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  • La Paz and around - Mountain biking, wildlife spotting and trekking - Bolivia

    Next stop was La Paz which is the highest (albeit de facto) capital city in the world at 3,660m. We managed to survive the overnight bus journey from Sucre which was a result after hearing several horror stories but it didn’t live up to the high standard of the Chile and Argentina buses.  Can’t complain though as we arrived alive and with our backpacks safe.We hit a 'locals' eatery for a 3 course lunch from the 'menu del dia' costing an extortionate 35 pence and did a self guided walking tour to orientate ourselves. La Paz is an extraordinary city to experience as it seems to tumble down the surrounding hillsides in every direction with dodgy looking buildings perched at impossible angles all over the place. We visited a colourful artesania area and also the very strange witches market which had all sorts of weird herbs, potions and traditional medicines on display including dried frogs and llama feutuses which were pretty disgusting hung up on the sidewalk. The streets were bustling everywhere with lots of women in traditional dress, including bowler hats perched on top of their heads and the traffic was chocker with buses and micros puffing fumes and black smoke everywhere. Not very pleasant to walk about and the pavements are very narrow and full of hawkers so you end up dicing with death by walking in the street.We unfortunately lost our second day in La Paz to simultaneous attacks of´travellers tummy´ and spent 24hrs playing tag team between the bedroom and bathroom. Fortunately we felt well enough the next day for a ´must do´ activity in La Paz and one which surely only Bolivia can get away with marketing – mountain biking down the ´Worlds Most Dangerous Road´. The road from the mountain pass at La Cumbre (4,725m) descends 3,600m to Coroico and has been officially awarded this dubious title as an average of 26 vehicles per year plunge over the edge into the abyss. The road is actually a gravel track littered with rocks and pot holes just 3.2m wide – just enough for one vehicle – and has 600m drops (no fences or safety barriers!), rock overhangs and waterfalls that spill across and wash away the highway. Mix this with poorly maintained vehicles, mad and often drunk Bolivian drivers and it is a recipe for disaster. Locals apparently pray before making the journey. In addition to all the vehicle fatalities (the worst being a flat back truck of over 100 people – all killed) there have been at least 8 tourists killed on mountain bikes which begs the question how are companies allowed to operate this as a tourist adventure activity – only in Bolivia! Of course saying this there seem to be unlimited numbers of tourists willing to pay good money to have a go, us included.Fortunately for us, six months ago a new road opened on the opposite side of the valley that is mostly paved, two lanes wide and taken 30 years to complete thanks to a loan from the Inter-American Development Bank. This means that most of the traffic now follows this route but some ´die hard´ (literally) locals still use the old road to get to settlements along the way.Due to the nature of this activity (and uncertainty whether our travel insurance would cover us) we chose a reputable company recommended in our guide book and by other travellers we had met called´Downhill Madness´. They use handmade double suspension Canadian Rocky Mountain bikes and issue full face helmets (not that they will help much during a 600m fall) and apparently have professional guides. They also told us at the time of booking that they have an excellent safety record but we later found out from our guide that they have had 3 fatalities! 2 guides and 1 customer! If that’s an excellent safety record then I don’t want to use a company with a bad one…The first 30km are on a new section of road which is actually tarmac and shared with all the other traffic. We basically bombed down this section tucked behind the handlebars for best aerodynamics and managed to avoid getting hit by buses and trucks. We also had glorious sunshine. Next came a 3km section we hadn’t signed up for as it was uphill! After lots of huffing and puffing (especially difficult due to the still relatively high altitude) we turned off onto the old ´death road´.We had another safety briefing and set off but soon hit particularly bad weather including rain and fog leaving a very slippery gravel and rock-strewn track with only about 20m visibility. This was partially a blessing as it meant you couldn’t see the extent of the drop offs but it also meant the views were missed too and the potholes, rocks and sharp bends needed good reaction times. We had split into two groups for this section, one of which still managed to keep a fast pace and made full use of the dual suspension, whilst the other group made full use of the hydraulic disc brakes (guess who was in which group?). The ride was pretty exhilarating and went under a waterfall or two and through some deep fords. It seemed that every few hundred metres we passed wooden crosses or vehicle wreckage where people had obviously met their end. Our guides told stories (some of which were probably only elaborated a little) about how certain corners were named after the nationalities of tourists that had accidentally taken the quicker way down on their bikes.Both groups safely made it over the 64km distance and we were awarded with a cold beer, buffet lunch and hot shower. A cameraman took (pretty crap) pictures and video of the day and we were given these along with some better ones in good weather and also before the new road opened showing the extent of the traffic as it used to be (see pics).The 3½ hr journey back to La Paz along the ´new road´ made the mountain biking seem very tame as our minibus driver seemed to enjoy overtaking buses and trucks on blind corners in the darkness and thick fog that had descended again. We had a few close shaves from oncoming vehicles but thankfully survived that ordeal too.The next day we slowed things up a fraction and chilled out by visiting a fascinating coca museum. Coca has been used by the indigenous population for centuries for both spiritual and therapeutic use (altitude sickness, stress, hunger suppression and capacity for strenuous work). The exhibits and written boards covered the history of the coca leaf along with the benefits and scientific explanation of its properties backed up by experimental results. It also covered the use of coca