickness.

Isla del Sol is located in the southern part of Lake Titicaca, Bolivia. According to Incan mythology it is here that the sun god and the Incan religion was born.
We took a boat across the lake to the island from copacabana and spent a night on the north shore which was quiet and peaceful and full of beach piggies! Aaaaaaah!

There are apparently over 80 ruins on the island, mostly all dating back to Inca times. We got up early on our second day ready to hike to the main tourist attraction and set off with our guide. The views were spectacular and we looked out to the island of the moon, where virgins were sacrificed and to the point in the lake where a lost city is meant to be hidden, rich in Incan gold. We learnt about the mysterious legends of the Inca's, seeing the holes in the rock where the sun and moon were born from and the marks on the earth where they took their first steps. We gazed at the natural rock formations of puma head and frog which all tied together the beautiful story of creation. We sat round the sacrifice table with its 12 seats to mark the months and 4 larger seats pointing north, south, east and west. It was fabulous to learn before we embarked towards Peru and Macchu Picchu.

We then took a boat to the southern part of the island for our last night. Our hostel hung perilously on the cliffs edge and as I stepped out of the shower that morning I was greeted by the great abyss of the lake and the rolling mountains. We went for a walk to meet llamas an had a dinner of freshly caught trout before retiring. Amazing.

Situated in one of the driest deserts in the world, Valle de la Luna is just one possible day trip you can take when visiting the area of San Pedro de Atacama. With a full moon on display and excited to stargaze in a few days I thought I'd stick with the theme and opt for a visit to the one place on earth most like the surface of the moon (unfortunately gravity still holds you to the sand, I know, bummer.)
After a bumpy ride out of town we started to be overshadowed by crazy rock formations that had been cut out of the sand by wind and rain. We climbed a dune and watched the sand boarders got their adrenalin kicks as they raced to the bottom. The snow capped mountains in the far distance, the pink blue sky and the orange rock formations in the foreground made me feel peaceful.
Back in the van and we hurtled off to duck and dive through salt tunnels, the sun sparkling off the white sand making it look like a frosted desert. Surreal.
As I clambered up the rocky ascent we reached the top of a rocky peak to watch the sunset over the desert and felt the heat quickly fall away from us. The whole day I imagined myself on another planet, in another world, far away from anything I knew from home. Of course as with any tourist attraction the hoards of other foreigners eager to feel like they'd been to the moon and back reminded me that I was closer to home that I wanted to imagine but to hell with the lot of them, the scenery was out of this world!