La Paz to Sucre

Day 36 - 10th January
Time to say goodbye to the beautiful Lake Titicaca, as we boarded a bus to the Bolivian capital, La Paz.  In typical Bolivian style, our "tourist" bus was not exactly 5* and they had overbooked, which meant Jon had to squeeze in to a tiny seat on the back row and I sat up front with the driver!  The strangest part came when we were all ordered off the bus to board a small boat to cross a section of the lake (our bus went on a boat of its own!)

Bus to La Paz

Countryside on the way to La Paz

We arrived in the late afternoon and checked into our hostel, the Adventure Brew, which is linked to a local microbrewery and gives you a free beer every night - happy days!  We spent the evening chilling in the bar and chatting to an American called Jeffrey, who was 20 months into his 2 year round-the-world trip and had plenty of tips and stories to tell.




Day 37 - 11th January
We spent today exploring La Paz.  It's safe to say it won't make my top 10, mostly due to the huge amount of litter in the streets and the overwhelming smell of urine.  That said, it did have some charm, with small, steep cobbled streets and warren-like markets.  The Witches Hat Market sells the usual tourist stuff alongside teas, herbs and dries llama foetuses, which the Bolivians bury under their houses for good luck.  In the usual small world of travelling we bumped into a couple that Jon did the Inca trail with, who happened to be staying at our hostel, and spent a nice evening in the bar with them.

Dried llama foetuses

Government buildings, La Paz

Day 38 - 12th January
Happy birthday Jon!  Today we celebrated Jon's 30th birthday by mountain-biking down the "World's Most Dangerous Road" - a 40 mile stretch of winding gravel and dirt road that hugs the side of a steep valley with drops of over 600m at the edge.  The route starts at 4700m and descends 3600m to the valley below.  Most of the road is single-track and very narrow in places, meaning that accidents were very common until a new, wider road opened in 2006.  Now the vast majority of traffic down the road is groups of cyclists out for a thrill.  We resisted the huge pressure to go with Gravity, the company owned by our hostel, who charge nearly twice as much as everyone else and, after some research, chose a company called Velocity.  There were 5 people in our group - a Russian man, a Danish couple and us - assisted by Simon, our guide and Manuel, our driver.  We were kitted out in full protective gear at the start of the ride, something I was very grateful of later!

The start of the ride

 The start of the ride followed a tarmac road through a wide valley, with beautiful views of the road and river below.  We then hopped back in our van to drive a short way uphill to the start of the Death Road section.  The top of the road was cloud forest and visibility wasn't great for the first few minutes, until we descended below the clouds and the valley began to open out below us.  The terrain was very steep and rough, with lots of loose stones and gravel - I have to say I hated every minute of this section but at least Jon was enjoying himself.  

Our group on the Death Road

Precarious drops

In the middle section the road levelled out a bit and became smoother, the views were spectacular, I was beginning to trust myself and my bike and was beginning to enjoy the ride.  Obviously that's when I fell off!  True to form it was a comical accident - I got stung by a bee during one of the steeper descents, lost concentration for a fraction of a second and went flying head over handlebars, skidding along the road as I landed.  After laying dazed for a few seconds I brushed myself off and surveyed the damage - the bike was fine, my shorts were ripped, I had cuts and bruises on my legs and hands, a bruised jaw and my elbow was very sore.  As I said earlier, if it wasn't for the elbow and knee pads and the full face helmet, my injuries would have been a lot worse.  Manuel the driver caught up with me, checked I was ok to carry on and radioed the others to let them know what had happened.  Having just started to enjoy myself I was buggered if I was going to give up because of a little fall, so I got back on the bike and worked my way, slowly, to the end of the route with Manuel following behind.  The pain in my elbow as I passed over each bump in the (very bumpy) road was excruciating, but nothing compared to the exhilaration of finishing the ride with my fellow bikers.  We celebrated with beer, followed by lunch and a swim at a nearby hotel.  I don't think me and mountain-biking are destined to be friends but I feel very proud at having completed the challenge, and Jon had an awesome birthday experience so it all turned out good in the end.

Tonight the bar had 2 for 1 cocktails so we toasted Jon's 30th with another friendly group of travellers.




Day 39 - 13th January
After a reasonably late and boozy night we had a well-deserved lie in.  We spent another day wandering round La Paz, skyped our parents so they could say a belated happy birthday to Jon, and boarded a night bus to Sucre.  After the luxury of the Peruvian buses our expectations were high, and the journey started well when we discovered that the bus had seats that lie completely flat.  Our joy was short-lived as, an hour or so into the journey, we found that the bus didn't have a toilet, and the journey to Sucre was 12 hours long!  Fortunately nature called for the driver and we stopped by the side of the road, where we were able to take advantage of the back of a shipping container as a makeshift bathroom.  At least the seats were comfortable as we settled into the rest of the journey.




Day 40 - 14th January
We arrived in Sucre in the early morning and walked for about an hour before we found a hostel.  Having not slept at all on the bus, I went to bed for a few hours while Jon explored the city and arranged to meet up with some friends that evening for happy hour.  Sucre is regarded as Bolivia's constitutional capital and is quite pretty, with a colonial centre filled with white buildings and green plazas.  At 2700m it was nice to be a bit lower again and the weather was noticeably warmer and sunnier.  At 5:00 we met Grace and Dan and their 2 American friends for happy hour - the problem was it turned out to be happy hour on desserts, not drinks - not quite what we had in mind!  Still we made the most of it by sharing nachos and each having a dessert, before heading to another bar with a real happy hour, where we drank 2 for 1 cocktails (the local grape spirit, sangani, tastes a little like gin)

Plaza de Armas, Sucre

Sucre

Day 41 - 15th January
Being a Sunday, everything in Sucre was shut, so we had a lie-in followed by a leisurely day wandering round the city and reading our books.  We booked a morning bus to our next destination, Potosi.