It was an early rise this morning at 6.15am as we were booked onto the Death Road Bike Tour with a tour company called Baracuda. As I have been suffering with a pretty bad allergy to feathers, which they seem to have in all South American pillows, Beth had to kick me out of bed at 6.45am to make sure we were on time for the bus. As it happened, the bus was late so we had plenty of time to spare.

We left La Paz at about 8.15am and headed up into the hills surrounding the city. The guide, Noel, advised that he expected rain when we got to our first stop but nothing prepared us for the weather at the top. As our altitude increased, the rain began to turn to sleet and then snow. This gradually got heavier until our guide advise us that we should skip the first stop and go straight to the Death Road as it was far too cold. Us, and quite a few of the bus, were happy with this until a couple of billy big balls at the back of the bus said they wanted to experience the weather. So we all got off and got all our kit on in the ensuing blizzard. As a offering to the Pacha Mamma, we all took a swig of a very strong alcohol (probably not the best idea given that we were going on a road which is synonymous with death - google Bolivia Death Road and that should tell you everything) and headed off down the first section which was all Tarmac and not part of the death road. I really can't explain how cold it was in words except it say that my hands would not bend to pull the brakes and we were both in physical pain because of the severe cold. We were meant to travel for 32km on this road but we got about halfway before we had to get in the following bus. About half of our group had got in before us but I can only take my hat off to the rest who made it to the intended end point. It took us about 20 minutes to get our hands back to a normal level while the rest of us was soaked through.

We then headed to the actual Death Road where it was still lashing down but this time with rain. After the excellent safety advice, we made our way slowly down the winding roads with a huge vertical drop, avoiding the babies heads (big rocks) in the road. The scenery was stunning and the rain added to this with the clouds and waterfalls which were crossing the road. As per our previous blogs, I am scared of anything above a couple of metres but the road was so picturesque that it took my mind of the couple of hundred metre drop awaiting us with one wrong turn. We were very close to the edge at times but as long as you don't do stupid things then it is pretty safe. Our tour company, barracuda, were excellent and the quality of the bikes meant that we never had a problem. Beth did get stuck in a waterfall at one point and began to scream which was quite funny.

It is hard to describe how wet we were at the bottom but there were puddles in our boots and I think our socks are beyond salvation!! We got changed and went to the lunch which was included with the trip and it was again excellent. The only thing that wasn't included was the drinks so I got a normal beer while Beth was having a hot shower. Beth returned and went to the bar only to come back with a litre of beer called Judas which was 7%!!! At first she said it wasn't bad but she went off it after about one drink and I had to finish it in the bus on the way back to La Paz. Again, the scenery on the bus on the way back to La Paz was something else and this will take some beating.

As a review, the trip was awesome and we definitely recommend it. We went with the cheaper of the two companies from the hostel and we thought it was great. The other one offered a trip to an animal sanctuary at the end but we couldn't have been bothered anyway. Even though I am scared of heights, I really enjoyed the Death Road and, as previously said, only if you show off and try to be clever will anything grave happen to you. I was behind captain slowcoach (I will let you guess who that is) so I felt safe throughout.

After getting back to the hostel, we are now sat in the bar with a couple of well earned drinks after cheating death!! In other news, I think I have found somewhere to watch the derby on Sunday. The nerves are building already!!!