At 3,670 metres, coming from Potosi, I definitely felt like the pressure was relaxed by a thousand even though we were still really high up in the world.  

The people of Uyuni were falling over themselves to help you and talk to you and marvel at the children.  But this was Tatooine reincarnate.  No doubt about it.  A frontier town sitting in defiance against the wilderness all around it. 

It was a strange settlement in the middle of the desert, a straight road leading into the town, and a straight road leading out again.  Hastily erected half built buildings, a random petrol station plonked at the edge of town, with no distinguishable road around it, hostels and Salar tours littered the Main Street while sand and rubbish replaced green gardens.

Archaeology seemingly mixed with new housing.  Old sand/clay walls where a dwelling must have once sat were all that remained, how old were those walls?  When did the residents move on? Was the place simply deserted for somewhere different, somewhere more modern? 

Our taxi driver advised us the main work here was tourism and working with the salt. No other reason to be here.  This was the Wild West.

Our hotel was at the bottom of the Main Street, which abruptly stopped due to military blockades and stationed soldiers.  The hotel's main sign in the reception area loudly stated that no photos were to be taken of the military.  So tourism, salt and a heavily guarded, secretive military base made up Uyuni.  

The hotel, along with most of the other hotels, had their own tour company.  As we hadn't organised anything, while checking in, we asked if they had any tours for the following day.  A quick phone call next door resulted in the tour manager arranging a visit to the hotel to get us all booked in.  

We were all still feeling a bit ropey and from Internet research had found the tours to actually be really expensive.  There was a lot to see on the Salars, but with the kids, we didn't want to chance a drawn out 2 or 3 day tour that would show us everything, so a one day sample seemed good enough.  

Our hotel had an infamous pizza restaurant in it called Minuteman, so we decided to try it out for dinner.  The place had its own pizza oven and the pizzas did taste great.  

While eating I noticed a sticker on the door and pointed it out to Lorne.  "Do you think he really came here?" I asked and Lorne advised, why not? To drive a motorbike across the Salar is probably a big deal for motorcyclists.  The sticker had the great Charley Boorman's name across it, with South American Expedition.  As we mused about it, we realised that this place would be exactly the type of restaurant Boorman and the producers would frequent. Pizza and beer after a hard day's filming probably go hand in hand. 

The following day was tour day.  I hate organised tours, but it seems Bolivia is pretty much set up for them.  It doesn't look like you can easily do the Salar without it being an organised tour.  So we took a deep breath and headed out to meet our guide.  

Axel was so excited because we had a big Land Rover to take us across the Salt flats.  It had seen better days and the battery did die at one point, but only for a few minutes.  We had a lady to make us our lunch, and the driver was a lovely but gnarly older man, who enjoyed describing the environment around us.  

We drove out of town across flat desert for about half an hour before reaching our first stop.  A small village selling tourist stuff.  The village was made up of one street that was jammed full with stalls.  Parked all down the street were about 30 other 4x4's carrying tourists of all nationalities.  

We were advised we had twenty minutes here.  So for ten minutes we walked around, bought a couple of postcards and a couple of llama key rings for the kids.  This was the village folks source of income but we didn't have room for trinkets.  There was a huge convoy of Japanese tourists though, so I don't think the locals missed out.  

We ventured on and eventually came to a boggy, brown lake that we drove straight through and on the other side, white.  As far as the eye could see, the ground was white and glistening in the severe sun.  

It was otherworldly.  The cloud formations above seemed close enough to touch, while the vast flat of salt seemed endless.  You could see why guides were recommended for out here as to navigate across the 4,000 square mile of plain could be dangerous.  The salt is apparently 8 metres thick with water underneath, although we did stop at one point and Axel found a hole into the water and it looked barely a meter deep. 

The floor is made up of salty hexagonals, making it look almost manmade, like a carpenter has come down and floored the whole area.

We reached a volcanic island, Incahuasi, in the middle of the salt flats.  It was made up of porous, rough rocks and cactuses and nothing else.  Some locals had built little stone and thatched roofed buildings on the island, providing some relief from the plains. We stopped here for an unexpectedly lovely lunch and then explored the island.  It was hot, the rocks were jagged and uncomfortable to touch and the altitude made our breathing difficult again.  

From high up, you could view coves that made you wish the salt was indeed water that you could venture down to and cool your feet in.  

There were other things to see in the Salar (the train cemetery, the home of the flamingos, a small burial area with mummies and another volcano), but being the pasty white Scots that we are, we were grateful to be driving back to civilisation and shade.  

We had experienced something completely different to what we would ever see again.  The kids were amazed and educated, we were wowed and humbled.  If we had been by ourselves then we would happily have explored more of the area, but the kids were tired and we had timed the adventure such that we would be back in time for tea (pizza again!), the kids could have a bath (yes the hotel had a bath! And it's own solar panels and water reservoir!), and we could get them into bed early, so that we could relax and treat each other's sunburn that we had regrettably got. 

We had a full day to ourselves the following day before getting a late night flight (bad organising by us, which we regretted as each hour passed!) 

We left our bags at the hotel and went off to explore Uyuni.  Luckily it was Thursday which meant not only did they have their big market, but it was also the beginning of Carnival weekend (weekend lasting between Thursday and Tuesday!) 

We explored the market, buying a couple of masks for the kids to get them in the festive mood.  Axel picked a Captain America mask, I think because it hid his hair more than anything else.  

It's been quite an interesting concept, coming to a country where every local has dark hair.  People have been amazed by his hair and I've seen locals throw themselves across the street just so they can reach out and touch his hair.  

They are harmless, but Axel finds it increasingly annoying.  No one bothers asking, they just touch him as he walks past.  Being quite a sensitive and serious soul, this doesn't sit well with him at all.  Edith on the other hand loves the attention, even though she doesn't get it quite as much.  

I've never forced the kids to cuddle or kiss people unless they want to, Axel hates being touchy feely and I try to explain to him that they just don't see blond hair like his everyday, so it's something special and wonderful for them.  

He announced the other day when we arrived in Uyuni that he's "bored of dark hair" and "when will we see light hair again?"

I really hope he remembers this and reflects on it when he's older and has friends with darker hair or skin in a whitewashed world.

Edith is the exact opposite and craves the attention which is maybe something we have to work on too! She loves the Latino way of saying hello, a kiss and a cuddle, and was always up first when greeting the teachers!  She is beautiful, but I want her to learn there's more to her than just her beauty. 

Anyway, I digress.  The streets were full of people.  Teenagers were dancing and singing in the middle, spraying each other with white foam, while onlookers sprayed or ran out of the way.  Younger children were patrolling the streets with super soakers and were polite enough to only soak those who also had super soakers.  

There's no malice in the street parties, everyone is enjoying themselves, there's no dodgy looking pickpocketers around, there's no sneering party poopers.  It's just a climax of fun and laughter and everyone joins in.  

We left Uyuni feeling buoyant.  The place had a quiet eeriness when we first arrived, but when we left, it was full of laughter and happiness.  A truly magical, different and strange place to visit.