We set off from Rurrenabaque on a very cold and wet morning. This did not imply good news for the already mud drenched road, although not as bad news for all the people flying out of there, since all flights were cancelled due to the fact that the airport runway is a grass field. He he.

  

We headed off on the bus and got to watch the scenery change before our eyes, from tropical jungle to snow capped mountains. On the way we stopped for a toilet break. Lisa went to use the facilities, only to find a series of small concrete bases with holes in and no doors for privacy. So she couldn't go. Oh dear.

  

We eventually made it back to La Paz and checked into a different hotel, half price to the other one we had stayed at but exactly the same otherwise. When we got back, we booked a tour to visit the highest ski slope in the world, Chacalataya, and the weird landscape of Valle de la Luna. We also discovered an amazing Chinese restaurant, although Lisa disagrees because her meal was 600% of her RDA of salt.

  

While walking along the road, we observed a group of pigeons. A van came around the corner very slowly, but none of the pigeons moved. Eventually one of the pigeons became trapped under the wheel and a loud pop was heard as it was squished. An eye rolled out of its head, and a few seconds later it's head slumped downwards. Still none of the pigeons moved. We report this discovery as evidence for kulak behaviour spreading to other animals.

  

Another hideous site was observed later that day. We saw an old man in the park. "Look at Granjad!" Lisa said. We both turned, and as we did he turned to face us. He then opened his mouth and without moving his face or body, ejected a load of chewed old coca leaves onto the floor, which made him look like a cow vomiting up cud. We both went "URGGHHHHHH" right in his face. We felt a bit bad but we blame the circumstances for this behaviour.

  

The next day we took a trip to the zoo. It was described by Lonely Planet as "sprawling but under-funded". We were not expecting much, but when we got there we were pleasantly surprised. Most of the animals had nice big enclosures. We saw spectacled bears, lots of monkeys, jaguars, huge condors, snakes, armadillos and loads more. A horse tried to eat Charlie's popcorn salted hands and jumper. It only cost 10p to get into the zoo, so it was excellent value for money! We also saw feeding time of the jaguars, and their fighting over the rib cage dinners.

  

We then headed off to the Natural History Museum. It took us ages to get there on the micros but we managed it eventually. It was not like the London version, and most of the exhibits were made out of papier mache. Some of the eyes of the preserved animals had sunken in and gave them funny looking faces.

  Afterwards we went for lunch at a really dodgy roadside café. It turned out to be really nice, and the lady who ran it enjoyed questioning us about what different countries we had been to. We think she listed every country known to man, so we were pleased to escape.  We spent a few sleepless nights at our hotel, mainly due to the fact that it came alive at 3am with lots of rooms occupied by sexing couples. The hotel also seemed to rent rooms by the hour for amorous friends. We presume this is a kulak version of a "city break". 

As we had hated La Paz on the last visit we decided to have a few excursions out of the city.  The day after visiting the zoo we visited Chacaltaya (The highest ski slope in the world) and the tour combined this with a visit to Valle de la Luna.  

Chacaltaya is a mountain in Bolivia with an elevation of 5421 m (17,785 feet). It is about 30 km from La Paz and is near Huayna Potosí. 

As Bolivia's only ski resort, the glacier on Chacaltaya is located at 16°21?12?S, 68°07?53?W. It is notable for being the world's highest lift-served ski area, as well as the northernmost ski area in South America and the world's most equatorial. The rope tow, the very first in South America, was built in 1939 using an automobile engine; it is notoriously fast and difficult, housed in the site's original clapboard lodge where it is rumored currently to be inoperable. The road to the base of the 200 m drop is reached by a narrow road, also built in the 1930s. Because it is too cold to ski in the winter, the lift operates exclusively on weekends from November to March, making Chacaltaya the only ski resort in South America to have a ski season corresponding to that of North America. The site was developed and still operated by the Club Andino Boliviano, though increased global-warming has diminished the annual snowfall and shrunken the glacier by 80% during the past twenty years.

