La Paz, Bolivia

Sunday 6th May

La, Paz, Bolivia

Again, grateful not to have been kicked off the bus last night, and the 12 hours or so bus ride hasn't been too bad. Glad we went 'semi-cama', though the space for Paul was a little tight with the person in front doing the full-recline.

Also, glad to be here safely, we're a little less sure about the roads in Bolivia.

Quite an amazing sight to se La Paz at first light, the bus making it's way down into the huge 'bowl' in which La Paz is cradled. Overwhelmingly, the orange brick colour of the houses/shacks/business premises lights up brightly from the sun, all of the buildings sticking to the sides of the bowl.

We're dropped at the main bus terminal in the capital and, first things first, need to use the facilities, before grabbing a taxi to the nearby street where there's a clutch of accommodation. We haven't booked ahead, but have some ideas.

The taxi from the bus terminal seems a little pricey, 15 Bolivianos, and whilst we haven't been here before, we sure that we've got less than 5 minutes travelling to do. In Potosi and Sucre, similar trips were costing half, or less.

The first budget hotel we try seems a little overpriced (US$30 a night), although it looks 'alright'. We wander down the road a little further, and soon come across Hotel Condeza (just by the crossroads of Calle Illampu and Calle Linares).

Whilst a little more expensive than we're prepared to pay (us$25), it seems nice, the room is fine, and as usual, we're quite happy to have our own bathroom/toilet. We were wary of staying at a hostel where there was not hot water etc (as a lot of the guides seem to suggest), so glad to pay a little extra for the comfort. Also breakfast included, and cable TV.

We crash out in the room for a couple of hours, enjoy the (6th floor) view of an area of the city, before heading out for a gander.

Seems to be a bunch of local weekenders out and about today, and the narrow pavements are busy (but safe), though these equally narrow streets are full of taxis, minibuses and bigger buses. Between them they're spewing out huge clouds of black stuff, and at this altitude (about 3900metres), the breathing can sometimes be quite heavy, so not very pleasant gulping down all those emissions.

As well as a simple look around, we're also trying to get some info for excursions in/around town, including the mountain bike ride down the 'death road' - strangely the 'biggest' operator "Gravity Assisted' seems to be closed today - also, we think they only go twice a week, that's what their website says...

Anyway, we get some other information, including details of a trip to Tiwanaku, from Diana Tours, and also check out the Death Road trip with Downhill Madness, also recommended to us.

To cut a long story short, Chris will take the trip to Tiwanaku tomorrow, and we'll both do the bike ride on Tuesday, with Downhill Madness (US$65, seemingly everything included, inc. tshirt and photo cd).

Other than sniffing around, and eating a little bit here and there, we don't do much for the rest of the day - quite a lot (the tourist things) is closed on Sunday. We grab a final bite to eat at Cafe Banais on Calle Sagarnaga - very nice too.

After the overnight bus ride, we're happy to kick back early and watch some telly, in our nice comfortable room.

Night-night.

Monday 7th May

Chris's trip leaves fairly early this morning, so we're both up at 7 to catch breakfast. After seeing the promotional leaflet for the hotel, we did think that breakfast was buffet-style, but is ultimately quite basic, but fine anyway.

Paul goes back to bed and watches Back to the Future, Chris's bus arrives just after 8, and hopefully will return by 3ish.

Paul quite happy to do very little today - catch up on some blog (truthfully quite glad that there's only a couple of months to go!) and take it easy.

Chris's trip on the other hand....

We meet up back at the room on time, and hang out until we get hungry. We think there's an Indian/Thai restaurant a little out of this tourist area of town, so head-off on foot in search, until we realise that we're not quite sure where we're going, and the road that we think the restaurant is on goes off the edge of the little map we have. Unsure of what ghetto we might be walking into, we about turn, grumpy with each other - we really fancy a curry!

Oh well, back to Banais - again, this is something we seem to do (go back to the same old place), but when you find somewhere that does good food, that doesn't give you the opportunity to try it again on the way back out (either end!), it's easy to take the 'safe' route.

