BOLIVIA

La Paz

After a relaxing few days by the pool, spending most of my time with a lovely Irish guy I had travelled with from Asuncion called Noel, it was time for me to leave Iguazu and leave Argentina for good (until I ever returned if ever although I felt like I'd done the country pretty well already) and catch my flight to La Paz, the capital of Bolivia.
Waking up with just an hour til my flight (I was supposed to be there an hour before check in!!) I quickly packed and got ready, said farewell and left my email with the semi conscious Noel and got in a cab. On arrival at the airport it turned out that even though I had only turned up with 15 minutes to go before the flight I had turned up in ample time and even met an American girl from my hostel who was travelling to BA whose name I can't remember for the life of me but turned out to be a bit of a saviour as on arrival in BA, I knew I had about 4 hours to burn so she accompanied me to the other international airport unexpectedly costing over 200 pesos which cleared me out as I only had dollars and a few pesos so she paid my airport tax of 50 pesos which I didnt even know about and bought me beers and lunch and kept me company so I was very grateful of her! I had met her the previous night but she had been high as a kite and people claimed she had wet herself so I steered clear but it turned out she was a very nice person and pretty good company despite the fact I couldnt get a word in edgeways!

So off I went, feelling alone for the very first time as always before this I've had someone travelling with me and I got on the plane. I was rather nervous since I was leaving for a totally new country (one I'd never been to and also the poorest in Latin America and one of the poorest in the world) so I didn't really know what to expect. After a 4 hour plane journey including a change
at Santa Cruz (Bolivia's largest and wealthiest city which was surpisingly flat and hot) we arrived in La Paz. FLying above it at night was quite something seeing millions of lights lighting up a mountain bowl and on landing it was just the same. Still being fairly nervous and apprehensive I found myself a taxi and asked for an ATM which the driver told me there was one in the airport so
on queueing for cash (Bolivian Bolivianos) I met 4 Aussies who were also going to the same hostel as me so I suggested we shared the same taxi and since none of them spoke a word of Spanish they were quite happy to have my assistance. On driving from the airport which was at the top of the mountain, you really could not help but be awe inspired by this amazing city, the highest in the world,
not only was it breathtaking due to the thin air but due to the awesomeness of the city. Just millions of lights in a mountain bowl. Our taxi driver heard the gasps and pulled over to allow us to take photos of this brilliant looking city. On arrival at the hostel we find out at reception that due to the national election weekend, the entire bar was lit by candle light and there was no music
and they weren't even supposed to be selling alcohol but they still were and I needed one so I joined 2 of the 4 Aussies who I'd met at the airport called Jay and Dean for a beer who I became very friendly with and I was also keeping my eyes peeled for Lydia, the girl I had met in Asuncion who was definitely also staying in the Loki (the name of our hostel) although there was no sign. After a few
beers it was noticeable to all of us that the altitude assisted in making us feel alot drunker than we actually were and we all felt quite short of breath and light headed. I knew that Chelsea were playing one of our biggest games of the season the next morning at 12.45 UK time which was 7.45 Bolivia time (we had lost an hour during travel between Argentina and Bolivia so now 5 hours difference)
so at about midnight I decided to call it a night.

On waking up, I looked at my watch and saw it was 7am and feeling extremely thirsty I thought I'd get up and get ready to watch the game but to my horror the bar was not open to buy water and I wasnt going to drink from Bolivian taps so I asked at reception and they said the bar opened at 7. It was now according to my watch half past and then I realised that I hadnt changed my watch so I had actually
woken at 6am! After waiting around for another half an hour the bar was finally open, I got my water and a good spot in front of the TV for the match and was accompanied by Jay who swore he'd get up and watch it with me so we had breakfast and then to my delight watched us beat them 2-1 at their place! A fantastic result. I was already on a high with the altitude but this lifted me even higher and I just
couldnt wait to get to get out and explore this awesome city! Having walked with Jay and Dean for a couple of hours taking some great pictures, we were really feeling the effects of the altitude and everything even the smallest steps seemed tiring! The worst thing was that from the main street of Santa Cruz, our hostel was up a steep hill which nearly killed us walking up and for the rest of the day we just spent it acclimatsing and drinking more beer to shake off the effects.

