A Tale of Two Blondes: La Paz

The scenery between Lake Titi and La Paz was some of the best we’ve seen so far, although the boat ferry across the lake was slightly dubious. Having loved Loki in Mancora, we opted for more of the same and checked into Loki La Paz. We dropped off our bags and rushed straight out to by some llama jumpers, as we had held off throughout Ecuador and Peru, thinking we would save ourselves a fortune…. We saved about 5 pounds in total. On our walk back we came across a woman selling hot dogs and burgers for 40p, so we ate three each. With our bellies lined, we made our way up to the Loki bar with every intention of a big night out. Unfortunately, we both had to put ourselves to bed embarrassingly early.

Last view of the Lake

With severe hangovers (we blame the altitude), we gave ourselves a nice lie in – Kat had little choice, as Imy wouldn’t move. Finally, after much coaxing, we went for round two of retail therapy. We also booked on to Death Road, feeling it was a legitimate excuse for an early night.

With Kat’s nerves in tatters, it was now Imy’s turn to coax Kat out of bed. We got a minibus to the start of Death Road, where it was so cold that there were icy puddles everywhere and we were surrounded by snow. The first part was easy peezy, as it was paved road, but the cold bit through our gloves and it felt like our thumbs were going to drop off. Luckily, we were heading down, where it got warmer and warmer. Eventually, we arrived at the real deathly part of the road, where the road was dusty and gravelly, with massive loose rocks everywhere. Not to mention the 400m vertical drop to our left hand side. We were reassured by the guide that he was trained in mountain rescue, but unfortunately his rope would only reach 100m, so as long as we weren’t, and we quote “f**king stupid”, we should be fine.

Start of the Death Road

Famous shot

Bike crew

Death roadies

Dare-devil

Scared-y-kat

Crazy chicas

long way down

Kat and her mates

After three hours of bone-shaking mountain biking, we made it to the bottom, without a scratch on us! The same couldn’t be said for everyone though, as one of our friend’s back wheel came off his bike, and another’s brakes locked on, sending him over the handlebars. Luckily, we all lived to tell the tale.

Parrot

The next day we ventured on another free walking, having realized that all we had seen of La Paz was the tourist alpaca street. We were joined by a pair of fellow Geordies, Andrea and Mark, and led by the wonderful Sergio. He showed us some great things, including San Pedro prison, which has been made infamous by the book Marching Powder. With the threat of deportation hanging over us, we decided it wouldn’t be the best idea to try to go in. A chicken-bus ride later, and we were treated to one of the best views of La Paz.