Checked in at Adventure Brew II Hostel (Adventure Brew I is a couple of doors down the road), which had great reviews but we´re not really sure why. It does give a free beer for each night you stay there, which probably explains the large number of British and Irish staying there. Aside from that it was hard work... we´d been there 5 minutes before the receptionist was just being very difficult and unhelpful. Despite an already tiring day (plus the La Paz altitude is noticeable after 3 days near sea level), we had just a few hours to complete a lot of work, including booking mountain biking along the ´World´s Most Dangerous Road´ (WMDR) for tomorrow. Before all our jobs were over we decided to go and enjoy our free beer in the other hostel and get some dinner.

Day 117 - 6am alarm although I was awake well before then for some stupid reason. We handed over our laundry (in before noon and back by MIDNIGHT apparently) and then went to the other hostel as our useless receptionist said she´d arrange an early breakfast for us. Of course the receptionist in the other hostel knew nothing about it, but she called her friend and said they´d get us breakfast in 5 minutes... 20 minutes later we went to investigate and found there was now a new receptionist who, once again, knew nothing about it! In the end we just left and took a taxi to the biking meeting place - Alexander Coffee on the Prado - and ordered a huge plate of pancakes, fruit and coffee. Here we met our Brazilian guide called Rafael and our fellow riders - a real hodge podge of people that were:

• Dominique - another red head kiwi who was a dangerous rider in our minds. Such moves included undertaking Alex while she was overtaking another rider on the main road, and overtaking me while a car came the other way on the single-track, dirt death road with a sheer cliff on my other side.
• Felipe (another Brazilian) and his Indian friend who were working for British Gas in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
• Alastair - an english, middle-aged former insurance manager who has been backpacking for 13 months, has 4 grown up sons, is heading back to New Zealand because he met a lady there and wears travelling trousers despite the insurance manager chic of the rest of his appearance. He is also staying in Loki, which is the reknowned party hostel chain for 21 year olds that even Alex and I won´t consider staying at.
• A middle aged German that reminded me a little of Dominic from the Inca Trail and really loved the ´competition´ between he and I for who was the dirtiest.
• An unremarkable Canadian from Mississauga (but who did happen to know about the LRT I was planning there).
• Two German boys who´s only contribution to the conversation was to suggest a wet t-shirt competition at the end... imagine the response.

So we headed off to the start of the ride just up and out of La Paz, where we were kitted up and briefed. Rafael made us try and cycle up a small hill to see if we´d manage the 8km uphill section of the route. We all failed, but apparently our bikes are designed only for downhill and the altitude is stifling. Instead we´d get back on the bus for that section.

The first bit was along the new paved road with lovely sweeping bends and little need for braking. Then, after the uphill bus section we started on the WMDR, which is single-track, dirt and with a sheer cliff on one side. The road is rarely used by cars now that they´ve built the new road, but Rafael told us on the way that there was a landslide on the new road so the traffic is being diverted onto the old one while they repair it! Oh, and it´s pouring with rain... but apparently that gives the bikes more traction?!!

Despite getting soaked through and very dirty, the 40km downhill was great fun and actually not as scary as I expected. When we arrived at the bottom we enjoyed a free beer and then drove to the animal refuge centre where we had a free lunch and could also have had a shower if our hostel receptionist had bothered to tell us about it. I had a wander about to look at the mackaws, tortoises and black spider monkeys roaming about the place, and as I was stood talking to Rafael he opened the toilet door to let a naughty little kuati out!

The drive back to La Paz was almost 4 hours and we had to drive through the city to the company HQ in Sopacachi, on the way getting stuck behind an impromptu parade. At the HQ we waited for Rafael to burn the photos to CD and as we were leaving a full on storm rolled in, with lightening and thunder so loud that it set a car alarm off! We stood in the rain on the side of the road waiting for a taxi to pass, and the first 2 that stopped asked where we were going and sped off refusing to take us!

As today is a Saturday, Alex and I are both overdue a night out, so we went for our free beer (in the bar in our hostel this time) and ordered a pizza since it was already 10pm! I ran down the 5 flights of stairs and to the car outside to collect the pizza and pay the man, and just as we were about to start eating the receptionist came up and said there was someone in reception for me. After some questioning it turned out to be the pizza man wanting more money, but there was no way I was going all the way back down there. I gave the receptionist 9 bolivianos to pass on and stuffed pizza into my mouth. Before leaving the hostel I went to email Felipe (who had originally planned to join us but went to sleep instead) and played ´Think Twice´ by Celine Dion for Alex. Quite unnecessarily some blonde, skinny thing came out and was just about to tell us to turn it off, until she probably realised it was Celine Dion and thought twice about it.

At 12:30 we took a taxi to a club called Ttkos, which was a cool underground bar with surprisingly no tourists. The music was excellent and varied from reggae, a few RnB classics including Mr Boombastic, and also The Cure. Other points of note about this place was that the toilets did not have doors on the cubicles, only screens separating them, so Alex and I had a good laugh peeing next to each other and still being able to see each other! Also, the staple drink is a cocktail served in a bowl with four straws. In Ttkos we met Sergio and Marcello - two excellent Bolivians with long hair. After Ttkos we went to another club, which was conversely full of tourists and somehow emerged from there at 7am! It was quite a surprise to walk outside to full sunlight. We shared a taxi back to our hostel with two Israelis and a really nice taxi driver who happened to think we were really hilarious - he asked us if we´d been taking cocaine or marajuana! Annoyingly we arrived in our room at the same time other guests were getting up, creating bathroom conflicts which was probably more annoying for them than it was for us.

Day 118 - Obviously the morning was a write off, and luckily I woke up at 12:35pm, with only 25 minutes until check out! Alex managed to get them to let us have an extra hour and after checking out we went to the Commercio street in search of food. On the way we stopped at a little papelaria stall run by a really helpful old lady and bought a new diary and pen. We then went and sat in a cafe to devour huge chicken sandwiches and chips and coke. I was sure at the time that chips had never tasted so good. Alex also had 9 tiny swords in her sandwich - she intends to transfer them into her tiny boot that she bought at Ipiales. I had to really negotiate with the waitress to give us more mayonnaise - only two sachets per person, what?!!

We had intended to complete a lot of things online today, but in the end we got timed out and had to go collect our bags and walk around the corner to the bus station for our nightbus to Uyuni at 7pm. We´d opted for the cheaper local bus, but it was full of tourists anyway. Despite being VERY tired and also unwell, I couldn´t sleep until at least 5am making it a very long and uncomfortable journey for me. I had forgotten that after the town of Oruro, the road becomes unpaved and very rough, which gave me a severe migraine. We arrived at 7am and I was in quite a state of uselessness, and feeling quite lucky to have a capable travel buddy who seems able to sleep in most places.