After an overnight bus from Uyuni we arrived in La Paz bright and early, and thanks to being at an altitude of 3650m it was nice and cold. We'd bravely booked a week at the infamous Wild Rover hostel, so we jumped in a taxi to go check in. However as it was only about 7:30/8am we were far too early to check in, although quite a few people we only just getting back to the hostel after a night out. Daylight was not their friend.
We wandered around town for a while before checking in and having a nap, then Derek and Kelly came to our hostel bar for a few drinks that first night. Kurt and I continued on til the wee smalls, so the next day was a bit of a struggle, especially for me. We all met up again at an English pub (several hours later for me) then went to a local Sunday event in La Paz - Cholita wrestling, which is a group of female lucha libre wrestlers. Cholitas are indigenous to the El Alto area of Bolivia where the wrestling takes place, and they have a distinctive look: they wear braided hair, bowler hats and multilayered skirts in everyday life and in the ring too. Not your standard wrestling event. We were there for about 3 hours and saw about 15 fights - men vs men, women vs women, men vs women including tag teams. It was hilarious, especially the outfits. Who knew Spongebob Squarepants was a wrestler? We certainly didn't. By the end of it all we were freezing cold and pretty over it, so were glad to get back to town. It was definitely one of the more unique events we've been to though!
The highlight of our time in La Paz, and one of the best things we've done so far, was biking down the famous 'Death Road', the world's most dangerous road. It's estimated that 200-300 people die on the 64km road every year, which means a fatal accident occurs approximately every two weeks. It's one of the few routes that connects the Amazon rainforest region of northern Bolivia to La Paz so that's why it's still used even though so many people have died over the years - there is simply no other choice. And of course all this means that all the gringos who come to La Paz want to bike down the road and risk their lives - including us. Only natural really. We were smart about it though and chose a company that had a really good reputation for excellent equipment - good bikes with quality disc brakes and dual suspension, full helmet, jacket, pants and knee and elbow pads. Not that any of this will save you if you go over the edge, but best to start out properly anyway. We chose Vertigo Biking and they were actually cheaper than some of the other companies who had shittier equipment, so we were happy with them.
We did the tour with Derek and Kelly and we also met Blair, a crazy kiwi with ridiculous amounts of energy. We had to drive out of town for about 25mins to the starting point, then the first downhill section was a nice wide paved road. There was a bit of traffic and some slippery gravel at points though so we still had to pay attention. Kurt and a couple of other guys took off and were racing one of the guides down so they were fair flying. But luckily no one in our group came off. Good start to proceedings. At the end of this section we had to get back in the van and drive uphill to where the official gravel death road began. The next two hours would be spent biking this single lane road no wider than about 3m. And of course there are no guard rails so it's a sheer drop-off of at least 600m. Luckily (I think) it was pretty foggy so we couldn't see the full extent of the drop-off, but you definitely know where the edge is! It wasn't overly reassuring to see the crosses and memorials for tourists who've died while biking down though. Our guide told us that on average one or two tourists die each year, and that there hadn't been any so far this year...thanks mate. But we all managed to make it down to the bottom without anyone stacking it and it was the most fun we've had in ages. Such an adrenalin rush and you actually forget how dangerous it is after a while. Until you slide on some mud or come a bit too close to the edge that is! When we'd all made it safely to the bottom we went to a restaurant for lunch and a shower, and a swim if we wanted. Then we had a long uphill drive back to town with the worst mixture of music pumping out at full blast. It's party time in La Paz no matter where you are.
The rest of our time in La Paz was pretty chilled out - well, after we checked out of the Wild Rover a few days early and moved to a nice quiet place across the road that is. The final straw was when the guy on the bunk above me was in a bad state one night, moaning and groaning like he was dying. Kurt kept yelling at him to shut the fuck up but he was too far gone to know what was going on. Then he spewed against the wall which dribbled down onto my bed. Thanks fuckstick, just what I wanted at 3am. We did have another night out with another American couple, Rob and Melinda, at a bar run by Mick Jagger. Well, an English guy that looked and acted exactly like him anyway. He even had his bandmates with him.
We also walked around San Pedro prison that's in the middle of town, and if any of you have read 'Marching Powder' you'll be familiar with it. They no longer let gringos go inside on tours and stay overnight as talked about in the book, and they don't even let you stop and look in the front gate that stands wide open. There's a plaza directly across the road so you can sit there and watch, but if you try and take photos the cops come over and make you delete them. Kurt tried to get some from a shop on the other side of the plaza, but it was hard to get a good shot. It's pretty insane to see this slap bang in the middle of the city though, as you can see through the main gate all the inmates just milling around in a courtyard inside. They're obviously locked in but to see them so close is crazy. And there's a steady stream of local people walking in and out, whether they're visiting or live there with their husband etc who knows. Anything goes in Bolivia.
After 6 days in La Paz we were ready to move on. So many people get stuck in this city so we were determined to escape the clutches of this party place before it was too late. Luckily we're not still in our early 20s or it could have been a different story...
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