I had previously heard from the Aussies in Cordoba that if I go to La Paz I must stay in the Loki (which I was) and I must do the death road which was the most dangerous road in the world (the road with the most recorded deaths 200-300 travellers a year die on it every year). When I say do it, I mean mountain bike down it. At first I was
fearful and thinking no, it's just some crazy Aussies trying to kill themselves but it turned out pretty much everyone in my hostel had done it so I agreed with Jay and Dean that we would do it the following day. I finally caught up with Lydia (the ENglish girl from Southampton I had met in Asuncion) and after catching up she agreed she'd come and do it with us. It turns out she had been to San Pedro prison
and was the first tourist to go there for a year as they had refused entry to tourists after some Israelies went a bit crazy there. I was naiive to the fact that this was the most infamous prison in the world where it is pretty much self run by inmates, the biggest producer of cocaine in the country and home to some 1500 prisoners in varying conditions (both Dean and Lydia told me about Marching Powder a famous book written by an English guy who had been in prison there but I'd never heard of it). According to Lydia absolutely anything goes there, she was offered cocaine, weed, booze and even a real Bolivian passport! What sort of a prison was this I thought to myself! The most corrupt in the world, that's what!! She had a contact and promised us that we would go which Dean was really pleased about. After a few more beers
(they had a dangerous room tab system!) it was off for an early night in preparation for the most dangerous thing I'd probably ever done the next morning.

Waking up early the next day to go on the bikes, we clambered into the minibus and headed off to the top of the mountain to begin our descent. La Paz is around 4500 metres above sea level and this place was even higher so we were all quite breathless when we arrived and were all pretty unsure how we were going to ride a bike when we could hardly walk without being out of breath although they call it gravity assisted
biking for a reason as the bike does most of the work. We started off on the road riding down some extremely steep and tight windy roads going at very high speed. YOu basically don't need to peddle. I usually like to be at the front in these kind of things and I was to begin with but in seeing Jay whizz past pedalling as hard as he could I found it hard to keep up with him and the guide even though I was leaving the rest behind
I just couldnt keep up with the other two no matter how hard I pedalled, it seemed to make no difference and at one point I nearly lost control completely in trying to avoid a bump in the road with the front wheel juddering and jerking either side at such a rate that I was sure I was going to come off and preparing myself for a very painful probable bone breaking fall but luckily I regained control and just thought to myself none
of this macho racing lark, just keep yourself alive and in one piece!! After about half an hour on the asphalt road, our guide led us off road down a bumpy track with very very sttep sides where I was sure I was going to die without due care and concentration. Hell to it, if I'm dying here I'm dying here, the 2 Aussies were going for it and I wasn't going to be outdone by them so I took the lead and kept it for the majority of the time.
It was fantastic fun, speeding down the narrow bumpy tracks just wide enough for one car with a 600-700 metre drop to the side and there's nothing quite like it for an adrenalin rush with the constant fear of death in the back of your mind. Constantly going past crosses marking the places where people had previously died it made the fear even more prominent! At one point we stopped at the edge of a sheer drop where a group of other riders had stopped and were peering over the side. The Bolivian guide said the idiot has lost my bike! I thought he was joking and then on further inspection it turned out that indeed there was a bike probably 150 metres down the mountain and this Israeli guy had just managed to jump off in time before plummeting to his almost certain death and letting the bike go!! SO they got the abseil equipment out and went down for the bike. We all found this amusing but it was all too realistic just how easy it could be to die here!! We were riding through thick cloud so visiblity was low, the path was wet from cloud moisture and waterfalls and there were loose rocks and boulders to contend with not to mention passing cars, trucks, lorries and coaches so vigilance was pretty vital!! It was about halfway down the mountain that I realised the sheer beauty of the place, lush forest covered mountains dense jungle like vegetation clinging to every inch of mountain slope, beautiful waterfalls and some beautiful flowers and butterfiles. It was a shame I was whizzing past it all at about 60-70 mph or I would've got some great photos but I had to keep up with the guide! No one had mentioned the views and scenery, only the dangers so I just thought it was going to be dusty bumpy desert like roads so nothing had prepared me for the beauty of this place!