(Wikipedia) 

The road climbed from the centre of La Paz, through El Alto and finally reached a plain like landscape where we stopped to take photos.  Lisa did not feel very well at this stop at 4500m but blamed altitude and so carried on to the top.  She felt much better when we arrived at Chacaltaya lodge (5300m) and thus the stomach cramps had nothing to do with altitude and more to do with runny eggs or ice, that were consumed the day before.  We climbed to the top of the mountain but our weak, ill adjusted lungs made us stop every few steps to catch breath.  The rest of the group clambered like monkeys to the top but we took it very slowly although Charlie managed to run in short bursts.  Lisa had too much lactic acid build up in her legs for that kind of nonsense.  There was at least one member of the group more crippish than us, they never made it to the top.  We reached the top just before some very large and threatening black clouds moved in.  The temperature dropped and we got very very cold.  There was a further peak that we could have climbed but we were both too tired and lacked motivation.  On the way down we stopped to play in the snow until we got too cold and it lost its novelty.  Once we got back to the bottom we rested and it began to snow. Charlie tried to destroy rocks and we watched our guide and other kulaks performing and impromptu dance in the kitchen, they didn't know they had an audience!  We were both very glad not to have suffered any ill effects of altitude but were thankful to be spending the rest of the day at a lower and more oxygen rich level. 

The vehicle took us back down the same road we came up on and we headed for the opposite side of town to visit the Valle de la Luna.  This area is located near the zoo.  It is a valley that has eroded to leave strange rock formations.  We were still tired and were saddened when the guide took us down a path that said 45mins when an adjacent path said 15mins.  We wandered along and tried not to take too many photos as they all looked the same.  The path end was reached in less than 30 minutes even with stops and short explanations.  The 45 mins must have been measured at the standard kulak funeral pace. 

At the end of the tour we were treated to free cups of coffee etc. and so the two greedy gluttons tried to drink two cups but the group got restless and wanted to move on.  Obviously we delayed further and made them all wait. 

Once we had traveled back into town we went for breakfast, lunch and dinner all in one lovely veggie burger meal.  Lisa's illness struck again and she left the table mid meal and couldn't finish all of it; it had to be serious!  After food Lisa rested and went for a little nap as she had been awake all the night before with sounds of sexing and other strange goings on.  The following night Charlie hadn't got any sleep and we now both consider the hotel to be a brothel that rents rooms by the hour. 

The next day we took all our dirty clothes to be washed but unfortunately it was a Sunday and so it was going to take until 2pm the following day.  We had planned to be on the road to Cochabamba in the morning but it looked like we would have to stay in La Paz a little while longer.  Lisa wasn't too upset as a 7 hour journey without a handy toilet was not a prospect to relish.  We spent the day shopping at small stalls as the shopping centre and post office were not open.  Charlie bought a lovely fetching pair of sunglasses and both bought large men's t-shirts to wear as overalls at the animal park.  Charlie also decided to completely destroy a baseball cap stall in search of the perfectly fitting item.  Once all the caps had been strewn around and about a hundred tried on, the one fitting cap was selected.  Lisa joked that Charlie wouldn't buy it because it was too expensive.  The woman said 25 bolivianos so Charlie started to walk away, she was soon shouting 20 at us as we careered down the street in fits of giggles.  A large portion of the day was spent on the internet after escaping the woman.  Lisa also bought a dog collar to take to the animal park as a gift, this time Charlie made the old lady stall holder laugh as he tried it on. 

On the final day we managed to go to the Post Office and Lisa managed to buy trousers and socks before picking up our clean laundry at 12:30, paying the brothel hotel and getting a bus to Cochabamba. 

 

Final Thoughts: We found La Paz much nicer than on our first visit, mainly due to the discovery of shopping.  Still too much traffic on narrow roads and only Charlie discovered decent food. 

 

Mark out of 10= 5.5 

 Next Time...................... Cochabamba