Hello from amazing Bolivia....

We arrived in La Paz on Wednesday at 8am after a flight where we got to see the sunrise from the plane... I had no sleep the night before because I was worried that we weren´t booked onto the flight as we hadn´t been emailed the confirmation email the day before which had always happened previously. We rearranged our flights in Buenos Aires to go to the Estancia in Cordoba which had involved cancelling them and then rebooking them so I was worried that the flight to La Paz hadn´t been included anyway all was well but needless to say I was feeling shattered when we arrived in Bolivia. La Paz sits in the Andes and is at 3800 metres in the residential area- the highest capital in the world. The sight from the air as you fly into La Paz is incredible. First, you see the sprawling shanty towns of El Alto, slowly giving way to the sight of La Paz itself, clinging tenuously to the sides of what looks like a large gash in the earth.

The city is so different to everywhere else we had been...all the women dressed in traditional big skirts with long dark plaits, big round high hats and brightly coloured fabrics holding babies or shopping on their backs. The streets are lined with people sitting selling everything- lots of food that looks as if it would make you very ill as well as brightly coloured fabrics, bags, hammocks, alpaca scarves and the most weird of all hundreds and hundreds of dried Llama fetuses which smell and look horrific but the Bolivians believe bring you good luck. The road we are staying on is the witches market and so all of the stalls have these fetuses, incense and all sorts of things to make spells. It has been jam packed today as August is the month where they make offerings to the gods so there is a queue down the street with locals buying the necessary ingredients to make their offerings. Anyway back to Wednesday...

Because of the altitude when you first arrive it is a chore to walk more than a few steps and you feel so ridiculously out of breath all of the time. We spent that day trying to stay awake until bedtime when I was looking forward to getting a really good nights sleep as I was so tired. Sadly it was not to be though- the altitude stops you sleeping too so it was a restless night waking up constantly and not being able to breath together with an earth shattering headache. The next morning I sat on the internet to look up cures and the universal answer was Coca Tea which the locals sit with huge bags of and eat like crisps. We set off to a cafe and ordered a pot and felt instantly better...the headache went as well as the dizziness and I was ready to face the day. The coca leaves are not cocaine (which I´ll talk about in a second) but instead are part of a very old culture both here and in Peru where it is vital to use them to overcome the altitude.

Before coming to La Paz we had been told and read about people going on tours of San Pedro Prison. The prison itself is just a few blocks away from where we are and is completely different from any other in the world. Prisoners pay rent for their cells which vary from tiny little holes to the equivalent of luxury apartments. The wives and children of the prisoners live with them inside and it is like a small city with shops, restaurants and even a football team in each block (8 in total) with players bought and sold on a transfer market. Four years ago there was a British prisoner in there and he bribed the guards to let him have an escorted night out in the town. In the bars he regaled travellers with tales of what it was like inside the prison and invited them to come and visit him. This was possible because there is no visits hall- visitors just like the wives and children who live there get a stamp on entry and can just wander around the prison. This quickly turned into gringo tours, not official but even mentioned in the Lonely Planet, which were happening twice a day after bribing the guard 250 bolivianos each. This is about 25quid which is a huge amount considering you can eat a really good meal with drinks for $5. From the blogs we have read the highlight of the tours appeared to be using Cocaine with the prisoners with some visitors even staying overnight to take advantage of what they called an "all you can snort Coke buffet." To us this was quite unbelievable- to go and gawp at prisoners like it´s a zoo and then take part in the very activity that got them in there.

It all finished in March this year when some stupid tourist put a video on You Tube (obviously with no regard for the rights of the prisoners they filmed) which ended up on the Bolivian News and caused national outrage. It all kicked off in the prison with 3 days of rioting and lots of shooting and the "tours" were brought to an end. We knew that we would not want to go on a tour as it seemed like the most unethical thing in the world but decided to walk down and go and see the prison anyway and laigh at the Gringos that were still trying to get in. The prison itself was just a huge concrete square with no windows or anything on the outside and just one gate at the front. Through the gate you could see the central courtyard and all the prisoners that were waiting for their visitors that were lined up outside. There didn´t appear to be much security at all- no bag searching and no doors between the courtyard and the outside bar one see grill- there were however lots of police with shotguns hanging around which I expect would deter people. We sat outside and it was so sad to see the kids coming back from school that lived in there. Almost all of the prisoners are there for drug offences and it must be a horrific place to grow up and live. Apparently the female prisons are even sadder- full of women who have been duped by men into carrying cocaine across borders and their kids who have also been enslaved to the drugs trade. This and what we saw on our cycle ride the next day was enough to reinforce our belief that it really is (together with Heroin) the most unethical drug in the world. I read an article a couple of months ago that said it was amazing people buy fairtrade coffee, eat organic food but then use cocaine as a lot of the high earning population do when it is possibly one of the most damaging things to these countries. We went to a little shop in the side of the prison where a wife sells items made by the prisoners which is a sort of charity to support them in there. Of course we got carried away and bought two wooden mirror frames which were beautiful but it seemed to make the lady´s day! We have just come back from the post office where we had a brilliant experience trying to work out what everyone was saying- firstly you have to take the parcel to be wrapped and sewn up and then wait at another desk to send them- apparently it is normally packed full of police checking parcels but because it is a Saturday they ca`´t be bothered!

