We arrived in La Paz after a very long day, on a bus to the border between Peru and Bolivia, getting passports stamped, getting back on the bus to Copacabana, a new bus to the narrowest part of Lake Titicaca, crossing the lake by ferry, waiting for the bus to cross by ferry also, then back on the bus to La Paz. Phew!!
The next day in La Paz we spent the morning exploring, then our guide for the Lima to La Paz leg, Arturo, had organised for us to go to the football Rio 2014 qualifiers Bolivia vs Peru game with him and some of his mates. Was good fun deciding who to support and getting our faces painted (sitting on the fence with one flag on each side!), but the atmosphere wasn't as crazy there as we had expected! We think it turned out for the best as it was a 1-1 draw and everyone was happy. That night we met our new tour leader, Karina, our first female, which has been different! We also sadly said goodbye to Peter, David, Sarah and Jess, but hello to some new group members!
The next day, as the result of MUCH discussion and debate, eleven of our group set out to mountain bike the World's Most Dangerous Road! Mums, before you freak out, the road is no longer open to traffic, as a new road has been built, and so it's now exclusively a mountain bike track. We went with the guide company who started the mountain biking, Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking, which was founded by a Kiwi, so of course they have all the best gear and guides! The bikes we were on were way better than our bikes at home, with back suspension to save your behind. A little nervous to start, we set off on the first section which is tar-sealed. So far so good, we moved onto the real 'Death Road', the gravel. The road is about three meters across in it's narrowest section, with sheer cliff on one side. So we didn't look over the side, and found it was a really enjoyable ride, definitely not dangerous at all as we listened carefully to the guide. At the town at the bottom, there is a animal sanctuary in the rainforest, where we had lunch and went on a monkey tour. Here in this sanctuary is where Paddington the spectacled bear is hiding, not in Peru after all!! Though unfortunately we didn't see him as he only comes out in the morning when he is fed.
We then caught our guide bus back up the road and home safely again. Sarah has been proudly wearing her 'I survived the worlds most dangerous road' T-shirt since!
On our final day in La Paz, Sam decided he hadn't had enough of an adrenaline rush, so going with the partner company of Gravity, abseiled down the side of one of the buildings face first wearing a spiderman suit. Needless to say, Sarah took photos. So enough for a wee while we think!!
After that we had a night bus to Sucre. Five down, four to go now! In Sucre, we have three days to explore before we move on again, so watch this space!
Over halfway through now, the rest will go quickly!!
Xoxoxoxoxoxo
A Sam Fact (because we haven't had one in ages): The World's Most Dangerous Road goes from around nearly 5000 to 1500 meters in altitude over roughly 60 km. While it was a road, they used to lose a vehicle over the edge about once every two weeks, while trying to use the road in both directions. Eek!!
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