Bolivia.. La Paz and the Calle de Muerte!

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Crossed the border from Peru to Bolivia at Lake Titicaca and arrived in La Paz.. stayed in a nice area, near the Witches Markets which is handy if you need any dried toads, herbs or animal heads! I liked the city, though there's lots of steps and hills, which is not always fun at 4000m altitude (keep drinking the coca tea!).. but the city has a nice feel to it, and it was constantly sunny while we were there.



Mountain biked down the "most dangerous road in the world".. 5 hours (mostly downhill) along the 70km stretch of narrow, dirt and rock road cut into the mountains.. The road started at a freezing 4700m right next to the snowcaps, and ended up at Coroico, at 1200m, in a tropical looking lush valley on the edge of the Amazon basin (with a hotel lunch, showers and a swimming pool at the end, which was needed as we were all filthy!). There were sheer drops from the road, no guard rails, waterfalls falling onto the road at some points making it slippery and muddy.. and meeting big lorries was not fun.. but apart from that it was great fun, if a little scary, and the scenery was amazing! There were 9 of us, and only two people managed to come off their bikes (Kate and Dave!) but no serious injuries luckily.. and all the only injury I sustained (apart from a sore bum of course) was blisters on my palms.. and a very sore body two days later!



Visted the Coca Museum in La Paz.. Very interesting to see how Bolivians have been using the coca leaf for thousands of years (for ceremonies, currency, combatting the effects of altitude, anaesthetic etc) and as soon as the Western World realised its' recreational properties it was abused, became illegal, and now the Bolivian farmers are suffering! .. Interesting facts..
Coca Cola had cocaine in it until 1912!
USA has 5% of the world's population and uses 50% of the world's cocaine!


And a very bumpy 12 hour overnight bus journey to South Bolivia............. (next entry)

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Comments

[Jill Sare]

surviving the road of death!!
What a great adventure! Glad you´re meeting great people along the way to share experiences with. You´d be so proud of how effortlessly I completed my last travel blog...a good teacher makes all the difference! Un abrazo, querida amiga. Jill

[mum]

aarrgghh!
Glad I didn't see this before you did it! What amazing views of stunning scenery - worth the pain in the ***. Keep blogging - we love your news and fantastic pictures! Love from home xx