Gloria La Paz

... way or do anything about it. I went off the edge of the road and actually landed, still upright on the bike, in some rocky and very shallow stream below the road. I kept going (probably only a few cm but it seemed like metres) before the front wheel hit a rock and I took off. I landed face first on the rocks (stream was so shallow that it just annoyed me by making me wet, water didnt provide any cushioning) and felt my legs bend up behind my back with the bike, which then bounced ...

... eating things in the square and reading Harry Potter in spanish. <br><br>In Potosi we stayed in Koala of course. Same old there, watched movies, slept, learned some economics, chatted with the staff. They got a kitten! It was the cutest thing ever and I wanted to take it with us SO badly. I named it Magnesium, because it was white, or Maggie for short. I need a cat. <br><br>Other than that, nothing else is coming ...

... your house for good luck. Disgusting anyway. Went to a wrestling match that night which was so bad it was funny. People dressed in custumes and girls wresting wwf style except really badly. Was funny to watch went one of the wrestlers stoles some tourists drink and poured fanta all over the croud and then everyone throwing **** at him.<br><br>Mountain biked down the most dangerous road in the world which was just crazy. Riding ...

... was alternately exciting, amusing and passionate but, in the end, we both agreed that, much like being donkey punched by Paul Giamatti, once was probably enough.<br><br>Finally, what would a blog entry be without a frank discussion about transportation? In La Paz we boarded a Todo Turismo bus, reputedly the best Bolivia has to offer, for the apparently nasty 10 hour overnight trip to the salt flats of Uyuni in the Southern Altiplano. Definitely not a bad bus ...

The bus from Peru to Bolivia was quite a bad experience. The driver was going flat out as fast as the bus could go. The quality of the road was fairly poor and the bus was in even worse shape so simply going at high speeds (over 100km in a 35km zone) was a bit scary. Then he decides to overtake a minibus with an oncoming coach approaching. He backs off for a second and then decides to go ahead and overtake anyway. There was not a chance of overtaking in the ...

... and another on his handlebar to record the entire journey for his mountain bike website back home in Northern Brasil. The first half of the trip, about 2 hrs, was entirely on tarmac and although had the same terrifying drop offs it was a wide road and was designed to help us build our confidence before the hardcore section later on. On this section we also made a few stops to observe the wreckage of buses and other vehicles that remained on the side oif the mountain like a ...

... my lenses in I was able to read my book, but once they were out (they were now underneath the bus, doh) I had little to do but sleep. <br><br>We got to the border around 2pm, and that was all very straight forward until we had to walk across to the Bolivian side to get our entry visas, we had to pass through our last Peruvian checkpoint. Two police officers singled us out and pulled us into an office, dave was lagging behind me so I was in their first and he said ...

... is 4000m above sea level! WE got a taxi to the hotel we had booked and reconfirmed about 4 or 5 times online, and the guy had assured me someone would be there to open up at that time in the morning, we knocked and rang the bell, until two guys sleeping on the street told us Ramiro had gone out... so we let the taxi take us to another hotel... 5th floor (thank god there is a lift as I wouldn't make it up those stairs at the moment!) The journey has begun....<br><br>

We are having a lazy day off today, just a wander about. <br>We go to the witches market where you can buy potions for every ill and dried llama fetus, which apparently you bury in the foundations of your new house for good luck! I don´t know where they got so many, there were literally hundreds.<br>Then a trip to the coca museum which was really interesting ...