Not for the faint hearted!

Monkey Man Brian!
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La Paz is a city short on beautiful buildings but a city full of life. It is one big street market where one can buy almost anything they want. It is also the highest capital city in the world at over 3600m so alcohol consumption should have been controlled the first night. Unfortunately, that was not the case as we went out with a few of the people from our hostel. We went to a bar called Oliver’s Travels which is quite a big gringo hangout. We intended to go off to a club afterward but got fooled by the owners of the pub. They said that as it was a Sunday night there were no clubs open but they knew a bar down the road that would accommodate us after closing. We went down and it was not the best and stayed there through the night having a few visits from the local police to keep them good with a few drinks. The next day we were handed a flyer for the club we wanted to go to on Sunday and it happened to be opened that night. We were a bit gutted as we suffered a terrible hangover on the Monday and pretty much did nothing.

Geting muddy!
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On the Tuesday we cycled, or free wheeled, the World’s Most dangerous road from La Paz to Coroico. It is predominantly downhill and goes from an altitude of about 4200m at the start to about 2500m at Coroico in approx 60km. The road is literally a dirt track allowing one truck though with mountain side on one side and cliff on the other. Apparently over 100 people have died on it already this year mainly due to the drivers falling asleep at the wheel. The company we went with, Gravity, had safety at the top of their agenda so the ride was not that dangerous but still we got up some good speed. On the way down we also saw a car that had went off the cliff a few hours before and it didn’t look in the best shape. At the bottom we were treated to well deserved beers and lunch. We did the trip with a few Irish people that we did the jungle tour with in Peru and it was like being in the jungle again as there were a few monkeys at the lodge. One of the Irish guys decided to be a monkey and jump about and climb some trees. I think he really struck a bond with the monkeys as a few of them came down and sat on his shoulders and used him as a tree. However, I think he got a bit cocky as one of his so called “friend” monkeys nicked his sunglasses and ran off. Brian followed and tried to climb the tree after the monkey but the branches were not firm enough so he was defeated.

La Paz is one big street market

Off the bike
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Back in La Paz today and have just visited a Coca museum learning all about its good and bad properties and how cocaine is made. Despite efforts at eradicating coca production it is still a major source of employment in Boliva and almost all the population still chew coca leaves. In fact, when I arrived in Cusco I was suffering from altitude sickness. The cure was coca tea and chewing coca leaves and it really helped. It allows the lungs absorb more oxygen and at high altitudes that really helps.

La Paz to Coroico Road
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The rest of today will be spent exploring the many markets here and tomorrow we fly to Santa Cruz which is the largest and most affluent city in Bolivia.