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Published: August 3rd 2006
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Hello All,
In the last installment we were travelling to the highest capital city in the World - La Paz
We spent our first period in La Paz mainly shopping (to be fair there is little else to do and see in the city) in the many colourful markets, drinking freshly squeezed orange juice on street corners and learning to Salsa (sadly no sixty year old costa rican woman this time).
Laura is quite a haggler, she is in charge of buying things despite the fact I´m the one who speaks the Spanish.
La Paz is quite a spectacle at night, set on two slopes of a valley, creating the illusion of hundreds of lights floating in midair.
I had intended to climb Huayni Potosi (6088m) a mountain recommended by Mark Konrad but was first unable to get in touch with his guide and then I didn´t want to miss the England World Cup Quarter Final (Good Decision)
Instead we chose to cycle down ´The Worlds Most Dangerous Road´which was brilliant fun.
We started by 'zooming' down a tarmacked road, the scenery spectacular. We reached the infamous Dangerous section- a narrow, bumpy dirt road covered in mist and with sheer
drops of up to 1000 metres to our left - pure adrenaline.
Due to a landslide we couldnt go the entire length of the road so we rode some of the newer road towards the finishing point having decended 3600 metres in just over 6 hours.
We finished the tour with lunch in Coroico and decided to spend the night there. The views from the hotel were truly amazing, the change in altitude meaning everything was greener - reminded of Ranchos Tinamu.
The next day wasn't a good one, Germany knocked Argentina out and we had to endure the worst bus journey in history.
The idiots at the company had booked too many tickets for the journey to Rurrenabaque and so we spent fourteen hours through the night sitting on our bags in the aisle getting bitten to pieces, sweating in the heat with the same Israeli that Gap Challengers will remember groaning when he did the 'Tarzan Swing' (he is following me everywhere!)
We arrived the following morning and decided to do the three day pampas tour with Amazonico tours whose representative met us at the bus station wearing a hawaiian shirt - he looked like something out of
G.T.A Vice City - hilarious.
Following a long drive our group (over half Israeli - they rule South America) stopped for lunch, just in time to watch England once again go out on penalties.
The tour really began when we were loaded into a small motorised boat that took us three hours up the river.
On the banks Alligators, turtles, and cupyburras could be seen sunning themselves and we stopped the boat to feed cute golden monkeys.
We ate and spent the night in a wooden lodge on the banks of the river. Going to sleep to the sounds of the nature brought Costa Rica all back.
The following day we woke early and went on a hunt for some wild snakes (not my favourite animal) Before long we found a large Anaconda which everyone got to hold- one of the Israelis got bitten- luckily it is not venomous.
We spent the next couple of hours searching through marshland for a Cobra and we were lucky to find quite a large one which our guide bravely caught without being bitten. Again everyone got to hold it, one guy so tightly that it threw up an enormous eel that had been
in its stomach!
It was then when my second camera of this gap year broke!
We returned for lunch and a swim and in the afternoon took the boat further downriver to fish Piranhas.
Fishing is a lot more exciting when you are trying to catch something that could take a decent chunk out of your hand! Me and Laura each caught one and after watching yet another sunset we added Piranha to the list of crazy things we´ve tried (number one is the drink with crumbs in that I had at Andrea De Costa´s house)
In the evening we jumped in the boat once again and our huevon guide managed to catch a much larger alligator on the third attempt! To say the group were scared when it started to fight against the rope would be a large understatement. Once again everyone got to have a hold, amazing for me to see one up so close.
The following and last day was enjoyed on the boat down the river with stops to swim with pink dolphins and to feed more golden monkeys.
We chose to fly back to La Paz where we spent a couple of days shopping (we
have a non digital camera so no more photos from now on!)
Our next and final stop in Bolivia was to be Copocabana on the shores of the enormous Lake Titicaca.
The streets are lined with touristy restuarants and middle aged hippies who never went home selling their ´crafts´
On our first day we hiked up to a mirador over the lake where dressed up priests were performing strange rituals, chanting loudly and spraying beer over those who wished to be blessed.
To practice for the Inka Trail we decided to take the less touristy route to The Island of the Sun by walking 17 kilometres along the coast and catching a small boat across.
The walk offered brilliant views of the lake as well as campesinos going about their daily activities.
The next day we visited some important Inca ruins on the northern part of the Island and walked all the way to the southern part (with awesome views on both sides) in time to watch the second half of the World Cup Final (I found out Italy had won on the boat back from a Bolivian with a radio)
Sadly our time in Bolivia came to an end,
definately one of my favourite countries I have visited so far - rich culture, fantastic scenery and incredibly cheap.
Next stop Peru: Floating Islands, El Misti, Sandboarding, Cuzco, Machu Picchu and maybe the Beach!
Will be back in Liss and looking forward to seeing everyone on August 12th!
Nathanxx
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