La Paz

  La Paz, Bolivia
Monday, December 29, 2008

Week 9

Monday

Lake Titcaca From above

After a short 90 minute flight over the Andes and Lake Titicaca my passage through the tiny airport in La Paz was easy and straight forward, as it is for most except Americans. I wrote previously about their ill treatment in most countries and extra forms, visa and taxes. Well Bolivia must top the lot tax wise. $135! I was actually shocked then immediately relieved when I saw the signs and then the queue of people which were all obviously just American. (One thing I didnīt think would happen on this trip is that many prejudices and stereotypes I had or knew of are being cemented rather than broken down. More on that later...) 

Descending into La Paz

The taxi jouney in from the airport was actually a 500 metre descent from the altiplano into a bowl surrounded by hills and  mountains! Not what you expect of the worlds highest city. I chatted to the taxi driver a little in Spanish and he let me stop on the way down to take some photos. He seemed only too delighted to have me in his country. According to my guidebook La Paz is a city that "has not got much to it" and that "there is no need to spend much time here". I had little expectations but I was pleasantly surprised with what I found. Much cleaner, more developed than I had expected and far superior to many of the cities in Central America. The people are quite shy and timid and many still wear the indigenous clothes, complete with bowler hat ..

Local Dress

I had reserved a place in an Irish hostel "The Wild Rover" for New Years as I wanted a guarenteed party. On arrival I learned I would have to dress up for New Year and the theme would be "Twisted Fairytale". Ideas please... While I was thinking about that, priority one was to book a session on the worlds most dangerous road. I had heard that many companies do not work this time of year as it is rainy season and being so close to New Years I had my fingers crossed. After a few hours scouting around town I managed to find a relatively cheap more personal option with only two Brazilians and our guide and driver for company. Perfect, booked for Wednesday!  The hard ground covered, I relaxed for the evening in the hostel chatting to the mainly Irish contingent. In about 3 hours I met about 20 times as many Irish people as I had done in the previous two months, it felt like I had returned home for a few days. New Years was going to be a riot. 

Tuesday

Beginning of the cycle

6 a.m. start for The Worlds Most Dangerous Road. (The beauty of being a bit behind in your blog is that when your loved ones read it they know you must have gotten through these experiences in one piece). For those of you that havenīt heard of it hereīs a little more detail. To summerise, this road was given the title by the Inter-American development Bank. Throughtout its use, before it was replaced by a newer safer route, approximately 200-300 people died on the road each year. Evening now, although it is now longer used, on average 1-2 tourists die on this road yearly. Thatīs enough factuals to set the mood. Our tour guide was good value for money and he wanted to ensure we got ours.

Beginning of The World´s Most Dangerous Road

We were driven up a mountain above La Paz to about 4200m above sea level, given our bikes, equipment and brief run down of the itinerary. The surrounding mountains were snow capped, sleet was falling and the wind was bitter. The road was supper smooth, wet and very slippy. We were advised if possible to brake on the gravel on the side were we would have

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some grip. The first section is a warm up really, 21 km or so downhill on a modern two way road. The serves to help us get used to the bike and travelling downhill without braking in a safer environment. We stopped a couple of times on the first section for bike checks and to let our hands thaw out. It felt like mine were about to drop off. We stopped for some breakfast and thankfully were driven up the next few km to the beginning of the Death Road proper, 42 km long 3000m vertical decent to Coroico. Again we given a brief instrcution on the sign language he would use. He said he felt confident in our handling and that to get the most out of the trip we were to go down the road at a reasonably fast pace. There would be plenty of opportunities for

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photos on the way back up and he would stop at a few key areas for photos and food. Right, lets go! The road turned to a dirt/gravel track with many large stoned dotted along it. It wasnīt long before it narrowed to only a few metres with sheer drops on the left of 1000, 1500, 2000 oh I dont know how far... After about 5 mintues I started to get into the swing of things a bit more, focused more on the road than the stunning

One of the many crosses along the way

scenery and rediculous drops, braked alot less, stood up out of the saddle and moved at a pretty decent pass. We caught and passed numerous other groups along the way with our nutcase driver following behind in the jeep at an equally swift pace. At about halfway we stopped for some food and a breather. We were all loving it and we were instructed then that the second part was not as dangerous as the first and we could go even faster! Fantastic! Sure enough the roads were slightly wider, the turns not as severe and there were even a few trees every now to slow you down if you went over the edge! Before long we were at the finish above 1100 meters above sea level.  

View from Coroico

We were driven up inot Coroico for a spot of lunch, a well deserved shower, and an hour to relax and marvel at the stunning views from Coroico of the valley. We returned to our guide and driver. The driver hadnīt spoken much until now but he had a glint in his eye. His turn for the big stage. Now

Our crazy driver

for the scary bit he laughed. Our driver was Coroican born and bred and had been driving this road every day for the last 22 years. Iīm sure he reckoned he could do it with his eyes closed but I would not like to see him try. He fancied himself as a bit of a Formula One driver and the locals nicknames him Emerson Fittipaldi and come to mention he did look like him! That build up and the fact the put me on the

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passenger side (cliff side) on the front of the jeep for the best seat in the house had me tingling with excitement. If I was going to die today at least I was gonna enjoy it! Sure enough he met expectations, rarley slowing around corners preferring to use the horn as some sort of cloaking device, overtaking everything on the road at first efforts. I dont know about formulae one but maybe this guy should of tried rallying instead. We arrived back in La Paz about an hour and a half before the next tour group. A well earned round of applause tour guide and driver!


Wednesday
The last party of the year! Any ideas for a costume..? No me neither. I wandered around La Paz for a couple of hors looking for inspiration or a costume shop. I managed to find something which I guess is La Pazīs answer to a party shop. I laid eyes on a pirate outfit, the only decent male fairytale outfit I could think and  a much preferebale alternative to dressing up as a fairy godmother.

Pirate Outfit: Check
Red bandana: Check
Dreadlocks: No Chance
Sword: Will work on it
Makeup: Will work on it
Drunken mannerisms: Will work on it

1 Sword and 20 minutes in makeup later this was the result.

arghhh

Jack and the beanstalk, Jack Sparrow & Elfis

The rest of the night (well what I can remember) was the aforementioned riot. We even had a Bolivian drum band lead us up to midnight.

Traditional Bolivian Band

Happy New Year!

Thursday was the most hungover Iīve been since my brithday.

Friday wasnīt much better. I had a chance for last minute token shots of central La Paz before moving on for Peru on Saturday.

Central Square

Central La Paz 2