Well obviously we both made it. We´re now in Coroico, enjoying the warmth at last. On Tuesday at 7am Lawrence set off to climb Huayna Potosi, which is a 6088m mountain with glacier. I did not fancy it at all, and was very happy to stay in La Paz instead. But I was slightly worried about Lawrence, who had been ill for the last 3 days and had not absorbed any nutrients in this time. We tried to postpone it, but they would not change the date or refund the money so Lawrence so decided to soldier on. I packed some cereal bars for him, along with a few pieces of fruit, some nuts and raisins and a Snickers bar, and hoped for the best. But I soon forgot my concerns as I spent a lovely day strolling through La Paz and eating ice cream. I visited the Museum of Contemporary Art, which was in a good building and with an interesting range of pictures. At 7 I met Shyla (Ronald´s cousin) and went to her house for some dinner and girly talk before we headed out at 10 for some salsa. We met Ronald and the others staying at his house and proceeded to drink and dance the night away. My salsa may be improving but I still trod on Ronald´s toes a few times. But he was a lovely dancing companion and we all had a great time. After the salsa band and some salsa tunes, the DJ then went into some reggaeton (like Latin music mixed with hip-hop) and a range of corny western music, which went down well with the crowd (and perhaps me as well, I´m ashamed to say). However I have never heard such awful mixing in my entire life. But hey we were all dancing, its pretty infectious as everyone else is dancing, unlike in England where hardly any sober person dances. We left the club at about 2am, and realized that Lawrence would have been up and climbing for about an hour already, for the glacier is safer before the sun comes up to melt some of it. Can´t say I was jealous, although Lawrence thinks it is one of the best things he has ever down in his life. Not climbing it is one of the best things I have ever done…

I heard from Lawrence that he missed the dinner as he was too busy in the toilet, and so he survived on his cereal bars and Snickers. It was so cold that he had to eat the wrapper of the Snickers because it had frozen to the caramel. And whilst waiting for his group, about 50 (almost vertical) metres from the summit, he told them all to f*** off after they were still faffing. He was worried that he was using all of his energy just to stay warm rather than get up the mountain, and thought that he had lost two toes to frostbite. They climbed for 11 hours in total, taking 7 to reach the top. When he made it to the summit, just after sunrise, he cried. So yeah it must have been an incredible experience, and the pictures look amazing, but I´m still pleased not to have been there. When Lawrence came back I was amazed at how much weight he had lost. I have never ever seen him so skinny, it was a bit weird.

The following day I spent relaxing and chatting to Zubra (another couchsurfer, from Slovakia) and then we cooked some stuffed zapalitos and pancakes with Ronald. I got really excited at the prospect of eating good wholesome food. After another day in La Paz unsuccessfully trying to recover our lost cash card (again, ask Lawrence) we finally booked our bike tour from La Cumbre to Coroico, along the road known as "the world´s most dangerous road" or the "Death Road".

We went for the cheapest option, with a small company rather than one of the better-known ones. This turned out to be an excellent decision which saved us lots of money. We had a small friendly group, with one Argentine woman, and then a Spaniard, Israeli and another Brit. We kitted up for the cold mountainous scenery and set off down the first part, which is tarmac, but still fairly steep. It had lovely curves but I did scare myself a few times, getting used to the bike. And within three minutes Veronica had fallen off, and she did the rest of the 62km in the van. We saw lovely valleys and mountains, and condors (maybe, or just some pretty big birds, I´m not a bird-watcher) flying overhead. As we descended from the altiplano we saw the landscape change into the warmer, tropical-feeling lower lands of the Yungas. The road was rocky and narrow as well as steep, and we saw many memorials to those who had perished along the way. At parts the cliff had sheer drops, and we saw the remains of a bus which had careered over the edge, killing all 23 on board. A new road has now been built on the other side of the valley, so now traffic does not have to ply this road, making it a lot safer for people to travel as well as for us to ride down this one.I couldn´t believe that this road had two-way traffic on it, no wonder it was so dangerous. There was not even room to pass. The Israeli guy had two big crashes and went straight over his handlebars, but luckily he was ok, though his trousers and jacket weren´t. But our tour leader was great and although the boys complained a bit about their bikes I loved mine and enjoyed every minute of it. At the end we hopped in the van and went to a hotel in Coroico for our free buffet lunch and dip in the swimming pool. As soon as we felt the warmth and saw the relaxed plaza in Coroico, we decided we could stay a few days before heading to Rurrenbaque. I´m going to miss being able to buy freshly-squeezed (ie. while you watch) orange juice and eating canela (cinnamon) ice cream/sorbet. Coroico is a sleepy relaxed town, but still with a good vibe. We spent the next day lounging by another hotel´s pool (we are staying in a cheap one down the road) and eating some vegetarian food and home-made ice cream overlooking the forested valleys. Again seeing huge birds swooping round while we sunbathe and read. How can we go back after all this?

We had heard that there was going to be an Afro-Bolivian carnival in the evening, and that the Aymara new year started at midnight, and we looking forward to the festivities. Our hostel was the place to be from around 4pm, as all the carnival people were staying there, and practicing their drumming, singing and dancing. We bought tickets for the carnival, which was in the football stadium, and then spent the next few hours waiting for something to happen. We ate some candyfloss and saw lots of kids playing with fireworks, but not much was happening in the stadium. It seemed that the 15 bolivianos entrance fee was over-priced and hence lots of people were watching from afar, a real shame as the show was amazing and full of energy. Everyone wanted to party but it never really kicked off. We went to bed at around 11.30, but festivities continued all night long in our hostel, and it definitely sounded like everyone had a good time.

We spent the next day trekking to some waterfalls (which were ok but not that impressive after Iguazu), again the scenery was lovely as we walked along a ridge with beautiful views of the valleys and colourful little towns below. We saw banana and coca plantations too. Now the Aymara people are celebrating with more processions in fancy dress, dancing and flute playing, as I write this.From here I can see all the activity, but the firecrackers keep making me jump. I think we´ll head to dinner soon - our usual of the set menu for cena (dinner), usually some soup followed by rice with milenesa.