leaves in the manufacture of the drug cocaine. Bolivia is the largest producer of coca leaves and the recently elected president of Bolivia is an indigenous former coca farmer and has told the US where to go after they tried to ban coca plantations. President Morales has argued that coca leaves are an important tradition in Bolivia and have legitimate uses and that the USA should address its own social problem of cocaine demand rather that throw its weight around on Bolivia– good on him!From La Paz we decided to take an excursion to the pampas and jungle region that dominates the north of the country. We flew to a town called Rurrenabaque to pick up a 3-day pampas tour staying in what claimed to be an Eco-Lodge (we were never quite sure what made it‘Eco’). The flight was an experience in itself as it was in a little 19 seater twin propeller plane and the views were fantastic as we flew over 6,000m snow-capped peaks and down into lush green pampas and jungle in just over 45mins. The landing was also exhilarating as the airport in Rurre wasno more than a very bumpy grass landing strip and we had a near pilots-eye view as there was no door or curtain between the cabin and the pilot. The landing was pretty hairy and the plane taxied to the terminal which was little more than a shack. Not only was the scenery totally different from any part of Bolivia we had visited so far, but due to the significantly lower altitude it was also hot and sunny which made a nice change.The next three days consisted of lying around in hammocks reading and sleeping, or wildlife spotting in long boats or on foot in the pampas. We chose a pampas tour over a jungle tour for the reason that you get to see more wildlife as there are less trees and greenery for the cheeky animals to hide.The tour began with a very dusty, hot and bumpy 3hr 4x4 ride from Rurre out to the lodge where the accommodation was very basic wooden huts but fortunately they did have mosquito screens and nets over the beds. The showers were also‘rustic’ and un-heated but it didn’t matter as they were a welcome refresher. There were 10 of us in total split into two groups and our guide Norman was a nice bloke who actually spoke a little English, giving our Spanish a little rest. The days were split with boat trips in the morning and late afternoon as the middle of the day was too hot and the sun too strong so we were forced to chill out in the shade swinging in hammocks – nightmare.We saw lots of wildlife up close including caimans (which were up to 2m long and came right up to the boat), capybaras, turtles and lots of birds. We were lucky enough to see four toucans and also a pair of adult jabirus with chicks in a giant nest. Other wildlife we saw were pink river dolphins – who were quite difficult to snap on camera in the muddy brown water – squirrel monkeys, black howler monkeys and also an anaconda (Warning Sarah G and Auntie Izzy - there are pictures of said creature in the photo album!). One of the boat trips was at night and only Sarah and I opted to go and we saw lots of caiman eyes reflected in our torch light looking at us and also lots of fireflies in the trees. It was quite eerie but romantic with shooting stars and reminded us a lot of a similar trip in Borneo last year at the start of our travels.  We also did some fishing using a simple reel of fishing line, hook and small pieces of beef as bait. We were fishing for pirahna and it was only a matter of seconds after dropping the line in the brown muddy water before you could ffel the fish having a good go at the bait.  We caught lots of pirahna but all were too small to make a tasty meal so we had to throw them back.  The other group somehow managed to catch a few bigger ones and the chef cooked them up for dinner.Another fifty minute flight brought us back to the choking pollution and altitude of La Paz with a corresponding drop in temperature and a disappointing absence of hammocks. Our next excursion from La Paz was a 3-day trek through the Yungas which is a transitional zone between the dry highlands and humid lowlands and where the Andes fall away into the Amazon Basin. We chose the‘El Choro Trek’ which is meant to be one of Bolivia’s premier hikes and follows an original Inca route through several Aymará villages. It begins at La Cumbre (same starting point as the mountain biking) and climbs to 4,859m before descending to 3,250m over a distance of 70km. We booked a guide through an agency and also needed camping equipment. It was nearly a non-starter when we turned up first thing in the morning at the guiding agency office and were told that the guide couldn´t make it and also the French couple treking with us had pulled out due to illness. We were asked if we could go the next day instead but as we were tight on time we insisted that it had to be that day so the friendly chap in the office said“no problem, I´ll be your guide, I´ll be ready in 20 minutes!” (but in Spanish as he didn´t speak a word of English). So it was just the two of us and Eliseo our new guide (who we later found out was a guide for 3 years before he worked in the agency office). We carried our personal clothing and equipment, sleeping bags and roll mats, whilst Eliseo carried everything else including fuel, food, cooking equipment, stove and our tent. His pack was bloody heavy so I kindly offered to take our tent. The first few hundred metres elevation was in mist and there was a sprinkling of fresh snow on the ground but it soon cleared up and the temperatures improved too. The first day's hiking was 100% down hill which sounds good in theory but was quite steep in places and was tough on the knees after 6 hours. We camped in a small Aymará settlement of a few families and were treated to great food by Eliseo. The second day we hiked for 10 hours and this time it was a mixture of up and down and the scenery was amazing although we had a few rain showers which made the trail quite slippery in places. Again we camped at a small settlement and had probably the best campsite location we have ever had with wonderful views up and down the valley. The last day was much shorter as we had to catch a public bus back along the‘new death’ road to La Paz. During the trek we kept running into another group of hikers from Barcelona and their guide and along with conversing with Eliseo we ended up speaking more Spanish than English over the 3 days which was good practice for us and made us realise how much our Spanish had improved. Next stop Lake Titicaca.

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