Monday, August 18, 2008

La Paz to Copacobana

Friday 1st and Saturday 2nd August

Finally managed to leave La Paz and set out for Copacobana on the edge of Lake Titicaca. It's good to ride again.

Leaving La Paz is tough. Tough because It's been a great part of the trip. And tough because the streets are mental! It's hellishly steep and cars weave randomly in all directions. So do pedestrians, overspilling crowded pavements directly into my path. I can report that my brakes work!

Emerging from the backstreets, I tackle the main autopista leading steadily upwards to El Alto. It's 3 lanes of fast moving cycle killers.... I climb 500 metres up to the sister city and am rewarded with a last view of La Paz...



El Alto traffic is worse! There are no cars here - just Micro and Colectivo buses. It's a 6 lane traffic light grand prix as all vie for passenger's attention and drivers swerve and screech brakes once prey is spotted. Equally passengers lurch and blunder in and out of traffic as they board and alight. It's all spiced up with vendors who suddenly appear in the road. Pineapple anyone...



Outside El Alto things calm down - flat roads of new tarmac. It's a bucolic scene with a massive backdrop....



Still plagued by overloaded Colectivos....



I camp as I reach the edge of the lake. Or rather I find another abondoned building to "borrow" for the night. The cycle gods provide again. This is prime lake shore property....



Next morning starts with a climb away from the lakes and then back for the first memorable views of Titicaca...



Then a drop down to the boat station at Tiquina for a quick crossing on boats held together with duct-tape and hope...



Another gruelling climb away from the boat crossing before the breathtaking 8km descent down into the beautiful Copacabana sunset...

Saturday, August 16, 2008

La Paz - Images of a Great City

Wednesday 30th July

The city in images.

People think La Paz is a dangerous city, but I never experienced that side of the place. Maybe the 2 cops to every citizen policy has something to do with it...



On your marks...



San Fransisco square complete with cathedral and street protest...



Colourful "Witches Market"...



Plaza Murillo and it's cathedral



And bullet riddled municipal buildings...



Street art depicting the mines at Potosi and the miners struggle...



Children helping out washing dishes at a street food stand...



Street scene with mountain backdrop...



And finally a view from El Alto, sister city to La Paz perched 450 metres above with the majestic 6500m peak of Illimani in the background....

Thursday, August 14, 2008

La Paz - Death Road

Tuesday 29th July

I thought I'd done enough cycling not to need to book a cycle tour, but this is "The World's Most Dangerous Road" or DEATH Road!! It starts at an altitude of 4750m in La Cumbre and ends in Coroico at 1150m - a drop of 3600m in 64kms. Pedals are attached to the bike, but they are just to rest the feet on and have no other purpose. Pedalling is not required here.

The day begins inauspiciously with our first accident. 20 metres from the start, the bus driver ploughs into the side of a taxi! Much comedy ensues as the Bolivian police arrive to direct traffic. At one point the taxi driver attempts to physically lift the taxi to seperate it from our bus. 2 tons of steel is going nowhere...



Eventually someone has the bright idea of moving the bus and the damage is revealed...



A second bus turns up, bikes, gear and people are transferred and we finally depart for the "real" dangerous road. We leave the original driver to sort out bribes and pay offs...

The death road is half tarmac, then a narrow gravel track hugs the walls of the sheer valley as it snakes its way beneath waterfalls and rocky overhangs. Lanes are reversed here and vehicles drive on the left, not the right as is normal in Bolivia. The reason: the driver on the left can best see how close he is to the afterlife, that is, how close his tires are to the edge. A fatal accident every fortnight is not uncommon. I can see why - drops are 600 metres and vertical, giving you time to review your mistake as you contemplate becoming part of the valley floor. A large flat part!

The view from the top...



Rogerio is a 20 year veteran of the Brazillian army. After being shot at and surviving for weeks in the jungle without aid, he reasons a little bike ride is childs play. Alessandro is 20 years old, from Costa Rica, crazy and knows no fear. I ride a bike for a living. No-one is going to back down on this one and things could get silly.

Just to spice things up, it starts to rain. Visibility is low, goggles get covered in mud and steam up, and things get a little slippery under rubber.

We set off and it rapidly does get silly!! Roberto from Italy tries to stay with us, and after stepping a back wheel out over the edge!! he decides to play it safe and drops back. His ashen face gives vivid testimony to how close he came to adding to the statistics...

We get our first warning from the guides for riding neck and neck - 3 abreast on one stage - the rule is 2 bus lengths between riders. But how can you overtake if you play that game?

We pause to review the route - rapidly disappearing in to the mist...



Our second warning is for overtaking the guide!! A definite no-no apparently and he is NOT amused. I feel like a school boy again as we get our dressing down. Threats of riding out the route in the bus to "cool down" bring on a change of tactics.

The game now is to start at the back and work through the field, overtaking as many rabbits as we can. Allesandro runs wide and hits a boulder field. His front wheel is totaled and we wait in amusement as he walks his bike sheepishly down to the mechanics for a replacement. And another bollocking!

Snake like coils of slippery rubble...



