La Paz, Bolivia 24th August - 27th August 2006 It's another early start as we are up and on the bus to Bolivia for 7am. We have been on many a bus journey on our travels but this one just seemed to go on and on forever. First of all we were treated to what can only be described as childish activities by the bus drivers attendants (we were sat rght at the front of the bus) who were busy tickling each other as we hurtle around corners. There is also no opportunity to go for a jimmy as the toilet is locked so we sit there in relative angst and discomfort playing scrabble and listening to a guy from Switzerland recount his world travels through about 50 countries (he's a bit of a dickwad). Editors note - Nice use of the word "dickwad" there Stu, that must be the first time. Anyway we arrive at the border crossing and are all hearded out straight into the money exchange place where we are suitably ripped off. We cross the border and stop for lunch in a little town called copacabana which seems to have been constructed solely for tourists, needless to say that when about 4 buses all turn up in a little town at the same time, lunch service is pretty slow. A shambolic performance from the transport agency sees us first dislodge some Italians from what we think are our seats (on the convieniently new, smaller bus) before we let them sit back down and we are seperated at the back of the bus. The journey goes on as we eventually arrive at a little port where we have to disembark, take a little boat across lake Titicaca and then wait for our bus to either sink on the wooden platform it is coming across on, or make it to the other side. Thankfully the bus makes it. So we get back on the bus again and eventually arrive in La Paz at about 4pm. La Paz city itself has a brilliant background with huge snowcapped (you guessed it) Andean mountains. We learn that La Paz is the highest capital in the world at 3600m ASL ish and is a bustling home to 1.2m Bolivians. We stop at a viewpoint to take some photos and it's certainly a sprawling city in desperate need of some planning control (they probably have the department but are bribed like there's no tomorrow). We get off the bus finally and have convieniently stopped at a hotel owned by the bus company. Stu takes offence at this (feeling a bit tetchy you see as we have been on the bus for 8hrs and I'm just not in the mood to be scammed some more today). So we walk down the hill (did I mention that La Paz is really hilly, just what you need when there's F all oxygen and you are carrying your backpack). Ok, so maybe we should have just chosen the easy option and stayed at the convienient hotel, but hey, we saved 1 dorrar a night at the new place! La Paz city just looks downright poor to the core, pretty much all the buildings are shabby and we are half waiting for a taxi to pull up beside us so we can be bundled in and our parents ransomed for a fortune. Still it's busy and bustling and feels like there's a lot happening (bribery and corruption mostly, probably). We head out and find a decent pub where they serve decent wheat beer (ahhhhh Hoegarden) but the service for the food it pretty none existent. Still the food, when it comes, is not all that bad. The following ay we have a lie in for what seems like the first time in ages then head out and after much debating book the "Worlds Most Dangerous Road" (WMDR) which is given the more official name of La Paz to Corica (or somewhere beginning with C). Lunch is a tasty steak baguette and La Paz is not as bad as first impressions suggest. We have a huff and a puff walking round and visit the "Witches Market" (why does everything round here sound so scary?) which, as the name suggests, is full of witches with their caldrons in the street cooking up unsuspecting tourists. Well not quite. More like loads of herbal stuff and dried Llama phoetoses, we also saw a dried Armadillo and crocodile (cue Stu to start shouting "Arrrrmadilloooooo" loads), although the crocodile could have been plastic (those bloody Chinese will make anything you know). There are also loads of cheap Artesanal shops around and we do some quality present shopping (christmas is approaching you know, I bet they have the trees out back home already!) and then head off to the Coca museum. The Coca museum is pretty interesting and it's good to know that the natives in Bolivia and northern Chile and Argentina have been chomping on coca leaves since time began without any such thought or need for drug barons, international drug smuggling or dodgy Thai prisons. Only when the SPANISH arrived did they see what a great effect that the Coca had on helping them slaves work damn hard in the silvermines! So they began to control it and eventually exported it to the YANKS who, after Sigmund Freud had added some bicarbonate of soda, came up with Cocaine and the whole world started to go t*** up (Life officially according to Norman). A couple of interesting facts 1) Cocaine used to be put into Coca Cola, now it's band put they still used coca leaves. 2) According to an out of date fact, the yanks have something like 5% of the world population but use 50% of the worlds cocaine. We then head off to the internet and out to a fake british pub where Stu has his first curry in about 2 onths which is decidedly average. The following day it's a very excited Stu and a very nervous Amy who awake and head out to be picked up at 7.30am for the WMDR. We head off up to the start of the road to an altitude of 4700m ASL and as one may imagine it's pretty freezing up there in the stratosphere. The route today is 66km ish long of which the first 22km is paved and then begins the official WMDR, we shall be decending about 3600m (about 4 Snowdons) and it should take us about 5hrs. As we learn there are about 450 deaths on the road per year (70 every 10km) and in places the road is only 5m wide with passing points at random locations. It becomes clear from the detailed briefing our NZ guide gives us at the start (it's official those NZers are totally nuts!) that this is no ordinary ride and if we weren't browning-our-kecks then now would be a good time. The first 22km is pretty easy and we get up some top speeds zooming down the relatively quiet roads. There ar a few climbs which Stu relishes and puffs his way to the top (no mean feat at about 4000m ASL let me tell you). We stop for a break at the start of the dirt track and the real WMDR and Aims is doing very well. After a further "do as I say or you'll die" briefing we are ready to begin the challenge. As we round the first corner suddenly it all becomes clear as to why this ride and this road is so dangerous. First of all the views are totally stunning and it would be easy to take your eyes off the road but that would be fatal as shear drops of up to 500m are waiting for us on the left hand side. Oh yes didi I say that we would be cycling down the left hand side as well. Very scary stuff. As time passes we stop every now and then to inspect wreckage and crosses where people have died and not too long ago either. The ride was much harder than we imagined with the road very dusty and very bumpy and after a while ones fingers became tired of squeezing the brakes all the time. Still it was essential to hold them as every now and then a very slow lorry would come up the other way or there would be a hairpin with certain death just around the next corner. Aims is bringing up the rear particularly well and she does really well to complete the 66km as there are a few who sit the ride out in the support vehicle. At the finish we are covered head to toe in oil, dust and god knows what, it's been a great challenge and really rewarding but very tiring. We shower, change and have a good feed before the second most scary part of the day, going back up in the van. At last we had some control over our actions going down. Half way up it hits home just how dangerous this road is. We stop by the side of the road and assist the police in bringing up a dead man who we think has crashed the night before. Ragdoll. Needless to say we are VERY pleased when we make it back up to the top. Let's just say that it's touch and go whether we would consider dong it again. The sad fact is that there is an alternative road under construction which is nearly complete, yet 5 years late. The reason being is that 80% of the original overseas funding has been used to line corrupt officials pockets and thus the project lies unfinished. Still people die on this road everyday and they are lives which could easily have been saved, very sad. The following day we have a well deserved rest and spend ages updating the internet. In the evening we head out for another pub meal and are a little sad but relieved to be leaving La Paz. Let's hope that the return journey to Puno is no-where near as bad as the journey here. Lots of Love Stu & Amy.