Up up up to La Paz

We ended up leaving Rurre on monday. Our Pampas tour finished sunday eve, and i was VERY keen to check out the 45m high zip wire course, just recently opened. But having decided to fly up to the big smoke, we had to go mon for the cheap flight with the miliatry plane.

The flight with TAM cost us $47US each. The bus would have cost $9 US, but was 18 hours long on a shitty bumpy road. This decision was not taken lightly though. We were very concerned about ´bursting the seal´with such a luxury. Once its been done once, it might become a little too easy to use the expensive luxury method again. We are supposed to be on a budget!!

The other reason for the flight was that the views are supposed to be magnificent, coming over the alti plan all at once. That is most probably true, but there were so many clouds that day the effect was mostly lost.

As son as we got off the plane it was like entering a different world. For weeks now we had been constly sweating, day and night. Now at 3600m it was chilly! It was actualy quite a relief to be honest..

So La Paz is a bloody huge city which sits inside a long thin crater. The steep streets are tough work at this altitude, believe me! It was also amusing to see people in city clothes again, ie western suits etc. Despite the hustle and bustle it does not feel intimidating in the slightest though.

Our main reason to be here was to check out mountain biking down the ¨worlds most danger road¨. We had been emailing Alistair, the Kiwi owner of ´Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking´for a few months in regard to maybe doing some guiding work here. We met him on tues, had a look around their office and new hostel, and were pretty impressed.

The biggest issue was recent competitors all undercutting his (rather steep admittedly) $75 US. They were cutting corners to do so, which has resulted in a few deaths, injuries etc. But people stilll que up to do it..

Wed we cruised, about the most lazy day of the trip so far. Watched tv in bed till midday, then did little afterwards... not so good..

and thurs we did the ride, whcih can be the next post..