Our guide and driver was Roman, although it quickly became apparent that he was 99% driver and 1% guide as even the fluent spanish speaking Lionel and Karina couldn't get any useful info out of him. At midday after climbing high into the desert we stopped at a lake, paddled in the thermal pools and bonded as a group before eating lunch. The rest of the day was spent driving to other places of interest including several sulphur lakes where we watched and attempted to photograph flamingos and a geyser field where mud "plopped" and steam "hissed".

Between sights we bumped along in the jeep, watching the scenery and occasionally chatting, before coming to a halt at a small village on the edge of a lake with a basic hostal (no running water, no heating, electricty until 9 pm and ancient, some would say pre-Inca, bunk beds). After coming to terms with this harsh environment and gathering the fragments of our sense of humour we sat down to hot meal prepared by Roman. By this time the sun had set and it was getting bitterly cold (-15 degrees centigrade) and the altitude (5,000m) was beginning to take its toll, so we retired to our beds wearing almost evry article of clothing to keep warm. Despite our concerns about the cold we were pretty toasty and the night passed fairly quickly with one interruption when those tour groups heading in the opposite direction got up at 4am - I didn't envy them as it was bloody parky when we got up at 7.30 for breakfast.

Effects of altitude, desert and cold: Breathlessness, insomnia, headaches, wind++ and very dry lips, nose and face.