Surviving Death Road

Travelling from the Salt Flats to La Paz involves a complicated change from buses to trains OR one long bus ride which turned out to be incredibly bumpy and freezing, plonking us down in the bus station in La Paz at 6am on a Sunday morning. Fortunately we had all decided to do Death Road by bike - so we had breakfast and set off to get kitted out for the dangerous ride down the dirt road which hugs the mountain side with the cliff plunging hundreds of meters below us. Crosses litter the side of the road. You can imagine what the crosses commemorate, bearing in mind it was until a few years ago a main road for buses, cars and lorries until a new highway was built. 

First of all you drive up above La Paz and get kitted out with knee and elbow pads, full suit and helmet (and padded insert if you have one) and then set off down the tarmac.  The mountains that morning were fantastic with snow all around and plunging waterfalls. Effortlessly swooping down was really exhilirating. Next it was back in the van to go uphill a bit (remember we were over 4000m so not really enough air to breathe) then start on the dirt road. 

We kept stopping to take pictures and peer over the edge and remove layers of clothing as we lost altitude and got hotter. To be honest it is hyped up a bit and isn't really dangerous but it's certainly more exciting than the tow path at Bingley.

Finally at the bottom all the bikes went on the van again but I opted to cycle to the hotel with the guide along 6km of undulating road. Without air even undulting looks mountainous. 

We could then have lunch, relax round the pool and get the nice tee shirts - a grand day out.

All in all La Paz is noisy and crowded and pretty modern.  Like a lot of cities it seems to be expanding upwards at the fringes of the city without there seeming to be any planning.

We visited the old Franciscan church and monastery in the centre and had a guide to ourselves. We were shown into the crypt where the ashes of the "heroes" are and most poignantly is some sand from the coast which once belonged to Bolivia but which was appropriated by Chile.  There is still a great deal of bad feeling about the Chileans and apparently there are still negotiations going on but since Chile is rich and Bolivia is very poor it doesn't sound like a good prospect. Bolivia's president Evo is a marmite figure beloved of the indigenous coca farmers and disliked by the rich elite - he seriously upsets the US resulting in McDonalds leaving the country so it's not all bad.

Everywhere are the bowler hatted Cholitas selling whatever they can but thanks to Evo they now hold better positions in society and are seen on TV and in politics. Wait til you see Verity's hat....

That was about it for La Paz and we were happy to leave for Lake Titicaca and Puno.