Up to an amazing breakfast of avocado on toast, kiwifruit, grapes and watermelon.  Then on a bus to Bolivia. We bused for 2 hours around Lake Titicaca before getting to Bolivia.  As Peru and Bolivia don't have the best relationship we had two completely different processes in to buildings 200 m apart.  The Bolivian side was very serious and our leader wasn't allowed to help us as she doesn't have a working visa so we had another really annoying lady help us. After about 1 and a half hours we got back on the bus to get to La Paz. I kept seeing people with balaclavas in the middle of the intersections as its so cold here.  Little bit freaky as I was just waiting for them to jump on the bus and steal our stuff.

On our first proper day in La Paz Niyoshi,  Simon, Leigh and I got up early to go down hill mountain biking on the death road.  We went with the company called altitude. They picked us up and drove us to the top which was at 4650m. It was freaken freezing. Luckily they had heaps of gear for us otherwise we would have been screwed. Niyoshi had a bit of difficulty straight away with riding the bike. The leader wasn't even that keen to let her do it. We began in the sleet down the main road. We could go as fast as we wanted, so practiced our aerodynamics to go super fast !!!!! It was bloody awesome, until it rained and go a bit more slippery so a tad more scary. Finally after another van trip we got to the top of the gravel road called death road.  Just two days ago a van fell off and 13 people died with one in hospital. I didn't realise we would have other cars/vans/trucks on the road but due to and landslide, there was. It was a lot rougher than I thought and there were bloody crosses everywhere.  One was for a tour guide who was taking photos of his group and fell off the edge. Then there was the Israeli tourist who failed to take the corner. Watching Niyoshi ride and wobbling all over the show, made me nervous that her name might be added to the list.  As the km went by we all got more confident, went a bit faster, tried some jumps and had a wicked time. By the time we made the end of the 64 km road I had to pry my fingers off the handle bars. All the jousting was very intense! All showered and got into our new t-shirts before getting into the buffet lunch. Here I randomly seen little Tommy Crowley. He had come north from Argentina faster than expected. It was pretty awesome to see someone I knew. 

The next morning Niyoshi woke us up at 4.30am as she was leaving,  as well as Simon and Nadine.  We all promised to keep I  touch and went our separate ways. Norman, Leigh and I got a taxi out to La Paz golf course (the highest in the world). Here Norman did 9 holes while Leigh and I practiced driving and putting. Bloody fun to smash a ball even if our bodies weren't to happy after yesterday.  Beautiful course with some very rich people. Taxied back and got prepared for my flight to America.

I have had the most wonderful time in South America. The heat and the cold, the insect bites, the lack of flushing toilets and the food that made me ill are all minor compared to the positives. The cultures, the amazing food, the people who are so generous and always smiling, are just some of the wonderful aspects of this part of the world. I would recommend a visit to anyone who is willing to let go of a bit of technology and enjoy some of the simpler things in life. Now on to America to start the next step in my year away from the textbooks.