La Paz and other adventures

---

We only intended to stay in La Paz for a few days but after our first day of exploring we decided to stay for longer. Bolivia has two capital cities and La Paz is one of them. The cities location is stunning, it is 3650 meters above sea level and is built in a valley surrounded by huge snow capped mountains. The view of the city as you drive down in to it is breathtaking. Many of the streets, especially around the main tourist centre where we stayed, are very steep and we found ourselves out of breath most of the time whilst exploring them, partly due to the altitude but also our complete lack of physical fitness. The narrow, cobbled streets are alive with vendors selling all sorts of mysterious objects and foods and there are plenty of bargains to be had, especially the alpaca wool clothes. I bought my replacement guitar too. We visited the witches market where they sell potions and dead animal parts, the most common item being the Llama fetus which locals bury under their houses to bring them luck. La Paz has loads of excellent restaurants and bars and because they are so cheap we ate out in style every night and drank plenty of "chopp", draft beer. There was everything from Indian, Thai, Turkish and we even managed to have a good British shepherds pie at an English owned bar called Olivers and every lunch time we had huge sandwiches at a place called 100% natural. There are plenty of museums and old buildings to visit too and this kept us occupied for a couple of days. We went to the beautiful San Francisco church and walked around the Folklore Museum and the Music Museum which had an interesting collection of guitars. One evening we even went to the ballet which was in a gorgeous old theatre. It was a folklorean performance and the dancers were wearing traditional Bolivian masks worn by indigenous tribes. There is enough to do in La Paz to keep you happy for weeks, even just wandering the maze of streets is an experience. The architecture ranges from huge decadent cathedrals to ramshackle homes and something strange and wonderful is happening on every corner. The city is so rich in culture and is so far removed from anything in Europe, because of this we ended up staying for over two weeks. We cant remember the exact days or order we did everything in so this is an account of our favourite moments.


Rurrenabaque

Rurrenabaque is north of La Paz and is the base for Pampas and Amazon Jungle tours. As we had just spent two weeks in the jungle we opted for the 3 day Pampas tour. There are two ways to get to Rurrenabaque, a twenty hour bus ride on gravel roads or a forty five minute flight, we went for the flight.

We decided to fly out a day before our tour so we could have a day to look round Rurrenabaque itself, however this did not quite go to plan. We were told that the airline would pick us up from our hostel and transfer us to the airport. Unfortunately they were late picking us up and when we arrived at the check in desk we were told the flight was closed and we couldn´t board. We were livid but luckily they managed to squeeze us on to the first flight the following morning at 6.15 which would get us there in time to start our tour at 9am.

We got up bright and early the following morning and this time made our own arrangements to get to the airport, we got there in plenty of time, checked in and waited for our flight. We waited for ages and eventually the screen flashed up that our flight had been delayed until 9am. We thought we would miss our tour but we got talking to some people and it turned out that they were booked on to exactly the same tour as we were so we hoped that the company would wait for us. 9am rolled by and the screen flashed up that the flight was now delayed until 10am. We eventually got on the plane just after 10am and set off. The plane was tiny, only about twenty seats, and felt very unstable. The flight though was stunning. As we flew out of La Paz we were level with the peaks of the mountains and we could see Lake Titicaca. As we approached Rurrenabaque the landscape had changed completely and the ground below was now covered in lush, green rainforest stretching as far we could see. The runway in Rurrenabaque is a field and after a rough landing we were greeted by a rep from the tour company who gave us the good news that we hadn't missed the tour and we would still be going that day.

The first part of the tour was a two hour bumpy jeep ride until we arrived at the Beni river where we all got on to our motorised canoe, there were seven of us and our guide. We cruised up the river for a few hours and saw loads of amazing wildlife. Hundreds of Alligators, Capybaras, Turtles, Caymen, Monkeys and loads of exotic birds and they were all so close. It was very relaxing and we eventually arrived at our accommodation which was a lodge right next to the river which had loads of monkeys living in the trees around it. We chilled out in hammocks and waited for our dinner. We all stayed in the same room and unluckily Lil picked the bed which seemed to have bats living above it and in the morning her bed was covered in poo.

