The calm didn't last for long. Heading up to the Bolivian capital La Paz for the Easter weekend, we arrived at what is the highest capital city on Earth. In many ways. La Paz is a vortex of weirdness that sucks you in, chews you up like a mushy ball of coca leaves and spits you out feeling half the person you once were. I still can't really decide if I loved it or hated it, but I know I had a fucking great time.
So the weirdness begins. Greeted by the Good Friday parade through the city, a cross between the Catholic Church, Hogwarts and the KKK, we took it easy after our dizzyingly high altitude, bumpy overnight bus and opted for a quick look at the San Pedro Prison (of Marching Powder fame, which I still haven't read but am scouring every book exchange for) and a curry at the world's "highest" curry house. After a visit to the cute little Coca Museum, explaining how coca is used and abused in Bolivia, we visited the Witches Market. In my head I kind of expected it to be a big expanse of Halloween tat, with Grotbags stood there in an Albert Square puffer jacket and bumbag, but it was just a couple of shops hidden away, filled with talismans and souvenirs, and a vast array of dried llama foetuses. Apparently they bring good luck to new homeowners. Poor pregnant llama mommas.
After a late night / early morning, we headed to the Cholitas lucha libre wrestling show, undoubtedly one of the weirdest things I've ever seen in the world, never mind La Paz. Men fighting men. Men fighting women. Women and Men fighting Men and Women. Man gets crucified. Literally. Referee beats up woman. Audience throw chairs at referee. Woman gets grape in eye. Werewolf fights Mummy. Mummy sets fire to Werewolf. Gringos get asked to leave.
I went to bed on Easter Sunday with my mind in tatters.
So an early morning rise on Monday for a gentle, pleasure-filled cycle down El Camino de la Muerte, Death Road. Yes, the World's Most Dangerous Road, the one Jeremy Clarkson nearly drove off in Top Gear. I resisted doing the obligatory "how many tourists die per year at *insert Bolivian tourist attraction here*" Google search, but apparently at this one its 200. With vomit inducing 600m drops to the side of this ridiculous dirt track, I kept missing the group photos because I was going so slowly. Hey, you don't fuck around on a road that's named after Death itself. However I have to say it was by far one of the best things I've ever done, despite me protesting since Mendoza that there was no way in hell I was going to do it. After we made it alive to the end, got the t-shirt and had the buffet lunch by the pool at the bottom in the tropical valley, we made the long 3 hour journey back by car through the clouds (only this time on the new tarmaced road they built in 2006 as an alternative to that other snaking suicide motorway of hell).
The rest of La Paz is a bit of a blur I'm afraid but I'll leave it your imagination. I can however confirm there were no midgets involved.
We escaped La Paz with our sanity just about in tact, to arrive at the town of Copacabana on the banks of Lake Titicaca for some much needed R&R. The silence was almost deafening, but it was very beautiful and calming and a great spot for some relaxation and amazing trout caught fresh from the lake. We took a day trip to Isla del Sol, lacking much of the energy we could have done with to attempt the whole trek from the North to the South of the island, and after a couple of days headed over the border into Peru.
But then it all sort of went a bit wrong. I'm afraid to say the dreaded bronny-c bronchitis is an international phenomenon, and after 3 days of feeling totally wretched, I was forced to cancel my trek to Machu Pichu, something I'd been looking forward to for ages. But it's okay! I've had a week in bed, some horse strength Peruvian antibiotics which I'm pretty sure aren't FDA approved and a loooot of time on my hands (hence blogging and photo uploading overdrive). I'm taking the train with the grannies tomorrow to Aguas Calientes and will lay my eyes on the ruins on Saturday. It's a different experience but I'm embracing it and have packed my finest alpacas, recharged my batteries and am raring to go.
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