Yes, for anyone who was bored enough to remember our South American itinerary, we know we weren't supposed to go to Chile. But here we are, in San Pedro de Atacama just over the border with Bolivia, relaxing for a few days before returning to Bolivia via Argentina.

So, I have the pleasure of hopefully amusing and interesting you with news of our adventures since Steve last wrote, which I think was while I was holed up in bed with a stomach bug, refusing to take antibiotics (too scared of attempting the necessary Spanish), in Huaraz, northern Peru. Given that was over four weeks ago, best you get a coffee (oh for a Starbucks tall skinny latte with choc shortbread triangle...) and settle down for a good read. I'll start with a brief run through what we've been up to and then continue with our theme of things we didn't expect, of which there have been quite a few.

After our self-organised trekking experience in Huaraz, we took an 'ejecutivo bus cama' night bus to Lima. This was our best chance at sleeping on a bus as it had proper business class-esque seats, blankets, foot rests etc. We managed to snooze a bit, arriving bleary-eyed in Lima at 5.30am wondering if our chosen hostel in Miraflores (a posh beach 'burb we heard was much nicer than the centre of town) would show any signs of life. What we should have hoped for was some sign of it being a hostel, as it had diddly squat. Luckily, after bemusing a porter at the $160 a night hotel down the road by requesting breakfast as dirty backpacking non-residents, we returned at 7 to confirm it was indeed the right place and had space for us. We spent the day wandering wide-eyed around the various elements of life back home that we discovered there: a real department store with fashionable clothes on stands, clean floors, a coffee shop and everything; an American-style mall with Burger King (YUM), real snow & rock like kit shops, a cinema and various nice restaurants... bliss!

Next day we cheated and took a flight to Cusco, having decided to leave more time for ourselves in Bolivia and miss out southern Peru. It definitely felt like luxury after the buses. Once in Cusco we hurriedly booked ourselves on the Inca Trail and spent the obligatory three day waiting period seeing the sights and enjoying the good restaurants before going on the trail. By this time I was seriously bored of being ill and braved the pharmacy to get some antibiotics as I couldn't face another trek not feeling well. The Inca Trail was fantastic. Really hard work, but SAS Travel were a great tour company and our group of 14 others was fun. Machu Picchu was worth the effort too, for which we were grateful given the early hour we had to get up for the final push and the exhausting three preceeding days hiking.

After a brief recovery stop back in Cusco, we caught the bus to Puno, near Lake Titicaca. We spent a morning almost sinking with each footstep on the floating reed islands there, which was good fun despite the blatant show for tourists. Hopped on the bus for the short trip to the border with Bolivia, with the final 1 km in a tricycle taxi feeling very guilty at the huffing and puffing of our driver as he pushed up the hill. Ended up with Steve helping him push our bags on the cycle and me walking behind! And so we arrived in Bolivia, greeted by a drunk immigration officer, which we certainly weren't expecting. Final bus trip of the day to Copacabana to see the beautiful sunset over the lake and meet up with our friends from the Inca Trail for dinner. Next day we went across to Isla del Sol, which locals believe to be the birthplace of the Inca legend. Just like a Greek island except significantly colder. We did a great three hour hike down the length of the island before heading back to Copacabana.

Next stop was La Paz, capital of Bolivia and highest capital in the world. We were glad to arrive as we'd had to get a collectivo bus for the three hour journey from Copa, which is basically a tiny minivan, not ideal for two tall people. Once in La Paz, we booked ourselves up for various fun activities and went out for a posh meal at the 5 star Plaza hotel which has a restaurant on the top floor with great views. The next day we went with our Inca Trail friends to try and get into the San Pedro prison, which we'd heard great reports about. Unfortunately we weren't able to get in, so didn't get to see for ourselves the prison run totally by the prisoners where everyone has to pay their way. Rich prisoners get suite-like cells and pay for family or prostitutes to join them, and any other privileges they want. Some even make businesses out of buying up cells and renting them out to others (about 2000USD a cell)! Tourists get shown round by a prisoner and bodyguards with the cash going to them and the guards. All in all, something we were sad to miss, but it was obviously not meant to be.

So having missed out on that exciting experience, we spent the next day doing another mad activity: mountain biking down the 'World's Most Dangerous Road'. You start at over 4000m high surrounded by snowy peaks and end five hours later at 1200m in the jungle. It was amazing, definitely worth it's tag of many people's best South American experience. Not sure either of our bums or hands would agree with that - spending an adrenaline-fuelled five hours juddering over a rocky dirt track wondering what will be around the next corner, with 1000ft drops off the side of the road, left them aching and sore.

