La Paz

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Getting to Bolivia was one of the most horrific experiences of my life. It took 3 days, a fligtht and 3 bus journeys....not something i ever want to repeat again in my life!Crossing the border was so tedious and long and altitude sickness is vile!I have never felt so awful and ill in my life and i cant believe it was caused by going uphill!lol!La Paz though is such a cool town, i can understand why people say they get stuck there as its one party after another, its hard to see daylight the whole time your there!We stayed at Wild Rover hostel which is one of my favourite hostels so far!Its in a really cool old colonial style building and the bar and staff were so much fun!Its one big, sociable, loud house full of over excited people up for a party!The nightlife in La Paz was insane, i dont think i ever got back before daylight so needless to say when we finally left i was ruined!lol!La Paz is a really beautiful town, filled with old imposing buildings, cobbled street and amazing markets selling everything from llama fetuses to alpaca knitted jumpers!We literally spent everyday cruising the markets and buying knit wear!The clothes are so cool and so cheap it would have been a crime not to buy anything!The highlight of La Paz for me was definatly doing the Worlds most dangerous road´!People that know me will know that i am somewhat challenged when it comes to riding a bike....i get no pleasure from it and to be frank it terrifies me!During my trip i have given myself blisters on my hands and have strained muscles from gripping too hard when riding due to my intense fear of killing myself on a bike!However, i could not come to La Paz and watch my friends bike the Worlds most dangeous road and not take part!I would have kicked myself for life!So i manned up and decided to be brave and just do it!It was the best thing i have ever done. It was literally the most exhilarating experience of my life!Riding a bike downhill along a cliff edge may not sound like something a sane person would do but the views are stunning!I was surrounded by huge snow tipped mountains, lush forest and waterfalls!I would do it again in a heart beat!

While we were in La Paz we did a day trip to Uyuni to see the salt flats!They are insane!!!I have never seen anything like it,, this other worldy expanse of white!It was so beautiful!We were taken on a tour of the flats where we took the standard gimmicky pictures that most tourists take!lol!I loved the island where we stopped for lunch. It is literally a island plonked in the middle of the salt flats which consists of llamas roaming free over the hillside and huge cactuses!It was really cool to walk to the top and look out over the expanse of white sand below us!I felt a bit bad at lunch though when we were served a suspicious looking piece of meat and were later told that this was llama!I wondered why i felt the burning gaze of someone on me throughout the meal!The llamas watch up for their own.........standard!

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