Columbus Palace Hotel La Paz

... in La Paz at 7AM.

Going to be here for couple weeks. Staying at large hostel in a very historic and extremely detailed building.

So far we have been to couple museos, witches market several times, and explored the downtown on walkabout daily. Very interesting city, and we were able to easily find Indian food for the first time since ARGIE. After pretty repetitive menu options for past month or so, it was food sent from the gods! We gorged like proper Americans.

... and cannot remember any of it! It also turned out they were minor celebrities back home as they showed footage of them on Brasilian TV talking about the upcoming mountain bike trip. Mauro is also a published author and gave us a signed copy of his latest book, of course itīs in Portuguese though so I have no idea what it says! And despite being a fellow mountain bike maniac, Iraldo is president of 4 steel companies and is half way through a law degree, whilst also being ...

... the largest deposit of Lithium has been discovered – the Chinese are coming!

Tourism, which is an obvious source of income for the country is not encouraged but tolerated.

Just South of La Paz is the ‘Valle de la Luna’ or Moon Valley which is an area that looks a bit like Arizona with rocky terraces and outcrops and large number of cacti. The area only came under national protection in 2003 as building and construction on the ...

... a little more shopping and site seeing and Leon geared up for another South American hair-cut experience (he’s grown to love them because without work or social engagements there’s no real down-side to a bad cut and they usually come with lots of laughs and great atmosphere. This one was a little more no-frills with a one-man shop run by a guy who looked (and cut) like he’d learned his craft in prison (he had the tattoos to match). Leon asked for corto ...

... was just a normal tarmacked road, albeit rather steep and winding through spectacular scenery. The guide went first to begin with, signaling for us to stop every fifteen or twenty minutes so that we could admire the views of the mountains and the valley far, far below. The mini bus followed at the rear. After the first stop, he would stay at the back for quite a while, which was great as I went first fairly often. I even overtook a car at one point – it was going far too ...

... jungle areas where we will see, amongst other things, giant river otters, pink freshwater dolphins (which we can swim with if we like), anaconda, alligators, camine, and lotsa monkeys and birds. Fishing for pirahna is also an option (must remember to be very careful when taking the hook out). I think there may be one of 2 bugs as well, so mossy repellent is an essential. I canīt wait to write about what we will have seen and done. Maybe weīll join a tribe!

... hand pijacu iznad grada tako da smo imali fenomenalni pogled. Grad se nalazi na cudnolikim brdima te su sve kuce izgradene od cigle. Samo u centru ima par zgrada koje u biti kvare cijelu sliku. Zene na ledima nose ili djecu ili neki teret, a nikada ne mozes biti siguran sto od toga dvoje ;) imaju sarene marame (s pojacanom rozom) na ledima u koje strpaju sve sto trebaju nositi. U principu, to su im malo primitivniji ruksaci iako je mozda cak i bezobrazno ...

... for pain meds and anti-inflammatories which take the edge off the pain but I'm constantly in pain whether I'm sitting, lying down, standing.. it just hurts to exist right now! But all that being said, I'm thanking my lucky stars! 2-3 metres ahead of where I fell was a sheer drop into the cavern below, and I came out with only internal bruising, and a few superficial wounds and swelling on my face, hand and knee.. So things could have been a lot worse!!
Later today I'll be ...