Hi Guys,

As you can see I am now in La Paz, which is the worlds highest capital city. Actually you may recall from my last journal that I was due to arrive here last Thursday, well a week later and I am still here. La Paz is a great city, set in a valley, high up in the mountains the city itself boasts some amazing views and has a certain charm that I just love, with all the cobbled streets, funky markets and nice little plazas. I have had a great week.

As I mentioned I arrived last thursday around 6 ish, and as the city is so high up (3600 metres above sea level) the first thing that hits you is the altitude. I decided instead of catching a taxi from the bus station to walk the 1km to my hostel. I did manage to get there but it took me about 5 minutes to get my breath back. Later that evening after a little rest I went on the hunt for some food, but all I could find in close proximity to my hostel was deep-fried chicken joints. Well I soon regretted my choice as I found the meal the most disgustingly greasy meal I have ever eaten. Actually ever since I have gone off chicken completely. Anyway, that night I was sharing my dorm with a German couple and I had a bit of a weird experience.... it was about 3am, I think, and I was fast asleep then all of a sudden the German girl starts screaming at the top of her voice. I was so freaked out by this as it was pitch black and I had no idea what was going on, naturally I started screaming too. I have no idea whether it was a bad dream or whether she is just one of these people that screams in their sleep, but I could not settle after that with my heart pounding.

The next day, as I was still acclimatizing to the altitude I decided to take it relatively slowly. I did a little walk around my area, stopping for the cheapest lunch I have ever had. It was a 3 course set meal for about 50p, I think my draw dropped when I got the bill. Later that evening, thankfully the screamers had checked out and were replaced by another nice German girl. I found myself chatting to here for a good few hours before hitting the sack.

On Saturday, I decided to go for a bit longer walk, this time to a nice lookout, which had stunning views of the city, with all the red-tiled houses perched on the steep valley walls. After this I walked slowly back to my hostel, stopping along the way for a sly photo of the famous San Pedro prison, anyone that has read or heard of the book, Marching Powder would understand my desire for this. Later that evening I got chatting to a nice lad from Derby and a couple from Watford. Actually this was great as we stayed up to about 2am, just chatting and playing cards.

The next day, Sunday, myself and Dan (bloke from Derby) decided to hit the quirky markets. I had forgotten how much fun it could be just to buy random crap and barter with the stall owners. Actually, I probably got slightly carried away when I was bartering the cost of a biro pen, which could not have cost more than 10p. Dan found this all hilarious of course. What can I say, I am a tight-arse. Later that evening, myself, Dan, Amy, Jon and a nice american girl called Madeline, continued where we left off from the night before with another late night chatting, drinking wine and playing cards.

On Monday, I was supposed to leave La Paz for a 3 day trek into the Yungus region, however as the rest of my group all fell ill with some sort of food poisoning, my travel agent wanted me to go with just the guide. I felt this would be a bit much for three days and decided to cancel myself. Instead, I joined Amy and Jon on a tour of the nearby Tiwanaku ruins. I felt this might somehow make up for missing Machu Pichu, which I am gutted about. Well, I would be generous if I said the tour was mildly interesting. It was incredibly dull, as our guide took us around 2 museums for about 3 hours, talking passionately about everything, even talking for 20 minutes about bloody potatoes. It was a joke! After this he took us to the ruins themselves and we saw very little but a big mound of dirt and about a hundred archeologists. In other words, the famous ruins had not even been discovered yet! Still, we had a good laugh about it later that evening over dinner.

On Tuesday, after a nice lay in I decided to join Amy and Madeline with a trip to the local zoo. This was quite cool as we happily wondered around the sparse zoo for about 3 hours, and it was great to kill a few hours, before enjoying some nice burgers and wine over dinner. By this point as we had kind of been hanging around with each other for a few days, we were beginning to get quite close, which is just great. I mean don't get me wrong, whenever you travel you are constantly meeting new people, but I find that I keep having the same mundane conversations with people about where I have traveled, where I am going etc. So I guess it has been nice, to go beyond that with my new friends.

Anyway, yesterday we all went to the local cinema to watch Pirates of the Caribbean 3. It was my second time in about 3 weeks but it was still cool and then we all went for an amazing dinner, which was kind of like a Turkish Tapas.

Which kind of leaves me onto today, to be honest I have no real plans but to chill out for the day. Tomorrow I am finally leaving my hostel after 8 nights, to start a 32-day tour, taking me through Bolivia, Argentina and Brazil. I decided that even though I am happy to travel on my own I thought it would be nice to finish my big adventure how I started, on an organized tour. Hopefully I get a good group.

Anyway, I find myself again wanting to apologize for my rambles, and I hope everyone reading this is well.

I hope to see you soon,

Jon