La Paz

Part 1.

At the bus station we had been put on different seats and Brent and Iris had been split up. We should let them sit together I said, so we swapped tickets.

In doing so I had ensured that I was the only one sharing with a stranger.

The bus started to fill up and the seat next to me stayed vacant.

Get in! I thought as the departure time drew near.

Then at the last minute a man in his thirties turned up with his mum and sat down beside me. His mum gave him a few things and kissed him goodbye.

Bless.

Aw he must be a bit special I thought as I started to feel sorry for him.

I could see the others looking across to see what should have been their seat that I now had.

He looked like he could do with a wash, but I tried not to judge him too much.

That was until he coughed all over me. He clearly did not understand that he was only supposed to have half the seat as he elbowed and kicked around in his seat, then he started sneezing everywhere and coughed up a load of phlegm in my direction.

The others now were crying with laughter as they looked across. I think Brent and Gabriele even wet themselves they laughed so much.

I could not believe it, it was going to be another ride from hell.

I tried not to be too horrible as the lad was not all there, but he just kept breathing cold and snot all over me and would not keep still. Surely he would fall asleep soon I prayed....

Three hours later I was ready to smother him with a pillow.

And then the cold came. Oh my God was it cold. Even though this time I had come prepared with trousers and scarves it was freezing. It soon took my attention off the perpetual break dancer sat next to me.

Needless to say I had a horrific night's sleep much to the amusement of the others. I guess it must have been payback time for wrecking theirs on the tour.

We said our goodbyes when we arrived and I jumped in a cab to go to my hotel.

I had met a crazy Swiss guy called Fabrece in San Pedro who had made it to la paz before me and said he had found a good cheap hotel with ensuite. He was going to meet me for a few beers and to do the Death Road, so I decided to check in at the same place and enjoy the luxury of my own toilet and shower for a couple of days.

I arrived at 7 am and was so happy I could go straight to the room. It was too early to disturb Fabrece, so I decided to have a power nap.

After lunch we met up and he had told me he had already booked the bike for the Death Road with the hotel. I had wanted to go with another company, but now did not really have a choice other than to go with this one as he had especially changed his plans to wait for me so we could go together. Oh well, they are all the same I thought.......

With a big day ahead the next day we did the sensible thing and got completely s*** faced and went to bed late.....

I can not tell you how hard it was getting up at six the next morning, I had not really slept properly for two days because of the bus.

Anyhow I made it, and we sat on the minibus nursing our hangovers as we set off up the mountain to the start of the famous Death Road that we were about to go biking down.

As we got to the top you could see a big area with all the other bike companies preparing to set off. It was next to a lake under a snow capped mountain.

That will make a great first picture I thought as I got my camera ready.

We drove straight past them and down the other side and pulled up in a layby full of rubbish.

It was not a good start.

Everyone else on the bus had met at the tour office were they had been given their outfits, so they were all dressed.

Within seconds of pulling up the tour leader snapped at us to hurry up and get changed. Wow, this looks like fun we mumbled to each other.

So we hurried to put our gear on and got our bikes. As the briefing started Fabrece was still finishing to put his gloves on.

Are you listening? If you dont want to listen you are not coming with us the leader said to Fabrece in front of the whole group.

Unbelievable.

Fabrece gave him what for back, but we could tell how the day was going to pan out.

We set off and tried to enjoy the amazing road ahead. We stopped after a short while and Hitler the tour leader told us all to line up.

I was near the front so had to stand there for a while for the others to arrive. Once everyone arrived he took a group picture and told us to set off again.

It was an amazing view so naturally we wanted to take a few pictures of each other. The only reason we had not yet was because we had followed Hitler's instructions to stand there like dummies for five minutes.

I took some of Fabrece and as he took mine Hitler started shouting at him telling him there was no time and we needed to go.

Fabrece politely reminded him that we were supposed to be having fun and to chill out.

He threatened him to leave now or he would be put on the bus.

We went a little further and stopped again for a drink. We were a bit hot so naturally took off our gloves and helmet. As we got ready to go Fabrece noticed one of his gloves had gone missing. He went up to one of the leaders to ask for help but he just smirked at him and told him he would have to pay for a replacement and walked off.

Well that was it. Quite rightly Fabrece went mental. He was convinced they had done it on purpose to him.

As they day went on Hitler managed to piss everyone off in the group and towards the end we were all singing "we want a refund" as we rolled down the hill.

It was such a shame. The scenery was amazing and it was a great experience, but I guess it made it even more memorable.

I had been travelling at a hundred miles an hour, so with Bolivia being so cheap I had made the decision to have a week off and not to do anything.

I thought it would be a good chance to catch up on my blogs as well as I was at least a month behind.

I took a wander Down to the famous San Pedro prison and then went in to town and noticed the main street had been closed off for a protest march. Naturally it was a peaceful protest to complain about the cost of Llama spray or something, so I got in close to have a look.

Then I realised just how much of a military presene there was, there were troops everywhere with smoke grenades and riot shields, machine guns and shotguns.

As was processing this information I heard gun shots and saw smoke coming from the crowd. Oh my God, it's turned nasty I thought as I ran for cover fearing for my life.

As I covered my head to protect me from the bullets I noticed no one else had moved. Surely everyone should be running around screaming....

So I looked again and more gun shots and smoke went off in the middle of the crowd and no one flinched.

Then I realised they were just letting off banger fireworks.

I am telling you now it sounded like gunfire!

I had a little giggle to myself and bought an ice cream.

I was soon to learn these protests are a daily feature of life in la paz, and the sound of bangers can be heard all through the day and night.

Well I have no idea where the time went, but a few days later I had really done b***** all.

I needed to plan ahead and was determined to try to learn some Spanish. I found a course called survival Spanish that lasted for 20 hours so figured I could do four hours a day in the afternoon for a week. i would be fluent in no time.I haggled them down on the price and booked myself in for monday.

I had got bored at the hotel plus it was four pound more than a hostel, so booked myself in at a hostel for the next day.

After I checked in to my room I could not believe it when I bumped in to Will and Carley from the salt flats tour. The next day was saturday, so we all decided to have a big night out. Brent and iris were still in town so we went down to their hostel and met up with them, plus a few more were still around so there ended up being loads of us.

We decided we could not come to la paz without trying out the famous route 36 bar, so after getting well and truly hammered To pluck up some courage we jumped in to some taxis and off we went in to the night..........

Next stop.......Route 36