There is little time to marvel at the scenery as it blurs past us. Little time for photography either as everything is covered in mud and grit...

In a single day, we crossed high wind-swept passes and snow-covered plains and plunged down through dense cloud forest to semi jungle from a freezing four layers to a balmy tee-shirt and shorts. It's a great day and thoroughly recommended even by a jaded veteran of a 6000km continental cycle tour!

We finish at an animal sanctuary in the jungle and scrape off dirt in hot showers. A slap up feed is part of the day, as is a death defying bus ride through zero visibility cloud back over the route to La Paz - definitely the most dangerous part of the day!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

La Paz - Cholita Wrestling

Sunday 27th July

Sunday night is Cholita wrestling night!! About 20 of us from the hostal pile in to a minivan and take a one hour ride up to El Alto - La Paz's sister city perched 450 metres higher up on the side of a mountain. Not really knowing what to expect - we are not disappointed by a fun packed evening of the most cheesy spectacle so far on tour.

There are several bouts featuring sporting legends such as "The Colonel", "The Black Skeleton" and "Ninja Boliviana", each with their own special moves!





But everyone is here for the Cholitas. Cholitas are indigenous midgets! In a triumph of political incorrectness, a woman dressed in traditional wide skirt, bowler hat, colourful manta blanket and plaits enters the ring with her female midget similarly dressed.



The 2 then wrestle male wrestlers who proceed to kick the cr@p out of them.



No holds barred - the referee gets involved with a few sly digs, and bodies fly out of the ring into the crowd. The locals love it.



In true good versus evil comeback style, the cholitas always drag themselves improbably off the canvas to win through in the end as the crowd goes wild.

Even the BBC picked up on it...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7429029.stm

It's a great (if slightly ridiculous) night out and a true antidote to political correctness gone mad at home....

Sunday, August 10, 2008

La Paz - Carnival!!

Saturday 26th July

Each year La Paz stages a carnival to celebrate the new years university intake. I remember freshers week at Sheffield University.... but that involved a lot more throwing of flour and eggs. This is how they do things in La Paz....

With a bit more colour...



And the girls can really dance...



Amazing traditional costumes...





And it´s brilliant to be so close to the action....





Synchronicity....



A gringo tries to get in on the act....



As the party continues on into the night...



In all it´s a 12 hour celebration along 6kms of city streets closed off for the occasion, and I happened upon it by chance. We are bought drinks by locals who take time to explain the different types of dance and costume and just seem happy we are there to join in the fun. In all it´s a fantastic day...

Friday, August 8, 2008

La Paz

Tuesday 22nd to Friday 25th July

I sat down with a map to work out routes and timings and it suddenly dawned on me that I don´t have nearly enough time left. Got a flight out of Buenos Aires on August 17th. Not quite sure how I can get down to the jungle, back up to circumnavigate Lake Titicaca, then off to Machu Picchu for some Inca trail hiking in time. So I got depressed and decided to just stay in La Paz for a while instead.

Not a bad decision really - it`s just a great place. The centre is a total mish-mash of people, vendors and traffic all vying for the same square inch of space.



Protests are a daily occurance bringing the city to a standstill. Roads often close as peaceful sit-ins are surrounded by massively over-armed masked riot police. Note tear gas grenades, mask and shotguns. This guy was not amused when I took this photo so I melted away into a crowd....



At night the road runs a river of red tail lights. Horns blare ineffectively. It`s a cacophony of noise - a sound and light show against the backdrop of streetlights climbing surrounding mountains....



Taking time out of the city I hire a dirt bike and take to the trails of two nearby valleys - The Moon and The Sun.



Health and safety is absent as we roar off in to the dirt. They have my money - what do they care whether I`ve rìdden a bike before. The trails are a blast even if they are a little damp in places....



But the views are stunning....

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Sucre

Thursday 17th to Monday 21st

Sucre is a beautiful city and at 2750m it enjoys a warm temperate climate. After Potosi, it has an elegant calm and the wide central plaza exudes an aura of class.



Originally named "La Plata" (The Silver or The Money) in the 16th century it held dominion over a huge area covering modern day Pataguay as well as parts of Chile, Argentina and Peru. Today there are several museums which deal with it´s history and mourn the loss of vast tracts of territory. Tensions with Chile are still high, as Bolivia is now land locked due to losing it´s coast line to them in the 1880´s "War of the Pacific". The modern navy is now comically confined to Lake Titicaca.

No great stories to tell here really so just stories in pictures....

As I while away a couple of days in the vast expanses of the market...



And in the museums Casa de Moneda (House of Money) cronicalling the history of money and coin minting and Casa de Libertad celebrating the 1809 - 1825 battle for independance...



Climbing to the mirador at Recoleta plaza there are stunning views over the city...



Enjoyed from the colonnade by a local gaucho...



A picture of heaven and hell as a down and out contemplates life in the shadow of the monastry...



While a local indian lady anticipates a call...



I take a day to relax with a BBQ in a hotel outside of town close to local attraction "The 7 waterfalls" with friends Bernadette, Pete, Juhi, and Tom. The hammocks are too comfortable and we never make the hike to the cascades...