Big RTW trip 2008: 15th - 18th May

Caught another local bus at 10am for our trip to La Paz. Our group occupied the first half of the bus with others at the rear. Locals were alowed on the bus to try to sell us food, papers or whatever. Most exited before we set off but some stayed on until we reached the terminal gates where the driver stopped to pick up more passengers to fill the aisles. When the bus stopped at a checkpoint 8 women jumped on with trays of cooked food or drinks trying to sell us some of thier wares. Most of them managed to get off before we headed off again but 3 of them were stuck on, one of them had very smelly chicken. They eventually got off when the bus stopped 20km down the road. They were not very happy when they got off, not having sold anything but would most likely have picked up another bus in the other direction back to their stalls. The route was very steep and scenic over the mountains. The bus driver didn´t stop at all until Maren had Zaida request a toilet stop at around 1pm. He gave us 5 minutes for us all to use the 3 toilets available. Fran who has been sick for weeks was last back and the bus driver started to move off without her until Asher got up and made him stop. It was a very tough bus ride but luckily we did not feel the effects of the altitude this time having gone through it previously.
Around 4pm we hit a road blockade simillar to the one at Iguaçu Falls. But this time the driver decided to go overland. We followed small dirt tracks not meant for big buses. We passed other buses and trucks doing the same thing. We had one hairy moment when we got to a small hill but the conductor guided the driver in the right direction and we made it back to the road after about 30 min. We finally arrived in La Paz at night. La Paz is in a creater so we had a spectacular view of all the city lights as we drove in. When we arrived at the terminal we were advised to be on our guard as there are many thieves about. We transferred to a smaller bus, having our luggage put under the bus in the luggage compartment. We were just about to leave when the driver spotted someone taking one of the backpacks from the luggage hold. The guide chased them and they ended up dropping it and running. Luckily it was Simon's bag as he has a 95litre backpack which is very heavy. If it had have been mine or David's they would have had no trouble running with it. So after that bit of excitement they made sure they locked the luggage compartment and we set off up the very steep and crowded streets and made it safely to our hotel.

16th Spent the day wandering the streets looking at the witches markets and the tourist- artisan markets with Donna. The witches markets sell all sorts of potions and dead animals for luck, health and other things. We bought a jumper with llamas knitted into the pattern, a couple of benies, a small chess set where the white side is the Incas and the black side are the Spanish. We also walked passed San Francisco church and to some local markets where I managed to buy some more sun glasses as I managed to break the arm off the pair I had to buy in Canada.
Finished the day having our farewell dinner and Frans birthday at an asian restaraunt. The food was very ordinary but the company was excellent. Not sure why GAP tour leaders continue to take us to foreign restaraunts where the food is vastly inferior to the local cuisine.

17th We woke at 6am for a quick breakfast and were escorted to the tour office (too unsafe to walk the streets by ourselves at that time of the morning) of Downhill madness mountain biking. David and I along with Sandy, Asher, Max, Charles, Gui, Vicky, Maren and Laura had all signed on to ride the death road, one of the most dangerous roads in the world. We were fitted out with padded pants, a vest, full face helmet, and full finger gloves.

We set off with 7 others in 2 mini busses, through La Paz and out into the country side. There was heaps of traffic on the road as it was a carnival day and many people were heading into La Paz and to other towns around for the festivities. After an hours drive we disembarked from the vans and were matched up with our bikes. The bikes were top of the range Rocky Mountain soft tail bikes from BC. The suspension and the seats were excellent. The journey started at La Cumbre 4700m and we decended on the main road in single file spaced about a bus length apart. After a couple of kms we stopped and were put into a slow medium and fast groups. David and I were in the fast group so were toward the front. We had to pass quite a few trucks that had to travel very slowly on the very steep road.

The scenery was amazing, massive mountains similar to the rockys in Canada. We had to stop and dismount to pass the checkpoint and then pay 24 Bol for the ride down the death road. At every stop we were given very detailed instructions on the conditions we were going to face in the section of the road we were riding on and how to ride defensively and safely. Once we were on the first part of the death road the decent was around 500m on gravel and dirt with very steep drop offs and narrow sections and tight corners. We had to be carful of the gravel and to stay on the tracks so as not to loose control. At one point the guy travelling down behind me lost control fell off onto the track and his bike went over the cliff. Luckily it was caught in a tree and they were able to retrieve it and he only had a few grazes.

We passed a few points where many cars, buses and trucks had been lost over the edge. One corner had 70 vehicles lost over the edge. The whole of the ride down was awsome, scenery from top to bottom excellent and some of the best we have seen on a bike.

We finished up with a beer at a little shop at the bottom

and then off to Yolosa where we went to a hotel for lunch and a shower. The view from this hotel were excellent as well.

Then a 3 and a half hour drive back to La Paz. David was in one van that drove back via the death road, (much more scary in a van in the dark than on the bike) and Cat in the second van that drove back via the new road. Even though it is relatively new it is in very bad condition due to rock falls etc. Arrived back at around 9pm to pick up our t-shirts and CD, very tired but exhillarated as well. We had to walk back to our hotel through a street procession. There were many bands and dance/marching groups dressed in colourful costumes.

The parade started in the morning with locals standing and sitting in temporary grand stands along the street.

It was an amazing spectacle. The locals had been drinking all day so a few were quite drunk. We made it safely back to our hotel.

18th We finally met our new tour leader who had been held up in Lima after having lost his mobile and camera. We then set out into the streets again to find that there were still street parades going on.