La Paz

We arrived in La Paz late evening and immediately noticed the difference in altitude. At 3600 metres, La Paz is the highest capital city in the world and the 800 metre difference in altitude from Quito resulted in a return to shortness of breath and evening head aches for the first few days.

In order to avoid any of the more severe symptoms of altitude sickness, we took the first few days nice and easily, limiting ourselves to short walks around the central city and attractions that were close to our hostel. The hostel itself, Adventure Brew Hostel, was very good with a great bar and decent (by Bolivian standards) wifi, so taking it easy wasn´t too hard. The highlight of the first few days was certainly the Museum of Ethnology and Folklore, in particular, its spectacular room of tribal masks. The masks have been gathered from all over Bolivia and demonstrated the fantastic and diverse cultural traditions throughout the country.

We visited the witches market, in the heart of the tourist district, where local Aymara tribeswomen sell herbs, plants and all sorts of other traditional remedies and ingredients for blessings and curses - including an abundant supply of llama foeti.  To be honest though, other than the shock factor of baskets of foeti, the market wasn´t of much interest.

After a few days adjusting to the altitude, we decided to get out of town and head into the mountains. La Paz is positioned on a flat plateau in the midst of the Andes known as the Altiplano and consequently has towering mountains on all sides. We decided that trying to tackle Huayna Potosi, supposedly the easiest 6000 metre plus mountain in the area to climb, was a bit much for us and so opted for the much easier, although still amazing, trip to the summit of Chacaltaya. The summit of Chacaltaya is 5300 metres above sea level but due to the existence of a dilapidated ski field near the top, requires only a few hundred metres of walking to reach the top. That said, having been dropped at 5100 metres, the few hundred metres of walking took us about 45 minutes due to the sheer exhaustion of functioning at such low oxygen levels. It was worth struggling to the top however as the view was simply amazing. 360 degree views of snow capped peaks, the vast Altiplano, La Paz and even Lake Titicaca in the far distance, it was one of the best views we have ever had. Breath-taking. Literally.

From Chacaltaya, we headed to the Valle de la Luna on the far side of La Paz, driving on the way through El Alto city, the highest in the world and also one of the poorest. El Alto was filthy and reeked of severe poverty. It was definitely not a tourist attraction but was certainly an eye opener. Unfortunately however, Valle de la Luna was not an eye opener. Having been blown away by its Chilean namesake, Valle de la Luna in La Paz was unextraordinary. Named after a moon shaped rock elevated in the centre, the Valle de la Luna consisted of a few hundred square metres of rock that had eroded over the years to form a series of jagged peaks and caves. Whilst interesting from the perspective of it being a holy site for the Aymara people, the site was far too small to have any optical impact, particularly given you could see houses and other buildings at all times throughout the walk around the site.

The following day, we were joined by Owen Jago (a mate from NZ) who took the night bus up from Sucre to join us for the weekend, and Owen and I headed off to cycle the infamous "Death Road". Whilst not nearly as deadly as it was a few years ago when it served as the main route for all traffic approaching La Paz from the Bolivian Amazon, the Death Road was still plenty hair raising for the likes of Owen and I that had last touched mountain bikes when we were kids. The first 21km of the road have now been sealed and as such were an opportunity to let go of the breaks and allow sheer momentum to whip us down the mountains at speeds I have never reached on a bike before and hopefully never will again. The remaining 32km of the road however, the Death Road proper, took us along a gravel road hugging the side of the cliff as we decended almost 1200 metres in altitude. Owen and I stuck pretty firmly to the rear of the group for much of the decent, taking the possibility of death very seriously, although towards the end got a bit more confident and managed to pass most of the girls! The ride aside however, the scenery along route was absolutely stunning and the ride was hugely enjoyable. It was however sobbering to find out a week later that a Japanese girl did actually die on the ride due to break failure. A scary thought and one which made us feel even more glad that we opted for a more expensive and reputable company.

Our final La Paz experience was one on which Crystal and I have quite differing views. Cholitas wrestling. It is basically WWF but with middle aged Bolivian women doing the wrestling. The whole night came complete with a mariachi band in which the singer was wearing a wrestling mask, Bolivian kids jumping on stage, a woman in the crowd swinging her handbag in anger at one of the wrestlers and of course, the obligatory jumping off the top of the ropes. Absurd bordering on farcical for Crystal, absurd but pretty much amazing for me.