A major part of the travelling lifestyle is encountering and then attempting to combat sickness. Obviously, nobody likes getting ill and so while you take as many precautions as possible, you still find yourself getting caught out in some instances.

The main issues that the average traveller will face are gastro issues - our Asian adventures are testament to that - but in some cases, it can be slightly worse: the dengue fever I suffered in Thailand springs to mind.

The best tip I can give anyone who falls sick when travelling is to hold up somewhere and ride it out, not forgetting to rest for a couple of days after too. If you don't, then everything all of a sudden becomes a chore.

So, despite feeling as though we're now quite seasoned travellers that can tackle anything that's thrown at us, we still managed to score an own goal when entering Bolivia. This ultimately ended in me feeling as bad as I did when I had dengue fever and with no real time to recover.

Arriving in a new country

The overnight bus from Salta to the border town of La Quaica was as expected: uncomfortable and cold; but we still managed to get enough sleep to make crossing from Argentina into Villazon, Bolivia a doddle and we began to seek out a taxi with our new friends Ralf, Marlene and Eva to take us to Tupiza.

The first hurdle was to actually find a driver that would undertake the two hour journey: some only had space for four people - we were a group of five - and others with room for us all seemed reluctant to head in that direction for some strange reason.

After managing to flag down a willing driver by the name of Carlos, we then learned that the reason for all the bother was that a particular group of taxi drivers were actually blocking the main road to Tupiza in a protest to the company that built it a few years back. Apparently, due to shoddy workmanship, cracks had begun to appear on the surface and this was the only way that the activist drivers felt they'd get a response.

Carlos did proceed to tell us in Spanish that there were detours that we could take but it would mean that the two hour journey would now be extended to three and we'd be expected to pay B$300 (about £30) instead of B$200. None of us cared really and so we duly accepted.

As we did the rounds across the town - Carlos need to drop off some bread, fill up his car and sort his tyre pressure out, while we all needed Bolivian cash - I couldn't help thinking that we were finally experiencing a bit of an adventure. Argentina was a beautiful country to visit but getting around was far too easy. I wanted to actually feel as though there was a challenge in getting from 'a to b' and it finally felt that way.

Once we were all set, Carlos headed down a sandy dirt-track that he labelled 'Detour One'. About 5 minutes down the road, we saw a blockade in the form of a taxi cab. Our man headed over to speak with them and after a lot of pointing in many directions from both parties, he came back to tell us that it was going to now take four hours and would cost even more.

What he didn't tell us though, was that we were now going to be literally driving across the desert in order to completely bypass the many blockades that we set up on all of the main detours; we even drove on part of the Dakar race track at one point.

The funniest thing was that Carlos was as much in awe as the rest of us. This was the first time he'd seen this part of the country himself and so he was happily snapping away on his camera phone as we took the odd break here and there to admire the scenery and stretch our legs.

After lots more stunning views, rather dangerous hillside tracks and quaint towns, we finally made it to our destination. The entire journey took us six and a half hours and it was fair to say that we were all a little travel sick considering the only paved roads we drove on were in Tupiza.

Carlos was in good spirits despite his vehicle being battered by a quarter of a day's worth of off-roading. The only noticeable issue though was when his engine protector shield-thingy (you can tell that I'm quite the mechanic) came off when driving through a stream. We paid him double the original agreed amount though, as we all felt he'd deserved it for his perseverance.

And so it begins

It was upon our arrival in Tupiza that Anne first started to feel the effects of altitude sickness. She had a slight headache and so once we'd checked in and showered, we nipped out to get some food in us. After sharing a pizza and having a few hours nap, she felt somewhat normal again and so we went out for dinner with the others.

We were scheduled to start our 4 day Salt Flats tour only one day after arriving in Tupiza. This was simply because dropped a bit of a clanger with our planning; usually we'd spend a couple of days there first.

The problem stemmed from booking onto the Inca Trail in Peru. This was scheduled to begin in two and a half weeks from our arrival in Bolivia and so there was a lot to squeeze in before then. There was also the fact that it was the final week of the English football season and as Manchester City were competing for the title, I wanted to be somewhere with reliable internet and cable TV for the final day.

As the season finale was on the Sunday and we had arrived on the Tuesday, it meant that we had no choice but to leave on the Wednesday to be back in Tupiza by the Saturday, so that I could be perfectly stationed for the football the morning after. By opting to watch the final match, it did mean that I'd miss the penultimate game on the Wednesday night and so I wasn't too happy about that. Does that make sense? Good.

Well, it was a mixture of these complications that ultimately led to our sickness. You see, we'd been so focused on ensuring that we were adjusted to the altitude before we embarked on the Inca Trail that we'd completely forgotten about Bolivia. Such a stupid, stupid mistake considering that at the highest point on the Salt Flats tour was nearly 5,000 metres above sea level; Machu Picchu is just under 2,500m with the highest point of the Inca Trail trek being at around 4,200m.

Carry on to Part Two