La Paz

Arrived in the capital n the 11th, did the now traditional wander around the city to take in a few of the local sights. One of which was the San Pedro prison, a prison with approximately 1000 inmates and peculiar in that it is not run by the guards but instead by the inmates themselves. The rich can buy what they want, including tv's, sofas, pretty much live it up like they were in the free world, whilst the poorest of the inmates are lucky enough to sleep on the floor in the courtyard exposed to the weather conditions. Kye and Sean did the tourist thing and took a couple of snaps only to be confronted by a guard carrying the biggest gun I have ever seen that had been positioned across the road infront of the prison with the 'request' that they delete the pictures they have just taken. He wasn't a guy you would choose to turn down to say the least!! Also were lucky enough to see our first 'celeb' of the trip in the form of the Blue Peter presenter Konnie, filming in the plaza just opposite the prison.

The 12th and 13th were pretty chilled days in the build up to our trip down the 'World's Most Dangerous Road' on the 14th. The 12th was filled with a lot of confusion on my behalf trying to determine if what I had seen earlier in the day was either male or female, no doubt that will still trouble me way into the future!! In the afternoon we headed to the Mercado Negro, an area of shops and stalls selling all sorts of gypsy treasures from fake football shirts to shower gel. Highlight of the day was undoubtedly our decision to skip Mexico in favour of Miami, 'South Beach bringing the heat!!'. The 13th comprised of a trip to the Coca Museum to see the history of Bolivia's most prized natural possession, and also a trip to a viewpoint overlooking La Paz.

The morning of the 14th came with a 6.30am rise in preparation for tackling the Yungas Road, also known as the Worlds Most Dangerous Road. The trip down the road was expected to take approximately 4hrs and a drop in altitude of 3400m's. It was a one hour drive to the start of the road which experiences on average 120 deaths a year. Before the start of the ride we gave an alcoholic sacrifice to the pachamama (mother earth) in return for a safe journey down the road. The first section of the ride was on 22km's worth of tarmac section taking us down to the start of the Yungas Road which is 44km's in length. On the way down you are constantly reminded of the danger the road poses by the monuments constructed at the side of the road by the families of the deceased. The tarmac section was the part where you could get up some good speed before becoming a bit more cautious on the gravel section which at points had 400m vertical drops, which was made a bit more daunting when our Kiwi guide Matt told us they only carry 120m's of rescue rope!!  All in all a top day, no one died which was a bonus and we got a free tshirt included which allows you to show everyone how manly and brave you are!!!

The 15th rolled up and it was our time to depart La Paz and make a move north to our next country, Peru, via Lake Titicaca, but before we left we were treated to a close up display of the friendliness of the Bolivians.  While waiting for our bus to arrive we stopped in a local restaurant which was populated solely by pretty drunk Bolivians who had been celebrating some kind of public holiday.  One guy strolls over to our table sits down and starts telling both me and Kye that he loves us, buying us both a beer, not terrible.  He then concentrated his energy on Kye telling him he had beautiful eyes, kissing his hand in what I assume was a congratulatory action for him having such beautiful eyes, then making Kye kiss his in return.  It emerged that his wife wasn't all too happy about how drunk he was and dragged the child out of there not too long after having a few words with the poor lad!!  As a farewell he kissed both of our hands and lifted up our caps to give us a kiss on the forehead, sloppy!!!