BOLIVIA

Lake Titicaca

We had been warned that travelling in Bolivia was very difficult due to constant road blocas and protests. Bearing in mind that it was Peruvians who cheerfully told us this we were pretty peeved that when we tried to leave Cusco there was actually a roadblock in Peru, so it took a while longer than wed hoped to get over the border into Copacabana on the Bolivian shores of the worlds highest lake (over 3700 m.a.s.l.); Lake Titicaca. This is the place where the Inca legend began, where the first Inca Gods are said to have risen from the lake by the Isla del Sol. It was very bizarre standing on the edge of an enourmous lake feeling out of breath from the slightest thing as all of our other senses were assuming we were at sea level. We were travelling with two other couples, Tony & Helen from Manchester, and Ben & Jess from Melbourne, and so we spent a few days here chilling out, eating the trout fresh from the lake and enjoying a few ice cold beers. A few of us climbed up to the highest point in Copacabana where bolivian tourists come to make offerings to the Inca gods; they buy miniature versions of things they desire such as a tiny shop, a toy bus or a wad of fake US dollars, then leave them on the hillside doused in beer and cigarettes in the hope they will miraculously receive the full size version some day. A had a pee up here so im not sure whats going to happen if the offerings do come true....The second day we all took a boat over to the Isla del sol (island of the sun), and walked the 15km from the northern tip of the island to the south. It was amazing scenery, but its a good job we had some trekking practice the week before as there was no oxygen to be found anywhere. Despite enjoying the island it was pretty annoying to have to spend 3 hours each way on the slowest boat in the world, a journey that should have taken 1 hour round trip took 6 so we actually spent more time getting there and back than we could on the island itself. La PazFrom the highest lake in the world onto the highest capital in the world, La Paz. Not the worst capital so far, but not the best either, pretty disgusting and not all that much to do. The witches market was pretty interesting though, especially the dried llama fetuses for sale. These are supposed to be lucky, and once purchased are placed under the foundations of a new house; yours for about 2 pounds. Less amusing were the ocelot and jaguar furs everywhere, stuffed armadillos and inflated frogs. Idiots.

We also visited the Coca museum (Coca is bolivias major export product, illegally of course). It wa s pretty small and cramped but very interesting to learn all about the history of the plant, and to find out that it really is only due to the western world that this legal and medicinally beneficial plant has been turned into the portrayed monster by US demand for cocaine.

America and Britains "war on drugs" has resulted in US trained army troops hacking and burning all coca fields they find (surely they dont actually look very hard though) and spraying fields with pesticde, destroying all crops not only the coca for cocaine production. But the plant cant be converted to drug without chemicals which can only be supplied by America, who obviously make a lot of money by supplying these chemicals to south america, in the full knowledge of what they will be used for. In short, once again, it seems American foreign policy is to blame for a lot of Bolivias problems. Coca no es un droga.

The Death Road

There is a road in Bolivia known by several names, all of which strike fear into the heart of anyone forced to drive on it; the worlds most dangerous road, death road, road of death (you get the idea). I chose to cycle on it. Its called the death road because it has the highest number od eatsh per year by kilometre; 300-400 per year, with an average of 5 of this number made up by cyclists. But where there is risk, there is adrenaline. Lots and lots and lots of adrenaline.

We started at 6.45 am in la paz (a group of 8, kate was safely at the hoterl in bed having decided she didnt want to die) and where driven up to 4700 metres. They told us "bring a jumper it gets cold", well i dont feel this really prepared me. It was so cold one girl was crying. It was like a wall of ice that hit you the moment you started to freewhell downhill, i had to palm my gear lever as my thumb wouldnt work. After 30 minutes we made it out of the blizzard and then came the uphill, a piece of cake at sea level but up this high it felt like every muscle fibre was about to set itself on fire. Only 3 of us actually cycled it, with the rest of the group choosing, perhaps wisely, to make the upill section in the support vehicle following us behind.

Then, finally, the death road began. I had imagined it would slowly pick up speed and gradually become more dangerous, but this really wasnt eh case, immediately we turned the corner off the main road and instantly we were zooming down a rocky gravel road wide enough for one and half vehicles, with a sheer drop up to 600 metres down toa very grizzly death! We were reaching speeds of over 60km per hour, amazing but rather scary, especially as early on i had an all too close encounter with the edge and could literally see a sheer 400 metre drop into the jungle below. This helped though, as it really raised my awareness and i started to concentrate a lot harder on following the guides racing line through the curves, which meant a safer, yet even faster ride, and by the end i was leading the group just behind the guide, and even finished with a massive jump over a rock!

The death road was about 3 hours of pure downhill adrenaline in total, and i loved every second of it! We went through waterfalls, and crossed two rivers, and went a lot faster than any car could possibly have done on this road; it was literally the worst road to drive on you could ever imagine. But perfect for this. It was very scary however to pass by the hundreds of crosses dotting the cliffside where busloads of people had gone over the edge, especially the gravestone of an Israeli girl who met an Evil Kneivel style end cycling a few years ago - it really made me respect that this road was truely deadly, and if it wasnt for my brilliant brakes i wouldnt have enjoyed it quite so much!

It was totally amazin,g i have never before experienced such an adrenaline rush, and i can now smile and say proudly that i survived the worlds most dangerous road!!!