Tupiza to Uyuni: day one

It's been a day of ups and downs. In less than eight hours, we've:

• climbed higher than 4000m and looked down into sepia-coloured valleys
• eaten lunch with llamas in the pampas (lowlands) with nothing but grass for miles
• stood in the shadow of snow-capped mountains and dormant volcanoes
• passed through tiny mud clay villages, where the people scratch a living from mining or agriculture.

Our first proper llama sighting

Along the way we met two little girls. One told us her name was Alberta, the other refused to speak. Their village is set in an open dusty plain. The land is arid and a fierce wind whips around the dirt streets. The harshness of the environment is etched into their skin, which is dark and dry.

Alberta

Tonight we are staying in a small hospedaje operated by a small local woman, who bustles about and says little. God knows where we are, but its warm and comfortable. Dave is confined to bed, with a raging fever and nausea. We've discovered that altitude is not his friend. Or mine for that matter. Dave projectile vomited the entire contents of his stomach (and then some) out the window of the jeep after lunch. And I suffered a severe relapse this morning, which makes us wonder if my 'nasty little bug' in Tilcara was actually altitude sickness. The juries still out. Neither of us can stomach coca leaves though, so we're done with that little ruse.

The poor Irish couple - Eoin and Laura - who've joined us on this four day jeep ride across southern Bolivia to Uyuni must be wondering what the hell they've got themselves into. Luckily for Carl, Eoin is also mad about football; they've been dissecting every football league in detail all day. But he's also got a dirty little obsession with Home and Away and I can tell that its only a matter of time before we've moved on from the Premier League to Summer Bay.

Local villagers barely acknowledge our presence