As Lydia said on stopping at one point, it was just like being in a scene from Jurassic Park when the helicopter flies over it for the first time! Truly amazing! Trouble was you couldnt stare and admire the view to much since you had to concetrate on the road although I loved it so much that at one point I just thought sod it and got my camera out and videoed just steering one handed! Dangerous I know but I surived to tell the tale! An American guy passing
even said to me that it was a great skill I had which made me laugh. Most certainly the most thrilling and scariest things I'd ever done I was so relieved to finally get to the end and survive the most dangerous road in the world (only the next day we heard that an Israeli woman had fallen to her death!!!) It was just such a relief to finally get to the bottom in one piece and have a well deserved beer! We got the t-shirts saying I survived the death road
and a CD with the pictures that the guide had taken which was part of the price which we picked up the next day. It had been a long and tiring day and the 3 hour journey back to La Paz took it out of us so we went to bed fairly early. The aussies and I had decided to go to the the famous salt plains (the largest salt plain in the world) the next day. We'd decided to get a night bus as it was a 13 hour journey so we felt it better to sleep and arrive there at 8am to
do the tour. This was perhaps the bumpiest and scariest bus journey I've ever taken with the whole bus shaking almost like being in a rollercoaster the roads really were that bad. After the 13 hours on the bus we finally arrived in Uyuni (the town where all the salt plains tours go from). We found out that the tour didnt start until 10.30 so we had over 2 hours to kill but there wasnt too much to see in the town, just a market, a few restaurants a church and a few monuments.
After a bit of brekkie a few photos and a fair bit of waiting around, it was ready to leave. First we went to the train cemmetery, a place in the middle of the desert where an old abandoned train track lay with probably nearly 100 old rusty abandoned trains all over the place, on the tracks, on their sides and piled up against each other! Quite a sight I must say! You were allowed to climb them, go inside them and walk across them so it made for some pretty cool photos!

Next we headed for the salt plains which on arrival seemed like we had just arrived in antarctica as it was so white like snow, the whole land was just covered in salt!

It was a simply amazing sight and well worth the 13 hours on the bus. At Uyuni we had seen some photos on the plains where people were in giant shoes or hugging toys but it was a trick of the eye as the white ground gives no concept of distance so we took some great photos ourselves of us inside my trainer and inside a box of cigarettes, it looked so realistic!

After a good hour driving through the bright white plains, we arrived at the island of cacti, an amazing island in the middle of the plains which was just absolutely covered in cacti and pretty much nothing else!

This was by far one of the most amazing places I'd ever been and I couldnt believe I was actually considering skipping it!

Luckily Lydia had told me it was one of the main attractions of South America and was insistent that you don't come to South America and especially not Bolivia without seeing the plains, she was like it's like going to Rio without seeing Christ the Redeemer so I'm glad she persuaded me into ot as it was totally amazing and must not be missed if ever travelling in South America!

Everything there was so white it looked like snow for miles and miles although it was very warm especially with the hot sun reflecting an albedo effect. We actually went into a hotel and museum that
was totally made of salt which was amazing with carvings of animals, tables and chairs buildings all made from salt.

THis was a truly amazing place and was well worth the journey although it was a shame I didnt have time to do the 3 day tour as I needed to get to Cuzco to meet Dad and Jay and Dean needed to be in Rio for some reason only to return back to Cuzco a few days later to also do the Inca Trail so perhaps I'd meet them there. We actually got pills stronger than valium for the journey back to assist with sleeping but even that didnt help as it was so bumpy and so loud, I'm shocked we actually got back in one piece without the bus falling apart! Not even a puncture! I was relieved that we were finally back in La Paz in one piece when I saw it approaching and decided that since it was my last day I would do a city tour and book my bus to Cuzco. Unfortunately as the food at Loki always takes at least an hour to arrive (I only ordered a bowl of soup!) we missed the tour bus that we had paid 50 bs for (admittedly its only 5 quid) but I was annoyed because of the principle. So we took a taxi to see if we could find it as it was a hop on hop off but no sign so instead we just got the taxi to take us to the mirador where we got a great view of the city and took some nice photos. After this is was pretty much time to say goodbye to Jay and Dean til Cuzco so after they left I felt a little alone as Lydia had gone off to do the 3 day salt
plains trip and now they were gone I knew noone but almost at the moment my 2 Aussie mates were leaving, Nick the Aussie I'd shared a room with in Cordoba walked in! Stranger still just after that Martha, the Norwegian girl I'd gone out with in Iguazu came in so it was almost on cue that more people I knew came just as as the others I'd befriended were leaving. After a few drinks with these guys and meeting and getting to know a nice Bolivian tourism student named Gilda Tapia I decided to call it an earlyish night as I had to get the bus at 7.30am.

I nearly missed it as I had no alarm, luckily Gilda was already awake brushing her hair which woke me up and checking my watch I noticed it was ten to 8 so I jumped up threw yesterdays clothes on, grabbed my bags and ran to reception where I was being picked up. It was sad for me leaving La Paz as I wouldve liked to see a bit more of the city and the nightlife when it's not election time but I just didnt have the chance! Maybe I'll go back one day! Off to pastures new for me, Copacabana first (not the beach in Rio) the town in Bolivia which the beach had been named after.