No culture tonight (we are naughty), and end up with TV to send us off to sleep.

Big adventure tomorrow, on two wheels, out on the most dangerous road in the world...

Tuesday 8th May

Damn clouds - had hoped for perfectly clear skies for our trip today - maybe it'll clear..

After a rushed breakfast, we head round the corner to Downhill Madness and meet our group - there's about 12 of us, and we get kitted out in the basement. All the gear is included - gloves, pants, jacket, full face helmet and fancy gloves. Our guide 'Hector' seems fine and we're glad for his good English.

Our trip starts with a minibus ride out of town and up to 4600 metres (we'll be coasting down to 1300-odd metres), about an hour away. Once both minibuses arrive, the bikes are taken off the roof and set up for the riders - some of us have full suspension bikes, some just at the front. Either way, the bikes are in good shape, and are all individually set up for the group.

After a safety briefing, we get underway, with the first half (of 60+kms) being on 99% smooth tarmac, and downhill all the way.

It's great to be cruising along, picking up quite a pace, and trying desperately to be aerodynamic. The scenery is cool, though the clouds are in quite close, so blocking off the distant views. Of course, this is perhaps a blessing, cos the drops at the side of the road seem bottomless, se we'll keep an eye on the upcoming tarmac just now.

Safety seems to be the word, and we do make a stop for everyone to catch up every 10/15 minutes, including a mandatory at the police barrier.

We soon get to the point where we have a few kilometres of uphill, which starts off okay, but, at altitude, it's still a killer. Most of us need to push ourselves up the final 500 metres, but all make it in good time.

Annoyingly, the cloud has thickened and the drizzle has joined it - we're all soaked through, to the boots, and sunglasses are difficult to see through, but that's better than gritty water landing on your retina!

So, we soon arrive near the half way point, and this is where the proper dangerous part of the road begins. No tarmac, the track only 1 car wide, quite easy to pick up some speed on this downhill bit, no barriers at the side of the road, loose wet gravel amongst bigger rocks set into the ground etc etc.

After a few minutes on this surface, everyone taking it quite easy, we pull up for a spot of lunch, though we don't hang around standing in the drizzle - I guess some of us are quite excited to be getting back on the track!

We are warned to take it easy through the next few tight bends, and all is going well, until....

Paul is on a fairly long straight bit, pickin up some speed (though feeling safe with it), when.....POP, the front tyre blows.

It probably would have been quite easy to control the bike with a deflated tyre (maybe not) but the twist came when the inner tube came out from the tyre and began to wrap itself around the hub - it was really like one of those slow motion moments, when you can see clearly what is happening, and know what is about to come...

Next thing - the front wheel locks

Next thing - I'm in the air, drifting away from the handlebars, towards the sky

Next thing, thud, and on the ground, a little dazed.

Whilst dazed, I straightaway feel that there's nothing serious amiss - nothing broken or dangling off. Most of my body feels a little numb, my knee is bashed, hip grazed. I sit on the ground for a bit, also grateful for not going over the edge, like many other bikers have over the months - and also thinking about the other 817 outcomes from this tumble, it really could have been worse.

The ground is wet after this drizzle so don't sit around for long, and get on my feet, feeling a little odd. By this time a few of the other riders have gathered around to help out, and someone notices a rip in my fleece, just above the left elbow, at the back. Bugger, my favourite fleece!

I decide to take it off to see if it's ripped anywhere else, and then another person notices my arm, and whilst I can't see it myself, I can see him wince and turn away.

Seems I have a mouth-like gash, beaming out at everyone, though there's not much of the red stuff, though it's deep enough to be flashing some bone, or cartlidge - we're not sure.

The first aid kit is soon out and I'm being patched up, after a squirt of alcohol to try and dislodge some of the grit inside the wound - of course, this'll be a hospital job.

The nice guys sort me out with some gauze and a bandage, and Chris and I sit out the rest of the journey to Corioco in the minibus. Thankfully not feeling too bad, though I'm wet and cold - again, thoughts of how different it could have been keep the spirits up.

