Radisson Plaza La Paz

... and dogs.

Now, La Paz seems to me a bit displaced. I mean none of the streets is horizontal, there are too many hills and too many streets, and they are too narrow. The Plaza de Armas is wedged between some rather ugly buildings, it lacks the splendour which a Plaza de Armas should have, like it has in Cusco or in Lima. I leave La Paz quickly and catch a bus to the Valley of the Moon.

El Valle ...

(I will probably edit this later when I upload pics!)

Took the bus on Monday morning from Copacabana to La Paz. Wonderful views of Lake Titicaca...I canīt even begin to describe the Lake. Itīs magic (for me) - I felt more inner peace and joy there than I ever have. I may have found my future retirement home =) Assuming I can finally understand/speak Spanish, haha!

Only ...

MMM,

My eyes I think are bigger than my belly, I woke in the middle of the night after my 3 course Llama feast clutching my insides and gasping for breath. My liver and intestines fealt like they were having a game of push me pull you and I was struggling to lift my twisted body into an upright position to **** and let all the wind out of me.

Luckily this is all it turned out to be and by morning I was all set for my ready bready breakfast again. After a trip to 3 ...

Another restful day, a bit more wandering round.
Came across some street markets selling all the usual tac but also fruit and veg, and there where also people with barrows with quite large boxes of spices.

Thought I had better include a picture of Simon Bolivar whom Bolivia was ...

... near our hotel that all the shops are grouped together - for example all the paint shops are in a two block radius, next to that is the meat district, then the car part district, the fruit and vege district, etc. Guess is must be easy when you need to buy something as people can just go to one area and see all the stuff available.

In La Paz we have read that all the poorer people are near the top of the valley, where the altitude is higher, and ...

... amazing and unforgettable experience!

The drive back took bloody ages and we were all very tired. We arrived back at Free Bikes` offices and waited for a while as our guide`s photos and videos were transferred onto CD for us each to keep. Excellent service. We weren`t massively hungry so we bought some noodles for dinner and headed back to the hostel. I started feeling horrible with terrible stomach pains (again), and had to have a lie down for an hour like a proper ...

... by-pass for traffic and left the unpaved road to the tourists, but you can still see the evidence of past accidents off the side of the cliffs!. You’d be a gonner if your bike slipped of the edge of the road!

The first 25km of the trip was great fun as it was on a paved road, and we were able to pretty much fly down the hill. Once we hit the dirt road things were a little rougher and muddier - but still relatively fast paced ...

... clean sheet, working electricity and hot water. Nope this was something special!! There were four beds in a tiny room with the most dodgy electricity ever! There were wires hanging everywhere. Once when Phil went to leave the room I hear a “boof” (there's a lot of these noises in Bolivia!) and a bright light. I panicked as I thought he'd been electrocuted (not for the first time on our travels). However it wasn't until later that I noticed that there was ...