La Paz: Cliffs to Cholitas

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We caught a flight from the tiny airport in Uyuni, which as it took off provided a spectacular view of the salt flats once again. 45 minutes later and we had arrived in Bolivias capital city of La Paz. Underwhelmed at the flat, poverty stricken views from the plane, at first it hadn't quite reached the expectations and visions we had in mind. After bartering a couple of BoB's off of our taxi journey, it wasn't long before we we soon realised that what we had seen out of the plane window was not actually La Paz, but a separate nearby city. 10 minutes or so after leaving the airport, we turned a corner and gained our first view of the incredible city of La Paz. Squeezed into a deep valley with mountains situated like book ends at each end of the valley, with more than 1000m in altitude separating the north from the south and the wealthy from the poor; each end of the city even has its own climate...now this was the city we were expecting!

After driving from the top of the city through the poorer, high altitude suburbs, we eventually arrived into the hustling, bustling, fume ridden city centre. Entering through a discreet doorway, we made our way into our calm, oasis like hostel in the middle of this hectic city. After a quick trip to the shops for dinner, it was back to the hostel and off to bed as early as we could; we knew the next day was going to be an adventure.

7:15am the next morning and we were on our way to Oliver's English Pub; not for a breakfast pint, but a meeting point to embark upon a long and winding journey down 'The worlds most dangerous road'. Just as we arrived at Oliver's, we were immediately greeted with the familiar faces of Matt and Vic (two of the people we met from our Bolivia tour), which strangely made it slightly more comforting. An hour coach ride later and we had arrived at the top of the road and our starting point. Located at over 4,500m, the temperature was close to zero and that was before you take into account the freezing rain and wind; safe to say, we were all pretty chilly.

And they're off...with the first 18km of the road being tarmac, it gave us an opportunity to get to grips with the bikes and begin to build some confidence before we hit the infamous cliff edged, dirt track road. After half an hour or so on the bikes Gem and Vic had decided enough was enough and took a seat on the support bus in an attempt to warm up before we started the infamous stretch. Matt and Rich soldiered on in true macho style, however, it wasn't long before the ride came to a grinding halt when a minor landslide had blocked the road ahead. Half an hour or so of JCB shovelling and the road was clear enough for us to continue on. A short while later we had arrived at our first scheduled stop of the day; a tiny parade of shops. We paid our tourist fee for the road and had a nice hot cup of tea...in a plastic bag with a straw!

All four of us back on the road, this is where the real action began. With its 1000ft shear cliffs periodically disappearing and reappearing from the dense fog, it added further suspense to the already tense emotions we were feeling. With hundreds of large rocks, water falls, streams, numerous extremely narrow parts and a number of hair pin bends to contend with, concentration levels were set to max (not to mention the 18 tourist that have been killed cycling the road). Doing our best to stay alive, but also trying to enjoy the stunning views through the breaks in the fog, we meandered our way though the mountains. Five incredible hours after setting off, we finally arrived at a town at the bottom of the road. Soaking wet and gasping for a drink, we stripped off our sopping wet clothes (what a bad mistake that turned out to be...we'll explain later) and sipped on a nice cold beer.

Beers done, we headed off to a near by animal sanctuary for some dinner and the opportunity to see some of the rescued animals that call the place home. We decided to go and see the various monkeys they had at the at the sanctuary. With howler, spider and various others monkeys I can't remember the name of, it was a great experience. One of the little monkeys also took a particularly keen fancy to one of Rich's pockets for some unbeknown reason and kept clinging onto his leg. With the little fella shook off, we headed back to the main building for a buffet dinner before we commenced the apparent 2/3 hour journey back to La Paz...

...of course, when you are in Bolivia, NOTHING goes to plan and the 2/3 hour journey not so quickly escalated to a 7 hour journey due to a major landslide which was only 100m or so ahead of us. With what must have been 100's if not 1,000's of tonnes of mud and rock on the road we immediately knew it was going to be a long evening. Five hours late, we eventually arrived back to La Paz exhausted but having had another amazing day.

With a guided tour of the city planned for 11am the following day, the prospect of a good lay in was very exciting to say the least...it didn't happen! The previous day after finishing the worlds most dangerous road, Rich decided to take off his wet shoes, socks and change into shorts. What we didn't realise at the time was that just as we were sipping on our beers, a few sand flies were sipping on his legs and feet. With bites far worse than mosquitoes, his legs and feet were swollen like the elephant man and blistered, not to mention the intense itchiness. Our 9am wake up soon became a 6am get up.

With plenty of time to spare we took a slow stroll over to Plaza De San Pedro where we would meet our free walking tour guides for the afternoon. We arrived early, and with the infamous San Pedro prison being located directly on the square we decided to go and have a nosy for ourselves. Strolling straight up to the gates, we could see directly into the jail and even see some of thousands of prisoners crammed into this notoriously overcrowded prison. With many prison guards about, it didn't take long for one of them to ask us what we wanted. A very brief discussion later we were sent on our way and told not to take photos. We decided to take a seat on a bench just opposite the prison on the main square. A few minutes later, Rich attempted to take a snaky pic of the prison on his iPhone, however was immediately spotted by another one of the shotgun wielding guards and told off...he quickly put it away.

A couple of minutes past 11 and we set off on our tour around the main attractions of the city; the witches market, a few of the many markets, the parliamentary building and a hotel with a spectacular view of the city to name just a few. With the many cholitas woman, it was amazing to walk around the centre of a relatively touristy city and still get such a great sense of authentic traditional culture.

With stories of numerous different scams and crimes being so rife in the city, we arrived with caution to say the least. Despite this, we still found the city to be so incredible, not only because of its spectacular scenery and bustling atmosphere, but also because unlike so many cities around the world it has been able to retain many of its customs and cultural traditions whilst still remaining a modern(ish) city.

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