With hindsight we wouldn't have taken our aching limbs straight off for five days in the jungle the next morning, but with our flights to Rurrenabaque already booked for 8am, that's what we did. Three days in the Pampas and then two days in the jungle, both of which were excellent despite the unbelievable disorganisation of our tour company (welcome to Bolivia). The Pampas involved zooming down the Rio Beni in a motorised canoe ogling at all the alligators sunning themselves, turtles, monkeys, birds, giant rodents called capybaras and pink freshwater dolphins. We also went anaconda-hunting and piranha fishing, the latter of which turned Steve into a 'good tourist' with our guides as he caught four of the six in our entire group. Vicious little things they were too - not what you want gnashing around your feet in a canoe.

The jungle was more of a tour of nature, walking with our guide as he pointed out various medicinal and just plain huge trees, weird insects and pretty fierce defense mechanisms for many of the trees & bushes. Apart from the multitude of flying insects, it was fascinating, especially seeing a 6 inch wide motorway of leaf-cutting ants marching across our path, each carrying a piece of leaf back to their nest. Walking at night was pretty cool too - looking for jaguars, which seemed a tad foolish!

After that we had a day in Rurre enjoying the heat and a day in La Paz before our worst bus journey so far, 13 hours overnight from La Paz to Uyuni. Our senses of humour were most definitely tested. Not only was the bus old and uncomfortably small, market day in Uyuni meant that it was packed with local women and all their market produce. The aisles were full of huge sacks of food, clothes and whatever else, there were even two women and a baby sitting in the aisle the whole way. When we thought we'd accepted how bad it would be, it got worse. It was absolutely freezing, with ice inside the window by Steve and subzero drafts going up his arm. But what took the biscuit was the road. Added to all the discomfort was a continual, teeth-chattering juddering as we spent six hours going over what felt like cobblestones. I have never been so relieved to reach a destination, even when it is at 4.30am and the coldest place I could imagine. Finding a hotel room to crash in before our Salar de Uyuni tour that morning was a blessed relief.
Which brings me to the final leg of our journey down to San Pedro.

From Uyuni we took a three day tour to see some of Bolivia's most amazing scenery. The Salar de Uyuni is a huge salt plain, white as far as the eye can see, the remainder of a dried up lake. In the middle of it is a hotel completely made of salt, even the furniture. There is also an island full of enormous (20 feet tall) cactii, with panoramic views of the salt lake and surrounding mountains. After that we drove through beautiful desert scenery surrounded by extinct volcanoes and mountains. We took in the 'Valley of Rocks' where wind has eroded the rocks into standalone blocks in cool shapes, and various coloured lakes full of minerals (red, white and green). The last day involved getting up early to see 'Sol de Manana' geysers bubbling and steaming away and then watch Europeans in speedos jump into a tiny pool the tours pass off as thermal baths. Yeah right. And we ended up crossing the border into Chile on Saturday, enjoying the change in temperature as we left the 4000m+ altiplano and arrived here at 2300m.

So that's what we've done, but what are some of the things we didn't expect along the way?

* Every advert, flyer, brochure or menu to have at least one (usually more) spelling, grammar or translation error. e.g. 'Burrito vegetariano' translated as 'vegetarian donkey'; 'happy hollydays'; 'open every dad'; black forest gateau written as black wood cake!!

* Steve to admit he preferred Burger King to McDonald's.

* Annabel to admit enjoying aforementioned BK whopper more than any other meal in South America.

* To have to get a motor boat across Lake Titicaca as part of our bus journey from Copacabana to La Paz, watching our bus float past us precariously balanced on a platform-like barge.

* To stay in a place called Hostal Brits.

* To make it over Dead Woman's Pass on the Inca Trail, both carrying all of our stuff and still making it over the second pass the same day (most people had porters to carry theirs the whole 4 days or at least just that day).

* To see dried llama foetuses for sale in La Paz.

* To walk down a market alley full of every part of a cow, including wet noses still with eyes, teeth and hair (bull's nose soup is a delicacy apparently).

* To find UK made kit-kats in Bolivia.

* To get picked up at the airport in Rurrenabaque by individual motorcycle taxis.

* To get used to frequently going three or more days without washing or changing clothes. Nice.

* To become so impressed by previously unimportant aspects of life: hot water, being able to sleep past 5.30am without being disturbed by street hubbub, a meal not including rice, chicken, fried food or more than two carbohydrates, clean clothes.

* For either of us to be able to pack a small daypack each for a six day trip and survive without complaint.

* To find internet access for 40 pence an hour.

* To be able to hold a proper conversation with someone in (admittedly halting) Spanish, nor to be able to write an email in Spanish.

* To be more scared by the three hour minibus ride up the 'road of the dead' than by the bike ride down. Our fear was probably not helped by seeing a cement truck hanging off the edge and the wreck of a tourist bus being winched up from 300m below where it fell two weeks ago. The return journey up the road was spent listening to some hilarious Georgian southern drawls: "Hey Thamas", "Yeah", "Y'all see those hills right there? They are BAD ASS dude."

And that's it. One more S.A. mail to go and then we head over to Asia with a brief rest stop in LA first. We head across to Argentina on Wednesday on our way back into Bolivia, leaving Santa Cruz on 21 August. Hasta luego, amigos.