Anyway yesterday we went on an amazing cycle ride....63kms (all downhill thank goodness) including down the "most dangerous road in the world." When booking it we went for the tour company who had the least deaths on their record and avoided the cheapest one with practically optional brakes who said with a smile "of course lots of people die but not so far this month." In fact the last person died 8 weeks ago- an Irish guy who probably thought he was too clever to listen to the instructions. We got up for a 7.30am bus to meet our tour which consisted of 8 people- of course there were the standard people you find on any tour- an annoying American that said "Awesome" constantly and screeched a lot and a crazy German guy who we knew would be trouble from the moment we met him. We travelled for an hour and a half on the bus out of La Paz which gave us stunning views of the city. Throughout the day both in the van and on our bikes we stopped at loads of police checkpoints due to the number of Coca fields in the area we were going. Our first one gave us a chance to jump out and get hot water to make a cup of Coca tea to clear the headache and a snickers bar for breakfast from the ladies who had cleverly lined up stalls by the road.

We started at 4800 metres in the snow where we got given our bikes which were really nice with full suspension to absorb the bumps- We then got a lot of instructions and set off to do the first 30km on paved new road. This was a great chance to identify who was going to crash (the German guy of course- he was weaving all over the place trying to show off) and so therefore who to stay well away from when we went down the "Death Road." After passing through another few police checkpoints we arrived at the top of the single dirt and rubble track for the last 30km which was the infamous one everyone had come for. We set off and would go pretty fast for about 10 minutes when we would stop, wait for the group to get together again and Ariel our guide would give us useful instructions like "this corner is a really dangerous one and the drop here is 250m sheer so it´s not a good place to fall, keep your eyes open wide" The road was amazing and you could see why it was the most dangerous- sheer cliffs with no crash barriers and very narrow. We also had to ride on the side closest to the cliffs to avoid traffic and falling rocks from the mountain to our right. Down and down we went through waterfalls and streams, past little villages and kids walking. We also passed lots of Coca plantations and signs listing everything that was prohibited in the area- sulphuric acid, kerosene, petrol and caustic soda which are all used in the production of Cocaine to turn the innocent leaves into the powder snorted in the West (lovely when you think about it isn´t it?) The people all lived in absolute poverty and again it was thought provoking thinking of the amount it is sold for in the UK. It is also ridiculous when you think about the American and UK governments paying money to obliterate the fields here- No Bolivians use Cocaine as they couldn´t afford it so if it wasn´t for (mainly) these two countries they wouldn´t be producing it anyway- it´s like we screw them over from both ends.

Anyway after 4 hours we had descended from 4800m to a little village at 1100 metres at the bottom of the "death road" where we arrived covered in mud from top to toe but very happy and having thoroughly enjoyed the adrenaline rush. Having started in snow we were now in tropical heat which was quite surreal but a fantastic feeling of achievement. After having a refreshing Sprite (amazing what you find in the middle of nowhere) we jumped back in the van to drive to a nearby hotel where we showered and had a buffet lunch. Bolivia is definately not a culinary highlight but I really enjoyed the vegetable and noodle soup whilst Charles tucked into the Fried very bony chicken and soggy chips on offer! I think that the 3 hour drive back to La Paz was actually equally as dangerous as the Bike ride itself..by this time it was a complete white out with fog and our little van with 10 bikes on top and 11 people was not exactly the nippiest of things. This didn´t seem to phase our driver though who constantly overtook huge lorries on blind corners and then had to jam on the brakes when there was an oncoming truck. It was very scary particularly as we were in the front with the best view and no seatbelts on board. The Germans at the back were screaming whilst, of course, the American still thought it was "awesome." We made it back in one piece though and were very greatful to have survived the day so celebrated (bizarrely) with a curry in "the highest curry house in the world" owned by a British Indian.

Tonight we get on a night bus to Uyuni where tomorrow we will go on a one day tour of the salt flats (the biggest in the world) and then get a 14 hour local bus back on Sunday night. We will then get on another bus for 3 hours to go to Lake Titicaca. It´s a big journey but apparently really worth it as the salt flats are supposed to be amazing. The local bus we are taking, however, is not supposed to be amazing- we have heard lots of horror stories-apparently they are freezing cold and people walk up and down the aisles looking for things to steal...anyway it´s all an experience and we´ll let you know how we get on!