Death Road: La Paz

On thursday we bussed it from Puno to La Paz. After the boarder crossing, where you get out and walk across after having your passport stamped, we had a lunch stop in Copacabana. This is the more popular place to see lake Titicaca from. For some reason everyone says Puno is this horrid place. There's not that much to do there but it's not that different from any other small city that isn't built for tourists.

Coincidentally, as we were going to get on our second bus there were the dutch couple from our Lares trek (Mas and Suzanne for future reference)! We chatted for a bit and ended up asking if they wanted to combine forces to go to Rurrenabaque. So after checking into our hotel in La Paz we walked to their hotel and decided if would be faster to walk to the airport office than taxi since traffic was horrible. Ages later, wet and soggy from the rain we found the office, surprisingly not where lonely Planet said it was...

Yesterday we did the downhill mountain bike of death road. Which is basically a road along a cliff edge that is two and a half metres wide with a sheer drop on one side for most of it. It used to be a two way highway but a new road has been built that is much safer and it's almost solely used for downhill mountain biking now. We just went with some company that was in Mas' guide book. They had two options for the bikes, I assume most others do the same, with one being about twice the price. We all went with the cheaper ones and I don't think it would be worth it for the better ones to be honest. We accidently forgotmto change the time on our phone and had a personal pickup from the company because we were late. Bolivia is an hour ahead of Peru. It turned out to be fine because we had to wait before we could drive over the mountain pass because the road was too icy. It was pretty stunning to drive over the pass with it covered in a light layer of snow. The downhill mountain biking actually starts on the bitumen road before death road. I assume so you can get a speed fix. This was actually the most scary part. There was a lot of traffic on the road and whenever a slow truck was in front we had to pass on the left. The side with oncoming traffic. Anyway we made it safely to the start of death road. There was one idiot in our group, even from the start I was hoping he was come off and get some serious gravel rash. He constantly was stopping so he was at the back of the group and then flying past everyone. This wasn't a problem until we actually started on death road where there were many rocks you had to dodge. A couple of times when I was steering out of the path of a rock,  low and behold there was Idiot flying past and I nearly ran into him. I assume the group of qiwis that were with us had the same issue because we heard one guy say to Idiot after "I was a bit worried when you kept coming past, I was just wondering if I bumped you if you would just go over the cliff.". Anyway, the ride was amazing. The views are so beautiful and neither of us found it scary. You do get a bit wet and muddy. Definitely don't forget to bring thongs like me and have to walk back in very soggy joggers. Also don't expect much when the promise a pool at your lunch spot, think hot tub sized pool... with mould and some rubbish... and be prepared for your arms and hands to ache! Unless you're Brandon, then you won't be sore at all. The tour takes all day by the way, seven to seven. I assume they factor in the wait at the top for the ice to thaw. Another slight issue is that La Paz doesn't get going until 9am, so you won't be able to get breakfast before a 7am tour. Oddly enough, it doesn't stay open very late either, everything is pretty much closed up by 8pm.

This is actually the view you get if you cross the road from the valley of the moon complex and climb a little hill

Today we were both feeling a little howyagoing but we got up to go to the Paraguay embassy to get our visas. But they aren't open Saturdays, not terribly surprising. So instead we thought we would book an afternoon tour to the valley of the moon. Then quickly decided we would find public transport instead when the tour included a city sights tour. We managed to easily find the right bus but overshot our stop and had to walk back. Nothing new there. As we passed a little "cafe" (family run food shop with no actual menu) I decided I needed lunch and the toilet. Apparently they had no almuerzos (a set lunch menu of soup followed usually by chicken and rice) and after a really confusing conversation, of which I understood only "you want something to eat?" I just said yes a bunch of times and we sat down. I don't know what they meant by they had no almuerzo becauze we were served chicken and rice and potato followed by chicken broth (which we didn't eat). Anyway, it was good. We found our way to the valley of the moon. It was, odd. The tourist area is just like a section of the valley that they've wacked a chain-link fence around and put a path through. And it's only about 5minutes walk from the town. I definitely reccommend going though. It's pretty weird and interesting. The wind and rain has eroded the area into weird peaks and spires. The entry is very cheap at 15Bol per person. After we were finished we tried to hail another bus (they're actually minivans) back to La Paz but they were all full, so we started walking back into town. We evetually got on an old bus/truck thing that said it was going to Perez, which is where we wanted to be. We were thinking we might stop and go on the telerifico but Brandon reslly didn't feel well so I went shopping by myself. I always worry I'm going to get myself lost but I didn't! As it turns out the streets behind the San Fransico church are a warren of markets and I spent longer than I thought I would, I really should have taken a watch. Brandon had a little bit of a worry at how long I was gone. Haha.
Tomorrow morning we fly to Rurrenabaque where we will hopefully organise a trip to the jungle! Yay. A small tip from the qiwis on our bike ride, don't take the bus there. I really don't know why they did, maybe the same reason they put one of their backpacks in the overhead area on a bus and it subsequently got sollen, silly. Anyway, it's a very dangerous and scary and long bus ride, just fly.

Why are you taking photos of us getting lunch?