Hi Guys,

Sorry the photo is the same, mine are on a DVD and this PC is CD only. I have some fantasic photo's to load so will do so asap....

Am in La Paz now, have been some 3 nights. This is the highest capital city in the world. It gets poor reviews and truth be told I would add to them. However this is my view and the people from the 'other Salarjeep' have enjoyed it so it may be because I'm alone that it's like that. However for me it's noisy, has little architecture of interest and though full of markets has little to interest me... It's also at times very smokey due to the ancient busses.

One attraction for me was to be the witches market. I am 2 minutes away from it in my hotel and have seen it, but it really is a very small part of things and in a sense mopre of a traditional medicne place, which also seems to have many modern medicine boxesin it. No witches or broomsticks to buy sadly. Yes there are Llama faetuses to be seen but some are so big and furry they simply seem false. A disappointment. Hey Ho, can' have it all...... The city is in a pretty spectacular position though, very high and in a natural bowl so surrounded by very steep mountain slopes with houses everywhere. Again cleaner than expected but little of the beauty of Sucre.

What I have enoyed was yesterday. I had an excellent and totally exhilirating time cycling down the Road of Death. Yes it is named this way because of the number of deaths on it...... Not havingg had a bike since I was 18 and never ever been off road mountain biking I was a bit worried about it all. I also decided against advice of ALL the women to do it in the kilt... Well someone has to... The road section was 20km and fantastic fun. Actually too slow for me. I seem to have discovered a speed junky thing and was fastest of all overtaking everyone- some others being keen cyclists this was interesting. I had to stay behind the guide who was slower than I wanted. I can only imagine the kilt at times blowing away behind me. The road goes from 5000m up down to 1500m above sea level so it's good it was mostly downhill (even the 4km uphill I was in the top 3 fastest- not bad given I was 2nd oldest and most were a lot younger than me). Then the 44km of the death road......... I still kept the kilt on and mostly it was fine (nearer the end it got so wet at the back the weight kepy pulling it into the spokes... interesting... sorted by raising the seat after a few too many moments of sudden braking and swerving). I even completely surprised myself by being overall fastest after the guides, and this included regular off road bikers.... It was echilirating, the steep and very long (easily 600m straight down- no parachute included) falls often hidden in mist but still there, 1 or 2 close shaves with traffic and another badly organised tour, my lack of skill showing a few times with wrong speed or simply geting it right and seeing the drop rush past at some 30kmh 40cm fom the bike . Very odd feeling the kilt blowing plus water and mud getting everywhere!!! Really surreal and FUN, laughing through the rivers or under water falls, mud pools, very rough road etc etc. The road is essentially a single track, there's no hard surface anywhere, it's very twisty with some fast sections but still a very rough track. And in total 64km of biking. I thought of Alain in Belgium and Colin in UK a few times.... You guys would love it Sadly the kilt is now deceased after too many times jamming the wheel and tearing, but it was a cheapy and lasted much more than I thought. I am grateful to have had it and enjoyed the wearing, and the effects... I have 2 left so.... will buy another cheap one to travel with. We finished in an animal sanctuary for an easy but lovely meal in a setting where parrots and monkeys ran around...

The whole area we cycled in is spectacular, partly due to the magnification from height partly simple beauty. Lots of colour from massive flowers and plants. Empty rivers due to heat. There were lots of eagles to be seen, so many mountains and valleys. Often you would se a house or very small cluster of houses there, half way up an impossibly steep mountainside with no obvious way to get there and somehow they'd not only built houses but also terraces the mountainside to farm. Amazing. And the altitude simply can't be explained. It took over 2 hours to drive up the hills for 75 km to get back to La Paz such is the altitude and steepness of roads. This is scenically more beautiful than Chile or Argentina by far.

Later today I go to Rurrenabaque to go visit the Anmazonian pampas, not the jungle as you see more animals on the pampas, but still have to boat into the jungle. My growing collection of bites (usually bed bugs, or fleas from bus seats and blankets....) will no doubt grow even more. My ankles and shoulders are a sight to see.

Back Monday to go to Lake Titicaca and beyond to Peru.... So hopefully I'll have more stories to tell and a DVD player to upload photo's from.

Meantime I am okay. I have come to a realisation that a lot of my personal work has shifted from my letting go of Pauline. I hope this is because this has happened in my heart, it feels lighter. However as I previously said I never felt comfortable in myself so that I felt I was accepted and liked by others. I know I am in my head but tend not to be able to connect it to my heart. I feel stupid and not worthy with others, and I feel this is where my emotional work has shifted to. A sense of accepting myself but also in the meeting of so many people having made a few lovely contacts (which may never go on and I am okay with that now- I no longer put too many of my hopes onto relationships with others) but also generally simply been accepted and even welcomed into groups. I feel more comfortable with this, and the fact the last 3 days I've been alone is not a problem for me. Much less pain of being alone, especially when in a restaurant and everyone else is in company. A simple but significant shift in my emotional journey, but also a good one. This is good.

So, I must away and again pack.

Take care, love

Alan xx