La Paz, WMDR & High Slopes
Not so many dramas leaving Uyuni (well the 2nd time round anyway) and getting ourselves to La Paz. We arrived about 8am on Friday morning, perfect timing to ensure we can make the most of the fin de semana. We met up with Camilla & Linnea for Breakfast, before spending the morning checking out different sites, changing our flight plans (we realised when we got here that we only had 20 days to get to Quito in Ecuador and fly onto Colombia, nowhere near enough tiempo) and stock up on some much needed toiletries for myself after their walkabouts from the bus & suss out different tour guides for the "World's Most Dangerous Road" (named after the average of 250 deaths a year that the road causes).
Dinner and Drinks at Mongos (the local happening gringo spot) with the girls before a somewhat early retirment to esnure we were ready for the "Death Road" in the morning. The next day we were pumped (Camilla slightly less) about what lay ahead of us, and we were not disapointed! The ride was amazing,
reaching about 60km an hour on the bitumen before hitting the dirt and some exhausting uphills, before heading staright back down again at bgreak neck speed through waterfalls, around blind corners (our guides whsitled if something was coming our way), through several crazy drug checkpoints and past a couple of human traffic lights before reaching beer o'clock at the bottom of the mountain.
A couple more drinks down the bottom before it was time for the scariest part of the day, actually busing back up the WMDR. A few beers did seem to put the mind at rest though. An exhausted quadro we made back to the hotel for a much needed long hot shower before hitting the local french restaurant for some superb supper. You gotta love these countries where you can eat like kings for a fraction of the price and still make the daily budget, well most nights anyway!
Sunday saw another early start to the day for the girls and I as we headed to the local ski slope, the highest downhill in world. Since I haven't skied in about 9 years (it's a lot different to snowboarding than I remembered), it probably wasn't the best place to try and remember how to turn. We first had to hike about 1km up to the top of the 5300m mountain (ski lift not working, how unlike Bolivia) in ski boots, about an hour later, out of breath and with little air to inhale, we strapped on our skis and headed for the bottom. the girls took off with much swedidh flair, whilst nI pretty much slide down most of the way and got about 1.5 turns in close to the bottom! I had fun and the views were great, what is there to complain about!?
A relaxing arvo was spent shopping (and trying once again to upload photos), before our final supper at RamJam where we indulged in Spanish Champagne and other assorted goodies before making our way to bed before yet another early start on our way to Lake Titicaca. Which according to the Peruvians and Bolivians is the highest navigatable lake in the world, but according to the rest of South America, they're full of it. Apparently it lies in Chile somewhere.
Dinner and Drinks at Mongos (the local happening gringo spot) with the girls before a somewhat early retirment to esnure we were ready for the "Death Road" in the morning. The next day we were pumped (Camilla slightly less) about what lay ahead of us, and we were not disapointed! The ride was amazing,
reaching about 60km an hour on the bitumen before hitting the dirt and some exhausting uphills, before heading staright back down again at bgreak neck speed through waterfalls, around blind corners (our guides whsitled if something was coming our way), through several crazy drug checkpoints and past a couple of human traffic lights before reaching beer o'clock at the bottom of the mountain.
A couple more drinks down the bottom before it was time for the scariest part of the day, actually busing back up the WMDR. A few beers did seem to put the mind at rest though. An exhausted quadro we made back to the hotel for a much needed long hot shower before hitting the local french restaurant for some superb supper. You gotta love these countries where you can eat like kings for a fraction of the price and still make the daily budget, well most nights anyway!
Sunday saw another early start to the day for the girls and I as we headed to the local ski slope, the highest downhill in world. Since I haven't skied in about 9 years (it's a lot different to snowboarding than I remembered), it probably wasn't the best place to try and remember how to turn. We first had to hike about 1km up to the top of the 5300m mountain (ski lift not working, how unlike Bolivia) in ski boots, about an hour later, out of breath and with little air to inhale, we strapped on our skis and headed for the bottom. the girls took off with much swedidh flair, whilst nI pretty much slide down most of the way and got about 1.5 turns in close to the bottom! I had fun and the views were great, what is there to complain about!?
A relaxing arvo was spent shopping (and trying once again to upload photos), before our final supper at RamJam where we indulged in Spanish Champagne and other assorted goodies before making our way to bed before yet another early start on our way to Lake Titicaca. Which according to the Peruvians and Bolivians is the highest navigatable lake in the world, but according to the rest of South America, they're full of it. Apparently it lies in Chile somewhere.
posted by Sanchez at 6:56 AM
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