We arrive in Corioco for the buffet lunch - I've still got a bit of an appetite, so looking good. Everyone (except me and Chris) enjoys a hot shower before lunch and by mid afternoon we're back on the minibus to La Paz, some 3 hours away. The pain up till now had been bearable, but before we left, a doctor on our trip, Susan, kindly offered to have a look at the hole, and give it a clean. Yep, was pretty nasty and she didn't have the things she needed to take a proper look, though we had some Iodine to keep things clean. It was at this stage that the pain hit home, and we had a scene reminiscent of one of those movies where the hero needs to clean a gunshot wound with some liquor, and makes his eyes water.

The pain hit as soon as the Iodine found its way inside and, like a chameleon, I immediately blended in with the greenery around us. Was truly sickening, though only lasted a couple of minutes. Susan, honestly, thanks for that!

The bus ride back to La Paz wasn't the best of fun, and I felt a little unsafe on the cliffside road - it was raining, there was evidence of new/small landslides by the roadside, and to cap it off, the ignition key kepy falling out of the dash. Any minute now I was expecting the steering lock to kick in and put us on a course towards the 500 metre abyss below. It might not have been so bad if it had locked the steering to the left, sending us into the path of another vehicle.

As well as the above hazards, it was also getting dark and there seems to be an unwillingness for road users to bother with lights.

I guess as we got closer to La Paz, my worries turned from the dangerous road ahead, to the dangers we might face at the hospital. As well as a lengthy wait (we wait hours in casualty in England, it surely must be worse here in the third world...), would we be faced with unhygienic facilities and used/rusty equipment???

Anyway, we made it in one (albeit slightly damaged) piece at the clinic (Clinica Alemana) and there was no need for concern here. Our guide, Hector, sorted us out with a doctor and we were taken straight into a treatment room, and clean tools were brought out, and unwrapped.

I couldn't see much of what was going on, and also the doctors were speaking in Spanish, so I was oblivious to the good/bad they might have been discussing about my arm.

The first thing to do was to clean me out, and I was surprised by the noise of stone being dropped into the metal kidney bowl. Still not too much blood or pain at this point, and I didn't know that they had cut away a little piece of damaged skin.

Thankfully the stitches were applied after a couple of jabs of local anaesthetic - 3 on the inside (it was really quite deep) and 6 neat ones on the outside. With a gauze on top and a tight (best to keep the arm straight and avoid reopening the stitches(!)) bandage around the elbow, we were good (or thereabouts) to go.

Of course, weren't expecting free treatment and happily paid the USD 73 for what seemed a good job, though surprised at the cost of the antibiotics at a nearby pharmacy - 5 tabs, USD40, but the doc said they were the best. Perhaps they'll even sort of the cold I've had since back in Ushuaia. As long as they keep infection/amputation at bay, I'll be a happy, temporarily/partially disabled, boy.

Relieved to be back at the hotel, and continually thinking that, despite this inconvenience (I can't now pick my nose and scratch my backside at the same time), I can't help thinking about actually how lucky I have been. As the t-shirt says, I (truly) have survived the most dangerous road in the world.

It's not the most comfortable night's sleep, and the pain kicks in around 5 am, but a couple of tabs give some relief by first light.

Despite the above, the trip with Downhill Madness (oops, that name should have been a sign) was really good and we would like to have another go, but perhaps another time. Was a shame that the weather was poor and visibility over the edge obscured by cloud, though this probably helped keep our eye on the track.

Thanks to those who helped out and asked how I was, sorry I don't know all the names - Susan, James, Kim, Tony, 'the Swiss guy' - also to Hector who had been a great guide during the day, making sure everyone and their bikes were in good shape, and seemingly truly concerned about someone being hurt on his trip

Okay, let the healing begin...

Wednesday 9th May

A bit of a panic in the morning / the doctor had asked yesterday if I was up to date with my jabs, ie. Tetanus. I was pretty sure it was after visiting the local surgery before we left home last summer.