The next day we went walking through the wet lands in search of snakes, mainly anacondas. It's quite common for groups not to spot anything but we were lucky and after a couple of hours Lil spotted one in a tree. We were very excited and the guide woke it up and encouraged it out the tree so we could see its full size. This was a relatively small one at about two meters, they can be up to seven meters. It looked big enough though. After this we headed back to the lodge for a siesta before lunch. In the afternoon we headed back out in the canoe to go Piranha fishing. We used lumps of steak as bait and it took a while to get the knack of it, we only used bits of wire and a hook, no rod. Most of us managed to catch one. Everything we caught was put back. In the evening we headed out again in the canoe to watch the sun set and have a beer at a bar by the river. The colours in the sky were amazing. Afterwards we sailed back to the lodge in the dark and we could see hundreds of alligator eyes reflecting the light from our torches, at one point we turned out all the lights and floated in silence, there were so many stars. Before bed our guide showed us a couple of baby Tarantulas he'd found living under a tree right next to our bedroom.

On our final day we were taken to a swimming spot about twenty minutes up river from our lodge where we swam with the Pink River Dolphins. It was great fun but a little scary as there were huge alligators at the side of the river and every so often one would enter the water and disappear under. We were told that they wouldn't harm us, not sure how true that is. The dolphins were amazing, they would keep poking their heads out of the water and we could feel them brushing past our legs.

After packing our stuff it was time to head back to Rurrenabaque and we had a relaxing couple of hours on the canoe before the bumby jeep ride back into town. The tour was amazing, we never expected to get so close to and see so much wildlife and the scenery and the area around the river was stunning. That night everyone from our group went out in town for some drinks. We had loads of nice tropical cocktails and eventually found ourselves in karaoke bar in the early hours singing dreadful versions of Michael Jackson classics. The following day we flew back to La Paz, this time the plane was only delayed by about half an hour.



Death Road

Death Road is a common day trip for backpackers. It involves cycling from the snow covered high altitude plains of La Cumbre at 4700m and descending 3600m down to the steamy jungle town of Coroico along 60km of the "worlds most dangerous road". We decided to give it a go. Neither of us are particularly confident mountain bikers so we opted to pay a bit more and went with the best company around who also have the best bikes. People do die on this road, mainly people in buses and cars but several bikers have also died so we didn't want to risk using a dodgy outfit. We had heard horror stories of people going with cheap companies and terrible things happening like the front wheel of the bike falling of whilst going full speed down hill, or falling over the edge and the guides not even realising they were missing.

We all met early in the morning and drove up to La Cumbre to start the ride. On the way we were shown a video of a recent casualty of Death Road. He was showing of and going too fast, he lost control and went over his handle bars and managed to get his brake lever embedded in his stomach. He lived. After being given strict safety instructions we were on our way. The first part of the ride was fairly easy, it was along an asphalted road and the only danger was the traffic. We kept at the back of the group, we weren't particularly confident in our riding ability or our balance.

After this easy-ish introduction we descended further and started to enter the jungle and the most challenging and dangerous part of the ride. It is a narrow dirt track cut precariously into the mountain with 800m drops to the left and rocky overhangs and waterfalls to the right. The sides of the road were covered with crosses and flowers where people had died. The weather and visibility due to low cloud was poor which added to the danger. The views of the mountains and the valley in the areas where the cloud had lifted were spectacular and we stopped along the way to safely admire the dramatic scenery. This section went on for quite a while, probably due to our slow pace. It was extremely bumpy and dusty and it was hard work on our legs and the arms and it took a lot of concentration to keep within the narrow track and not fall off.

As we neared the end of the ride it started to get much hotter and dustier although it was still raining. By the time we reached the bottom we were soaked, hot and filthy but happy to be alive. We had hot showers and an amazing lunch at an animal sanctuary in the town of Yolosa and afterwards headed back to La Paz. It was a brilliant experience, it must one of the most spectacular rides in the world. Well worth the fear.



San Pedro Prison

We´d heard of a lot of interesting stories about San Pedro Prison so we decided to go and check it our for ourselves. It is renowned for being a society within itself. It is significantly different from most prisons, inmates at San Pedro have jobs inside the community, buy or rent their accommodation, and often live with their families. There are on average four deaths a month and police rarely go inside. There are no official tours of the prison and visitors are shown around by the inmates for a fee of 250 Bolivianos (20 pounds). This goes towards bribing the guards to allow us inside. We went to the side gate of the prison and we were quickly ushered inside and taken to small room in the prison. This room belonged to a South African inmate called Stuart and we were greeted by him and a women, she wasn´t an inmate but worked for a foundation set up to help foreigners who end up incarcerated in San Pedro. We spoke to these two for some time about the prison and they explained how the prison works.

