Loving La Paz

---

---

We left the mini carnivale in Puno and caught the early morning bus to La Paz, Bolivia. The bus ride was good and we arrived at the Bolivian border just before mid day. Everyone had to exit the bus and enter the Bolivian immigration office. A police officer checked our passports before stamping them and letting us enter his country. He took a bit of a shine to Dom, he gave her a big smile and when he handed her passport back he gave her hand a bit of a squeeze and a caress. A bit of a boost to Doms ego I think!!

We hopped back on the bus and saw some fantastic scenary of the Bolivian mountain ranges complete with snow. At one point we had to exit the bus again and cross the narrowest section of Lake Titicaca by motor boat whilst our bus complete with luggage went across on a barge. Whilst we were waiting for the bus to arrive on the barge, we saw a war memorial which celebrated Bolivia's war with Chile many years ago. The painted picture showed a Bolivian soldier ramming his bayonet into a Chilean soldiers throat, with blood spurting out. Australian war memorials are so tame in comparison.

We arrived in La Paz late in the afternoon. What a city. It basically sits at 3800m above sea level and is at the bottom of a huge valley. However, houses rise up to the very top on all sides of hills for as far as the eye can see. I have never been in such a huge city. Here it is so different, the houses at the very top, the area which is called El Alto, belong to the poorer citizens, whilst the ones at the bottom belong to the more well to do folk.

This is a very hectic city, people everywhere, markets galore, traffic congestion, lots of Herbies, lots of poverty, yet very nice and happy people. The altitude still makes breathing difficult, more so when you have to climb steep streets, of which there are plenty, or flights of stairs.

We have done the touristy things like take the tourist bus around the city, wandered the streets, visited the witches market, attended Musuems, gone to the Cholita Wrestling and I even did the Road of Death. I wanted to catch a Bolivian soccer match, however as usual, the advertised time was all wrong, so we didn't get the opportunity, never mind, next stop Paraguay, and hopefuly I will be able to see a match there.

The Witches market can best be described as different. It is basically sets of market stalls with various potions for assorted ailments. There are also lots of little statues for sale which celebrate Pachamama (mother earth) these statues if purchased can bring you good health, prosperity, intelligence, longevity and few other benefits that I can no longer remember.There are also lots of Llama foetuses for sale, evidentally these too are supposed to bring good luck if you buy one, take it home and put it under your house or pillow. If I can get my stash of foetuses through Australian Customs, Christmas this year is going to be so much fun.

The Cholita Wrestling was a fun afternoon/evening out. We were bused high up to El Alto where the event is held. Evidentally it is a bit of a tradition and has been going for about 50 years. On arrival all gringos were provided with front row seats and bags of popcorn which we were encouraged to throw at the wrestlers we didn't like. Throwing drinks was not discouraged, however it came with a disclaimer that the drink may come back in your direction if it happened to wash over the wrong wrestler. All the locals sat behind us and the whole thing was a bit of a pantomine, much like real wrestling really, with one good guy against a bad guy with lots of interference from third parties. The Cholitas were the stars of the show, they are the local women dressed up in their tradional outfits. They fought each other and even the men, and the locals seemed to have the favourites and those they didn't like were called Loca (crazy female) which only seemed to infuriate the wrestlers so that they grabbed bottles of water and sprayed the crowd regardless. Plastic BBQ chairs, peices of wood and other assorted weapons were used during some bouts and fake blood appeared as a result. A good night was had by everyone.

The Road of Death was a not to be missed experience. It is mountian biking down a steep road which has had over 340 recorded deaths......how could I pass that up. Dom gave it a miss as she wasn't overly confident based on her practise in our back yard, where even Bella our Dog ran and hid because she was so wobbly.

I was supplied a mountain bike with a full suspension and hydraulic brakes. I also received a full face helmet (complete with a Winnie the Poo motif), goggles, knee pads, elbow pads, water proof pants and vest. I looked very professional, apart from the Winnie the poo helmet, even if I wasn't. I did the trip with a couple from the UK who were just as skilled as me. The whole trip consisted of 56km downhill. We initially started on bitumen so we could get the feel of the bikes and pretty soon we were travelling at over 30KPH down the road, dodging cars and giving the hydraulic brakes a good working over. We were high up in the mountains and it was windy and cold, but the views were spectacular. I though Banos was good, then along came the Inca Trail, but some of Bolivian scenary beat that ( that is when I could afford to take my eyes off the road). We had to pass through two drug checkpoints, luckily I didn't get searched, it was bad enough putting all the equipment on, so I didn't fancy having to get it all off again.

Once we finished on about 20km of bitumen and got our confidence up, we moved onto the gravel road, the Road of Death. It is a very narrow road, with room mostly for single vehicles only. The side of the road has a drop of about 1KM. Our instructor told us to stick to left of the track ( right next to the drop) because on coming vehicles would be coming up the road on the right hand side. I ignored this instruction and stayed in the middle, I felt so much safer knowing I was at least a meter and a half from sudden death. We raced down stopping every now again for a rest. We passed waterfalls and even rode through one, by this stage the weather was so much warmer as we were travelling through jungle like terrain, passing numerous crosses and flowers, commemorating the dead. I blew a rear tyre halfway down but fortuntely they just gave me a spare bike and I carried on. The whole trip took about 3 hours to complete, and once we reached the bottom we had a well earned beer. Then we were driven to a hotel in Coroico where we allowed to cool down by having a swim in a pool which had million dollar views. It was soooo good.

The trip back to La Paz consisted of us travelling back up the road of death in our transporter van. That was worse than going down by bike as I had more time to comtemplate how dangerous it really is. At times we had to overtake trucks and buses and we were only centimetres from the edge. But we made it back in one piece. I now have my complimentary souvenir T. shirt to prove I did the trip.

---