Finally found the immunisation card and found that my 10 year jab was running out this month.

Bugger, wasn't planning on going back to the clinic today/ever again, but just to be safe, we wandered down to check, and it wasn't necessary. I say we wandered down, the main street was busy with some protest folk, and no traffic getting through. Not sure why I didn't have a booster before we left...

Killed two birds with one stone at the clinic, and the doc took a look at Christine's ear, which had been playing up for the last few weeks, being blocked and making her a little deaf. I suggested that it could have been brain-ooze, but he said it was just a little wax. Christine may not be happy that I'm discussing her wax problem here, but I've just hit 'enter', so need to carry on.

Back up at our end of town, we had a bite to eat in Cafe Banais and happily bumped into Susan and James, and I was able to ask Susan about getting my stitches out. A bit of good and bad news - firstly she suggested that it wouldn't be too difficult a job for the most basically trained medical person, then she suggested that we could do it ourselves. Gulp.

Had a walk around the witches market after, and wondered what they did with the dried llama foetus's. Didn't do anything other than wonder about it, and bought some Pringles instead.

Early back to the hotel room, and watched tv to take my mind off what was happening under my bandages.

Thursday 10th May

Paul didn't sleep too bad, though it continues to be difficult finding a comfortable position.

Appetite still pretty much intact, and Chris kindly asked the hotel people to let me have breakfast in the room, and leaving Paul in bed with the remote control, Chris went over to the small but interesting Coca museum.

Didn't realise how important Coca is to the Bolivian folk in everyday life - it not only helps them get by with their day to day chores at this altitude, but also is an important offering to the Pachamama (mother earth) for a good harvest, and is present in all religious and magical ceremonies. An exchange of Coca leaves is also a sign of acceptnce of marriage.

Coca has been around for over 5000 years, with traces of coca leaves being found in mummies in Northern Peru, and been aged at 2500-1800 BC.

Incas removed the essential oils from the plant to carry out cerebral transplantations to remove tumours. It is astonishing that , even then, Coca leaves were used as an anaesthetic.

The Spaniards, especially the church, tried to ban the chewing of Coca, but it was soon realised that the indigenous people worked better when chewing the leaves - workers could continue manual labour for up to 48 hours when chewing the leaves, which alleviated the feeling of tiredness, hunger etc.

In 1886 Coca Cola was launched, using ingredents from the leaves, though the Coca was taken out of the recipe in 1912. Shame. Cocaine was then banned in the USA in 1914.

Whilst this is not a 'how to do it', cocaine is made from the coca leaves which are made into a paste. The paste is then refined to obtain base cocaine, and chemicals are added (sulphuric acid/hydrocloric acid).

Ironically, whilst the US has been working very hard to eradicate the coca leaves at source, the chemicals used to turn the natural/harmless leaves into cocaine, are mainly sourced from the US and Europe.

Back at the hotel, Chris finds Paul asleep and he wasn't too interested in doing anything, so she heads off for a bite to eat and a visit to the museums on Jaen Street, which is a lovely/quaint/narrow cobbled parade, and the museums pretty much lead into each other.

The first museum is very small, with information in Spanish only, though its easy to understand that the theme here is how Bolivia lost it's coastline to Chile. There's several old uniforms here, and photos of the liberators.

The next was a lot more interesting (Museo de Metales Preciosos Pre-Columbinos) - it houses some impressive Tiwanaku pottery and gold. One of the courtyard floors was decorated with kneecaps - mmm, nice. Also here, some silver jewellery and mummies.

The next museum had some items from the colonial period.

Across the street is Museo Casa Murillo ('the liberators house'), which had a lovely courtyard with balcony. The actual building was more interesting than the contents, ie religious art and furniture.

Later in the evening Paul is ready for some nourishment and fresh air. Well, as fresh as it gets in these narrow streets crowded with eco-unfriendly vehicles. That said, you're more likely to be run over before you choke to death.

