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After we left Potosi we drove the short distance to Sucre which is Bolivia's constitutional capital and is known as the white city because of the beautiful buildings. We were in Sucre for 5 nights which was the longest we had stayed anywhere since Rio. It was really nice to just chill out and catch up on sleep and have some lie-ins after the early mornings on the altiplano. We spent most of our time in Sucre either shopping (Bolivia is soooo cheap!) or in a bar called Joyride where the food was great and we were allowed to dance on the tables until 3 in the morning! We were pretty rubbish and didn't really do anything cultural apart from one of the museums about the independence of Bolivia but it was all in spanish so we didn't understand much of it, the paintings were nice though!!!
Some of our group were taking a night bus to Cochabamba which is another city in Bolivia that was in the itinerary to visit but some of us were fed up with long bus journeys so decided to miss out Cochabamba and fly straight to La Paz but have 2 extra nights in our lovely hotel in Sucre first. This turned out to be a great idea because the flight only took 45mins whereas the others spent about 18hrs on buses over 2 days and had a flat tyre and some bags got lost (luckily they were found again).
So we arrived in La Paz after a very painless and quick flight and were taken to our hostel. We immediately understood why La Paz was thecity with the road of death in it. Our taxi driver drove us from the airport at about 90kmph around bends and with the boot open and our backpacks free to fly out at any moment. We arrived at our hostel safely though and our first impressions of the city were that it seemed to be one big market. The stalls jutted out on to the roads so the cars had to drive on top of each other and so there was a lot of car honking which made it seem even more crazy. Our accommodation was on the street where kitchen sinks and tiles were sold,just what every traveller needs!
That afternoon we took a stroll around the city which was interesting because there was a power cut so all of the restaurants were serving food by candlelight. We went to a Chinese and ate noodles in the dark which was an experience, they tasted good whatever it was that we were eating! When we left the restaurant there was a thunder storn so we thought it was the perfect time to go to the infamous witches' market. The stalls are notorious for selling things that tourists would never be able to get through customs like puma paws, dried llama foetuses, llama tails and other horrible, smelly things that we couldn't imagine anyone wanting to take home as a souvenir for mum! The eerieness of it all was topped off when the drain exploded and sewage was running down the street, lovely when you're wearing flipflops!
The next day we had a restful day as we were booked to cycle down the road of death the next day. We shopped and had a wander around the city. It was actually really nice with some beautiful cobbled streets that were tough on the lungs as we were still 3600m above sea level. It was also nice because despite all of the stalls we didn't get hassled too much which can often be a pain. That evening was the last with our tour leader who we'd been with for the past 50 days so we had a lovely dinner and gave him gifts and said goodbye but then had an early night to prepare for the next day, eeek!!!
We woke up early to go to get our equipment and drive to the start point which took about an hour. After testing our brakes and gears we set off. The first 8km was on asphalt so wasn't too hairy except for when big trucks sailed past honking you! We then got to a check point where the real 'Death Road' began. The road was closed to traffic 5 months ago but before that all kinds of buses, cars etc could go down it. This became hard to believe as we progressed further down the road. The road was completely unpaved with huge rocks and potholes dotted all over it. It was very narrow and the precipice down the edge was very steep and it was a long way to the bottom! When we started on the road it started to rain and the cloud closed in, just what you want when you're going downhill around hairpin bends. The roadside was dotted with crosses where buses or cars had gone over the edge. Around 200 people would die a year when the road was open, hence why it is called the world's most dangerous road, great! The worst was when a military truck went over the edge and 53 soldiers died. It seemed incredible that this was the only road from La Paz down to the jungle.
Matt was fine and cycled off at speed but i had some problems with it....i was terrified! I had a minor panic attack but then realised that it was 3 hours to the bottom and our support vehicle had had to turn aorund because it couldn't get passed a landslide so i had to get down it whether i liked it or not! At one point i freaked out again when someone told me that an Israeli guy had died 2 weeks before when he had cycled off the edge. This was when i began to wonder why this was a tourist attraction, it felt like torture to me. In the end all 11 of us made it down the road safely and i was only half an hour behind the fast people so they didn't have to wait too long for me. It was a good thing to do and Matt loved it and would definitely do it again. I would not.
The next day we took it easy and shopped some more and went to the coca museum to learn about why the Bolivians like to chew leaves rather than eat. Here i bumped into 2 more girls from uni! That evening we met our new tour leader Enrique who was very bubbly and excitable, apparently he hasn't led a tour for 2 years,we're wondering why! We'll keep you updated on that one!
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