It is split into two main sections, Population and the section that we were in, i forget its name. The section we were in is mainly for foreign prisoners, most of whom are in on drug related charges, those awaiting trial and some Bolivians who can afford the more expensive cells. There were two Bolivians living in this section during our visit who were awaiting trial accused of murders. One stabbed his wife to death and the other cut his sister into eight pieces. This made us feel slightly uneasy. We visited one of them, he was in solitary confinement for fighting so we just spoke through a small window. He looked psychotic. Cells are bought or rented for the duration of a prisoner's sentence. This wealthier area provides inmates with private bathrooms, a kitchen, and cable television. However, those in the other side of the prison live in cramped conditions with it being common for single-room cells to accommodate five people. The foundation is set up to help foreign inmates buy cells in the wealthier side of the prison. Stuart told us that if a foreigner is put into Population they will be killed within two days. Obviously we weren´t allowed in this area, it is where the the murderers and rapists hang out and he told us that if we went in they would rape Lil and stab me. No thanks.

The section we were in contained market stalls and places to play games such as pool and poker . The canteen and restaurants are owned and run by the inmates, there are also places that sell ingredients so those with kitchens to cook for themselves. Some prisoners have jobs such as hairdressers and TV mechanics.

The prison has about 1,500 prisoners. The wives and children of the inmates often stay inside the walls and are allowed to come and go as they please. Without the income of the husband they often cannot afford to live by themselves in the city. They provide a link with the outside and can bring items into the prison that are sold on the market stalls.

They explained to us how the production and sale of cocaine is common place within the prison and provides some inmates with a significant income. We suspect Stuart was one of them. There are laboratories within the prison where the cocaine is made and it is then trafficked out of the prison to be sold on the streets of La Paz. The amount of use and addiction within the prison is also very high. The inmates, certainly in the area we visited, seemed to have a lot of freedom and were able to communicate easily with the outside world in order to deal their drugs. The guards seem to turn a blind eye in return for bribes.

After having all this explained to us and them answering our many questions Stuart took us on a tour of the prison. He then took us to visit another South African inmate called Jacque. We were invited into his room and we sat on his bed. Jacque is without doubt the most unhinged, weirdo either of us have ever encountered. He spent the first twenty minutes explaining to us how most people cant take a horse to water and make it drink, but he could. We had no idea what he was talking about but we smiled politely and just agreed with him. We felt very uneasy around him, he kept on shouting at us and asking us strange questions to which we didn´t know how to answer. He told us about his brother dying of AIDS and then asked me if that was his fault. I wanted to say only if you gave it to him but thought better of it and just said no, hoping that was what he wanted to hear. We didn´t want to say the wrong thing.

He explained to us in a bit more detail about the drug production and trafficking within the prison and in fact he was on his mobile phone making deals whilst we were there. His main role was to test the cocaine to check it was good quality before it left the prison. He explained that taking drugs did not effect him, i beg to differ. He was taking cocaine whilst we were talking to him and he didn´t appear to be at his best. He could barely string a sentence together. He told us that a couple of days before he had gotten into trouble with some of the inmates in Population. Something to do with drugs. They held him down and hammered a nail into his ear to burst his eardrum. Not nice.

So after our interesting and scary time with Jacque we went back to the relative sanity of Stuarts company. We drank some whiskey with him for a while and he talked to us about his life. He has been in the "business" of drug trafficking for about thirty years and his past is pretty colourful to say the least. In 2005 he was released from jail in Pakistan after spending six years there. Originally he had been sentenced to death by hanging and spent some time on death row. He told us how inmates didn´t know when it would be their turn and every week or so the guards would come and take someone away to be killed. Luckily for him he managed to appeal and get his sentenced reduced from death to six years. He has been in San Pedro for three years and has never been sentenced. The Bolivian law states that if an inmate has not been tried and sentenced within three years then they must be released. Everytime they try and take Stuart to trial he pretends he cant speak Spanish or English, he can speak both, and only speaks in Afrikaans. Since the government can´t find a translator he cant be given a fair trial so he is due to be released within a few weeks. Watch your backs!


So after more than two weeks in and around La Paz we decided reluctantly that we must move on and so we headed to Sorata near La Paz to climb a mountain and visit a glacier.

---