June 7th - 12th (Thur-Tue)
My first proper cama night bus (fully 180 degree reclining seats, most of the time you pay for this but never get it!) from Sucre to La Paz was almost crowned the best bus journey of South America until we arrived and my luggage wasn't to be found from under the hood. An hour and a half later and some help from two Swiss girls whose luggage was also lost, and our stuff was found in the luggage compartment of another bus parked up in a petrol station fifteen minutes away from the bus terminal.. phew! No harm in the delay however as I arrived into the infamous Wild Rover hostel in La Paz before Sean anyways, his last flight from Miami had been delayed by three hours. Sean brought out some invaluable items in his luggage, but of course his bags were lost too! Two days later I received my beautiful new camera lens, 8 Freddo Caramels and 2 packs of white chocolate buttons.. delighted is an understatement!
Our time in La Paz was spent relatively quietly.. NATTT! Day 1 included a full exploration of the city, getting caught in some form of riot and a walk to San Pedro prison where the prisoners live in luxury and control the countries production of cocaine. 'Seanie, what's that noise.. is that.. gun shots?!' Day 2 was spent cycling full suspension mountain bikes for 4 hours down (really down as in from 4650m to1200m) the notorious Death Road for 60 odd kms. Some of Death Road's facts and figures for 2012 include a Japanese tourist who died whilst doing the deathly combo of cycling and taking a photo (..!) and a high school football team whose bus driver fell asleep at the wheel. I survived, of course, but the pain in my arms from all the rock and rubble abuse lasted for 2 days! Day 3 was spent hungover, lounging around the hostel amongst the other walking dead and watching the boys 'learn' moves from an Israeli Special Forces assassin (fact, not fiction). Day 4 will be known as 'The Day of the Irish Game', very well spent considering we were in the most famous Irish hostel in all of South America. Day 5 was spent dragging Seanie to the brilliantly cheap Witches Market where I finally bought my alpaca Christmas jumper, Seanie an Aran sweater and we had an early night before setting off for Copacabana and Lake Titicaca on Day 6.
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| 'You couldn't blame them for thinking that the world revolved around them!' - Sean on La Paz's geographical position in the center of a massive crater. |
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| Building blocks? No, just houses with windows really far away. |
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| View into the valley where we started the Death Road trip. |
SEANIE ON LA PAZ: (150 Words Max)
La Paz was an experience to say the least. I eventually realised my body's breaking point, not actually as satisfying an experience as you might imagine... managed to make it through the death road, in shorts and tshirt (which is an achievement seeing as the place is colder than an eskimo's .... nose) cos my bag could keep up with me through the 30 or so hours from barca to la paz. then it was just one massive blur fuelled by free shots from the bar and my boarderline obnoxious happiness to not be working 60 hour weeks. To summise, la paz has taught me: "you'll never beat the Irish!" (even if we do lose 3-1 to croatia), sometimes its better to just say no and of course I'm a trooper and I can make it through anything!
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