La Paz

So I fell like I{ve left Red Deer and headed straight to New York. Because that is definatley the difference between Puno(actually maybe anywhere in Peru) and La Paz. There are so many street vendors here selling not only food and candy but like...batteries, clothes, any kind of soap or shampoo, I got a flashlight (cuz BOTH of mine have now mysteriously stopped working?). You never need to go into an actual store (which I dont because I feel like the people on the streets need my money more than the people who can afford a store, you know?) And the streets are so crowded at all times of the day. Finding a taxi is also a challenge cuz most of them are full.

My fist day in LaPaz I went shopping. I got lots of neat stuff, I even bought a good luck charm from a witch (I KNOW, Im a sucker). Anyways, my day wasnt too hecic. I feel a little altitude sickness kick in everyday around mid afternoon, which is frustrating because Ive been living at a high altitude for a while, but I guess cuz LaPAz is SO high, I still have trouble.

Yesturday was so cool. I went mountain biking down ´The Worlds Most Dangerous Road´or the Death Road o some. This is 64 kilometers of complete downhill (3600 meters) on the edge of a cliff with a gravel road a and trucks whizing by. The road leads from LaPaz down to Coroico. With that in mind its really not So bad. Its usually the cars that fly off the cliff at night when its dark. They operate with ´Bolivian Radar´which mean they honk when turning a corner and if no one honks back they proceed. Once two trucks collided and rolled over the cliff killing one mans wife and childern. So he has set up the human traffic light system at these dangrous corners where people will give you the green or the red to proceed. Our guide was from New Zeland and he says that hes had two bikers go over the cliffs and the most dangrous injury was a broken coller bone. They were quite safe with us though, we would stop every 2-3 kilometers to regroup. We had to bike on the cliff side cuz they say its safer than going on the mountain side where you can get squished by trucks. They also would make us get off our bkes and stand to the right of our bikes away from the cliff, cuz some people have gotten off their bikes on the wrong side and fallen down the cliff. We got picked up at 730, and by the time we reached the start of the road, got geared up and the safety talk we got riding about 9-3 in the afternoon. There was only one little uphill section of 6Kilometers, but because we were over 4000 meters, it was hard work to breathe on this uphill part that normally would have been easy. Apparently, Im the shortest person IN THE WORLD and so when they assigned bikes, i got the littlest one. The guide called it the pocket rocket, but I called it the little bike that could. Oh well, it still went just as fast as the others.
By the end of the day my hands and forearms were killing from gripping the breaks all day. But we were rewardd by cold showers and a buffet. Then we headed (at night) back up the wolds most dangerous road and back to the city. I was watching and we would get really close to the cliff sometimes, but because we were going uphill we had the right of way and passed cars on the mountain side. Uphill gets right of way because the downhill drivers can see how close they are to the edge and two cars cant pass eachother on the road at the same time, its just too narrow. Mostly and bus and a bike couldnt even be on the road at the same time which made it a hassel to get off everytime a car came. Got back to La Paz around 10 at night, went straight to the hostel and got all my stuff together because Im switching hostels. NOt that cold showers and a bar that blasts music right under my room wasnt fabulous, by my group tour starts today. Its an arrival day so I dropped my stuff off at the new place and wandered around LaPaz some more. Compared to my $4 a night hostels, i think this on looks around $20 and wow, its nice. Nicer than what Im used to thats for sure. Im excited to meet the rest of the group that Ill be with for the next 3 1/2 weeks all the way to Rio. Wer have a group meeting tonight. And tommorow we leave for the salt flats. Im feeling a little dizzy with altitude sickness so...im gonna go have a nap.