La Paz, Bash n Crash, Death Road and Loki!

So we arrived at are hostel after are 23 hour journey. The stairs were a killer you could defo tell the air was thinner I was breathing like a twenty stone beast. We checked in and went in search of some well earned food. We found a place that did chicken, rice, chips and soup for £1.20 which was a result. I eat like I've never eaten before then we went on a wonder to adjust to the altitude. As long as hills were not involved we were ok! Even if hills were involved you were just short of breathe, so it was manageable!

Just from wondering around you could tell that La Paz was a cool place to be! The journey had destroyed me so it was an early night a full day tomorrow, this was the first time on months I had lay in bed and not sweat like a pig which was a result.

We didn't die, we were able to breathe all night in hostel, obviously the people we meet in the Santa Cruz hostel must have been complete p**** s. Anyway we had some coca tea that helps with the altitude and went about are day. The first task was to book death road which is a must in Bolivia. We then wondered round the witches markets where they sell all kinds of weird cactus that makes you trip out (I didn't buy any) and ended up in a bar called Oliver's Travels that boasts its the 5th best bar in La Paz, which seems pointless just say your the best, however they do give free shots to customers for fouls on John Terry which could get interesting as Chelsea were on the tv but sadly he was not in the squad.

The drinks were not cheap so we head out to the supermarket And cracked on at the hostel we tried to drink in the bar but it was a sweat box full of smoke and you actually couldn't breathe in there.

We headed out to the wild rover bar one of the two party hostels in La Paz the other being Loki where we would be moving into on Friday. The bar was rammed and lively we bumped into our old pals Junior n Angie who had many nights out with in BA and Flora, we had no idea they were in La Paz and they had a big night out before and a flight to Columbia to catch in the morning so there was no way we could convince them to come out.

As the night progressed the bar got more wild maybe this is where the name the wild rover comes from. Bar maids mounted the bar and started pouring random orange sports into my mouth, it was gross but free so I didn't care. After that we went to the underground bar route 36 where we meet some very chatty people, we stayed there for the rest of the night.

When I say the next day we did nothing the next day I can't stress how much he did nothing I felt like death and a trip to the shops was the biggest achievement. We had to be ready at 8 the next morning for death road and was told to have a clear head so that's what we did.

The day of the death road, I got up at 7am for the first time in a while ready for pick up. I think the tour guide forgot to pick us up as missed the free breakfast that everyone else got which was a piss take!

Anyway an hour journey into the mountains and our adventure was ready to start, we got kitted out any away we went. The first part of the journey begins on road which is safe but you do pick up some speed flying down the hill which gets competitive with the lads as you can imagine. On the way down you stop for a few pictures of the landscape which is remarkable. You then pay a toll for road maintenance and your on the real death road. Dusty tracks covered in loose stone and big rocks and thank god we had helmets as the odd rock comes down from the mountain and tings you on the head and to top it all off it started raining.

The road defo lives up to its name at the beginning there's are occasional breaks in the bushes where you are staring into your own death. As you continue they become more freak went but you don't have time to look as the road is shaking the life out of you. 100% concentration is needed at all times especially in the rain.

About half way through the trip I hit massive rock and my back tyre burst, thank god this didn't happen on a bend, the guide was cool about it we swapped bikes for a while but this meant I was behind the group so I had some catching up to do razzing round the road on my own made it more dangerous but exciting.

We stopped for a snack than carried on with our journey we cycled threw a waterfall and stopped at one of the harshest bends of the circuit for a photo.

We stopped one more time to be warned of another evil bend that went threw a fairly deep river, the guide was there waiting the other side filming the upcoming chaos! Changed into a lower gear and we were off I came off the bike (didn't fall in) because someone in front knocked the tour guide over but it was all good fun.

Completely soaked we set off for the last leg of the tour by now it was raining bad and the mud being flicked up made it hard to see, but I made it to the end I had survived death road.

We then went to a hotel to shower and eat. The journey home on the van was relentless it took ages up and down the mountain roads, we did eventually make it back, we picked up are free T-shirt and cd. We were now ready to check into Loki let the good times roll.

By the time we checked in it was around 9 so we decided to try out the bar it was vibeing. When you check in you get a wrist band that acts as a tab which us a cleaver way to get you to spend too much cash. We had a few beers, I meet the bar manager who was from Erdington small world. We didn't stay long as death road had taken it out of us and the following night was the 5th anniversary of Loki we were promised a big night.

Woke early and fresh ready for the night ahead in fact we were to ready to early. We watched some footie then headed out to get Bacardi for the night. We walked past the infamous San Pedro prison where the inmates rule there are no guards. This guy from Miami who was on day realise clocked us and wanted to know if we wanted to go on a tour of the prison. iPhone and cash on us the answer was a polite no. He told us some interesting stuff and conned us out of a soup. He got called away by a guard which gave us the chance to scarper.

We returned to the hostel where we stayed for the rest of the day which at Loki is not hard to do. The party was banging really good the night is filled with typical drunken antics nothing really stick out in my mind.

We woke the next day ready to see the Bolivian wrestling which was meant to be hilarious. Hair of the dog to get us in the right mind frame and we were of. The arena of you can call it that is up a mountain that boasts fantastic views of La Paz we stopped off and got the opportunity to take some snaps.

The wrestling was pure comedy the costumes were terrible as you would imagine with Bolivians. The wrestlers were over weight and the moves certainly didn't resemble anything of wrestle mania. Men would fight women and it was the women how were more feisty. At one point a women wrestler went into the crowd and sent a gringo on looker flying with a beastly push. This was the green light she then got abused by people bombarding her with water. At one point a cake was introduced and a wrestler got a face full of it. The night was filled with dogey refs that would join in when they felt necessary and plenty of slow counts. In the end he got what was coming to him with a good old fashioned beat down. A big wolf kept appearing who seemed to be the hardest but we has to leave before the end. I forgot to mention that we brought some sick wrestling masks that will come in handy in the future.

That was our La Paz story we would now start our hope on hope off bus we had organised with sta. the first stop being Secure. The journey would be 12 hours and we were promised no road blocks this time.