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Published: October 22nd 2008
And so to La Paz, one of Bolivia´s largest cities and one of the worlds highest (at 3600m above sea level); a stunning and incredible place. We arrived from Cochabamba to be met with the stunning view as your enter the city, as you drive for hours across the barren antiplano before arriving into the huge city. The city itself is built into a bowl shape, with the spectacular mount Illamani in the distance, and is an incredible place visually.
Our first few days we spent aclimatising to the altitude (it is surprisingly difficult to walk up the stairs at such high altitude!) and visiting the city. The city has many grand buildings, numerous bustling markets, and a variety of excellent lookout points, particularly from the Killi-Killi Mirador (pictures to follow...), which we spent days exploring and enjoying. La Paz also has a great variety of street vendors and some excellent and incredibly cheap places to eat, so we didnt go hungry!!
After aclimatising to the altitude, number one on the itinery was conquering the Worlds Most Dangerous Road (that is the official name!), however Daisy decided to back out of the challenge leaving Adam to ride with one
of the friends we had made back in Buenos Aires. The ride itself is 64km of downhill biking through firstly asphalt before reaching the WMDR - a mixture of dirt and rubble alongside incredibly scary drops (3600m vertical drops!). The ride started at 4500m and descended to 1600m, and was a spectacular and incredible ride. We started the dirt track cautiously (with good reason) before building confidence and flying down the road. It was a great experience, and despite the bad press well recommended! To top the ride off we finished at an animal santuary where you could play with monkeys!!!
Another memorable highlight of La Paz was the Cholita Wrestling, possibly the most insane event either of us has witnessed. The Cholita Wrestling includes two local women (in full tradition dress, bowler hat and all) wrestling no holds barred until one of them either submits or is pinned. When we arrived we were treated a few warm up fights between men (namely "aquaman", "the mummy" and "the ninja"), which was clearly the guys who werent quite good enough for WWF.
The ring was surrounded by a metal fence (where the tourists sat behind) with terraces behind full
WMDR
The start - 20km of asphalt through the stunning mountainsof locals, who are allowed to throw anything towards the ring (and at the tourists!). By the time the ladies came out the locals were loving it and heckling the women. The fight started and to say it was ferocious is putting it lightly - the fight was actually stopped when one woman threw a metal box in the others face and cut her so bad she couldnt see for the blood! This fight was followed by a no rules fourway tag team (men this time) which was insane. The fight spilled out into the crowd and we were sent flying out of our seats, and covered in coke and popcorn. When the fight ended the victors were surrounded by locals and treated like pop stars (autographs, photos, etc), and it was truely insane.
From La Paz we then headed towards Lake Titicaca and Peru, which we will update on our next entry. Apologies again for the lack of updates, and photos of the sights (and wrestling) will follow in a day or two.
Thanks for reading,
a & d
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anonymous
non-member comment
I would like to see some of the WWF guys compete in that one. Not man enough, especially for the women, I would bet! Sounds like you are having a fantastic time. Mum (Pam)