After a few weeks in Peru it was time to leave and enter into Bolivia. We got an hour away from the border and surprise surprise our truck broke down!!
Rachel the tour leader called a transfer company as there was no other tucan trucks around and didn't want to wait around for hours waiting for the guys to figure out what the problem was. We made lunch while we waited but there was no where around for us to go to the toilet as we were on a main road and lots of people around constructing houses. Finally I found a spot fairly secluded and went to the loo. We were stopped for a few hours so next time we needed to go we walked for about 20mins looking for a bathroom and in the end we gave up and headed back. A lady selling snacks on the side of the road realized what we were doing and took us to her house. The smell was so bad it had me dry retching (not in front of the lady though) & opted to hold it.

When the transfer arrived we were happily surprised with the type of bus we were given. It was a double decker bus with a toilet on board and so much room that most people got two seats each and the seats had leg rests too!!!

Once we got to the border we had to get stamped out of Peru then walk across the bridge to the Bolivian side and get stamped in. It was a fairly quick process which only took about 30mins for everyone on the bus. I changed some money over while I waited. New currency is bolivianos BOB which is just over 7 BOB to the dollar, not an easy conversion compared to 2.5 that we were used to.

By the time we got in to La Paz it was a 12hr drive not 6hrs. We wanted to go for Asian but couldn't find the place and stumbled across a steakhouse instead.
The service was crap as they were so understaffed but once the food came out we realized it was totally worth the wait. I had a 300gm jack Daniels steak which they doused in Jack Daniels and set it alight at the table, served with garlic bread, fries, drink and an amazing salad bar all for under $13!!! So good and possibly the best steak I've ever eaten. By the time we finished eating though it was after 10:30.

The next day most of the group went on an excursion to cycle down death road. During the day they had fog, rain, hail and snow!! They all loved it even though there was three landslides that day and it was incredibly dangerous.

Laura, Claire and I didn't go so we decided to check out the markets nearby. At breakfast we met a couple of people from the intrepid group and Dave a guy from WA decided to come shopping with us. We went to the witches market which sells all sorts of random things including rehydrated llama fetuses. It was interesting at first but then it was just too much. Lots of good shopping though in the other markets. I bought a carry on bag and two beanies for less than $12!!!!
There was lots of shoe shops and stalls and some random shops like sewing machines and Christmas trees!!
We found the booze market and was blown away with how cheap it was, a bottle of vodka for $2-3 depending on the brand for local and the imported brands were roughly what you'd pay back home.
It was freezing cold and even Dave bought a llama jumper to keep warm so we headed back to the hotel and met up with the others for lunch. We went to a cafe across the road and had sandwiches and for dessert Laura and I got lemon merengue pies to take away but by this stage it was raining and the road was slippery, Laura made a joke that if she tripped over trying to save the pie, then I said it would totally be worth it...well of course I slipped on the gutter, didn't fall over but dropped my pie!! I blame Laura for putting that out to the universe.

We had a siesta then headed out to grab a quick bite for dinner and find a chemist as Laura has a flu and my cough is getting worse that I think it's probably a chest infection.

Had a few drinks back at the hotel while we waited for everyone to get back from death road. We went out for a bit but the smoke wasn't helping my lack of breathing so I headed back home with an escort of 2 boys and about 6 girls. We're all being very careful since 4 of us have been pick pocketed now.

Next day we had to say goodbye to the other group including my good friend and first roomie Lena plus a few from our group Abby who's now in Mexico, Clint but he's joining up again in Santiago and Carl/Claire but they're doing a similar itinerary on their own so we will still bump into them along the way and will join us for Xmas.
I took some of the others out to the markets seeing as I knew where it all was but then spent the afternoon in bed as I was having great difficulty breathing and kept waking up because I was choking. Claire lent me her puffer which has helped me breathe a little better.
Finally we found the Asian place and headed out with about a dozen of us. The place was amazing, great menu with a mix of Japanese, Thai and Indian. Afterwards everyone wanted to go out but Laura and I weren't feeling great so we headed back to the hotel to watch movies and Skype home.