La Paz, les bases

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Hola todos,

Getting super-bored of the extra-touristic place of Copacabana, I decided to take a bus to La Paz yesterday evening.

La Paz: Oh what a mess !!! This city is just incredible. It barely stops. Cars everywhere, people even more everywhere, very noisy. I mean, you can grab a minibus just anywhere in the street. And I mean everywhere, like in the middle of a round-about, on the left lane of the Prado (the main avenue...not in Marseille folks !) and sometimes next to the walkside ! What makes it crazy is the variety of ride, I mean all kinda buses, from the old Chevy from the 50´s to the ´04 Hiace via the 60´s Mercedes Benz VIP. Plus taxis and bikes.
Add on it the location, at 3700m, ie surrounded by hills and mountains, colorfull houses, and you get a raw picture of the city.
And even more, the traditional clothes. All women (and some dudes) wear the typical hat, pancho and skirt.

I decided to stay at the hotel Majestic (not the one in Cannes, folks) because it is very central, in the witches area ! Actually it is more the gringo area since the adjacent streets are all about hotels and tours agencies. Namely calle Santa Cruz, Illampu and Sagarna.

Well, the 1st days I did not do much. Just going around to arrange the trip for Aurelien and Antoine, aka respectively Marvin and Beso, coming a day after.

On the 30rd, I got my mates !! They arrived pretty late (1.30am). So good to see them !!
The day after, we went for the Cholitas Wrestling. What is it ??
So, you see the US wrestling ? Make it more amateur, more fake, with big ladies, and you get it !!
This is all about entertainment. They don´t fight for real, but they give some good acrobaties. Families come here on sunday afternoon with kids. It is very popular in La Paz, a cultural weekly event.
What makes it even more fun is that the 1st rows, very close to the stage, are reserved for gringos. And of course wrestlers are making fun of us. Starting with some teasing, they litterally trew a fighter on some girls !! Way too funny !!
Please pass by the restaurant at Hotel Rosario to get a super good dinner.

On the 31rd, we got the thrill !!
I booked a tour for the infamous Death Road. Basically, it is 70km of downhill from LaPaz to Coroico (from 3800m to 1500m). Thanks god, the group is very small, just the 3 of us + a swiss guy (not that slow by the way...).
Starting at 6.30am, we drive up with the van to the starting point. It rains, it is f...ing cold, and cloudy. But the thrill keeps us ready for any kind of weather.
The 1st part is pretty easy, we ride on a normal road. But very quickly we get wet like divers without wetsuits and the wind stops freezing our hands. I tought I would loose at least 1 finger...(despite the equipment: Pants, orange jacket, full helmet, gloves and top of the range "Rocky Mountain" canadian mountain bikes with hydraulic brakes, double suspension etc ).
And then we reach this famous death road. Note it is not that dangerous anymore, because the road has been closed to traffic 5 years ago (they built a new road). However, some parts are almost single track-style. And belive me, with a 500m-down cliff on your left and stiff rocks on your right, better be concentrated !! Add the "nubia", ie the deep wet fog, plus some crosses of dead people on the way, and you can imagine how exciting it could be.
Our guides are just crazy, they push further and further. Marvin has some difficulties, more with his stomach than with the bike (cheers, mate !).
At 12pm, we reached Coroico. 70km of downhill. You should see our face !! Big smile for everyone !
Then, to make it more fun, we drive into the rainforest to an eco-lodge for a Zip-line, or tyrolienne. This one is the craziest one in Bolivia: 2x 500m long at 200m altitude over the death road !! Here again, big thrill and big smiles.
We end up the day with a fantastic argentin restaurant. And of course lots of argentin wine...

On our last day, we visited the Valle de la Luna. Reminded me of USA. And the Museo de la Coca. Very interesting.

What we did not do:
- Visit of the San Pedro prison. Yes, you can informally visit a prison !! It is of course unofficial. The prison is run by prisonners, and they even produce cocaine inside !! We found it very "Voyeurist", so we did not make it.
- Road 36. This is a cocaine-bar. Truly, the serve cocaine there !! This place changes location every 2 weeks (but all taxi drivers know where it is) and it is for gringos only !! Australians mainly, apprarently.
- Museums.


We close the exprience in La Paz by taking a night bus to Sucre.

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Comments

[ivan]

NICE
nice visit to los andes nice places to go ;iam going sometime this year i love the region of yungas a town close to coroico caranavi seems like you have a lots of fun thanks for sharing IVAN