Another fun packed night, in front of the TV, getting light relief from my friend Paracetamol.

Not much pain through the night, though woke up in the middle of it and thrilled to find Return of the Jedi on cable tv.

Friday 11th May

Paul can bend his arm just enough to do some two-handed typing, so caught up on a little bit of internet. That seemed to suck Paul's energy, so he went back to bed.

Chris went off to the Iglesia de San Francisco. Whilst building work on the church started back in 1549, it wasn't finished until the mid 18th century. Perhaps there's a negative side to the social chewing of coca leaves!

Apparently (the guide book says) the architecture of the church reflects the Mestizo-style!, but I won't bother to discuss the aspects of that here and now, however, in practical terms - there's large golden altar. I'm sure there's more to it than that.

Chris then went into the Museo de Etonografa y Folkloro. Very old tunics on display, some dating back to the 3rd Century AD. Amazing that fabric can last for so long. Maybe I should have some underwear made from the same stuff because my pants seem to last less than 6 months.

The modern part of the museum also houses some impressive pottery - Tiwanaku, Inca, Nazca, Chiru. Incredible that the Tiwanaku pottery looked so much better (more detailed/more robust-looking construction) than the colonial stuff.

Another room housed headdresses - interesting to see the ones of the Indian indigenous tribes.

Managed to rouse Paul out of bed for some food later in the day, though he didn't want to stay out to see a free musical performance. Quite a bizarre evening, listening to classical standards here in Bolivia. As well as the 'classics', the second half of the performance appeared to be some kind of freestyle jam, with the players seemingly knocking out different songs, at the same time as each other.

Paul popped in to Downhill Madness to see and thank Hector again for his help in getting me patched up and looked after.

Sadly, this is recorded as the latest Chris has been out for 'ages'. She's back in the room by 9pm.

Saturday 12th May

Chris wakes up to find that the eardrops prescribed to her have not done a lot of good, and now the waxy discharge is accompanied by pain and swelling.

Neither of us care to do too much and we spend most of the day in bed. I guess the rest is good for Paul, he seems to feel a little more comfortable and better after each sleeping session.

We find the time and energy to get out for some food, but not much else.

Sunday 13th May

We should have been out of La Paz by now, but Paul is still feeling unwell and really not fancying the prospect of getting on a bus and sitting in likely discomfort for hours, only to arrive at the next place and not feeling like doing anything.

We're a little grumpy with each other, though Paul still has the upper hand with sarcasm and having the last word. I'm sure Chris is actually having the last word, with some simple one-word put downs, like *******, ****, ***, ***, ************.

It's very much a Sunday feel around town, not a lot of folk about, and quite a few places closed early, or for the day.

The arm is definitely feeling okay, and it doesn't look like we're being troubled with infection - no particular swelling, pain, smell or green discharge. Maybe it's just the pills, slight lack of appetite and a touch of worry/frustration that's putting Paul off colour.

Monday 14th May

Ah yes, must be a weekday - more demonstrations in town!

We're still here in La Paz, but one more day and Paul's one more day better. Better in fact, and feeling sufficiently buoyant to suggest we move on tomorrow, to Copacabana, by Lake Titicaca.

To make the journey, hopefully, more pleasant, we've booked onto a tourist bus and we'll be picked up from the hotel, rather than having to lug the packs around. Luckily, Paul's pack has a side handle - he won't be using the back straps for a while yet.

Chilled out for a while in the sun that was above the main square - seems a popular place for both locals and tourists, and pigeons. Of course, reminds of us Trafalgar Square, though an icecream here costs the equivalent of 10p, rather than 10 pounds.

Picked up some more hooky cd's from the market, and a nice little holder for them, as I build up my collection.

Not much other shopping done here in La Paz, which is a bit silly cos it's sooo cheap (the souvenir crap). Nevermind...

After a bite to eat, we're back in the room, packing, ahead of tomorrow's bus journey to Copacabana, by Lake Titicaca.

Continues on next thread...