Day 43 - 46: Surviving the Death Road and more in La Paz

September 25 – 28, 2015

Like most of the South American countries, the heart of Bolivia lies in this administrative capital 3300m above sea level; making it the highest capital in the world (Sucre is the constitutional capital and seat of supreme court, but is lower than Ecuador’s Quito)

There is no way to define La Paz, a myriad of crazy adventures and people waiting to surprise you at every turn (pun intended you will see). The sprawling capital is stretched across a long and mountainous valley, where the buildings look like they tumbled down the steep mountainside, and somehow couldn’t fit in nicely. Whatever you are looking for, you will be sure to find an action packed capital like we did!

Getting there

We got there on a 12 hour bus ride from Uyuni (140B). They are all about the same price, leave at about the same time, and have pretty much the same service. Wifi availability is all bull crap, so was the heating. Anyway, although we did not take it, it still holds true that Todo Turismo is the better company.

Day 1

The sun rose as we headed into the valley from above. As usual, Vik had the map pre-loaded on Google, and we soon found our way heaving and puffing from the bus station to Hotel Copacabana, a rather old but decent hotel with a good location and very affordable prices. We got a double with shared bathroom, which included breakfast.

Red Cap Walking Tour

We settled in, got our queries answered, sent in our laundry, and headed out to our first objective: the Red Cap Walking Tour. 3 hours later, we have learnt about: the notorious prison that was a city within a city; Bolivian women and their courtship rituals; the sprawling and confusing Rodriguez market; how to get more by making the hawker ladies your special friends; some of the traditional street food and juices; and the deep dark secrets of the Witches Market. Despite the energy they gave, the two guides had poorly choreographed explanations, with several repeat statements coupled with interesting but draggy role-playing. Leann was particularly underwhelmed by their “overacting”.

We spent the rest of the day exploring some of the streets, the witches market and central market again before heading to the San Francisco Clock Tower. Fun fact: We couldn’t find facial cleanser anywhere. Leann wonders if they were all like Vik, who doesn’t use any of those too.

We arrived at San Francisco church and overheard obvious Singaporean accents. Before long we were conversing so much, we almost forgot that the church was about to be closed. We also didn’t realise that there was a guided tour, and only got to see a fraction of the entire church for the full ticket price. In the end, we left disappointed at our poor decision making, and headed to Calle Jaen, a rather bohemian and artsy street with some preserved colonial buildings and home to some galleries and uninteresting museums.

We then had dinner at the recommended restaurant with our two new Singaporean friends (actually one was Malaysian). Nothing spectacular, no I’m not recommending it.

Day 2

We kickstarted our day with more Saltenas (Bolivian puffs; similar to empanadas) along the street en route to the Rodriguez market which was massive as it was a Saturday. We got ourselves some fresh fruits and a (huge) bag of Chia seeds for just 10 BOB ~ 2.14 SGD. For food, we had some tucumanes from a crowded street stall, and washed it down with fresh fruit juices (refillable).

The massive weekend market - Rodriguez Market

The best Tucumanes in La Paz!

Seeing, buying and eating the fresh produce make us happy!

Big packet of chia seeds for only 10BOB?! Of course we have to buy!

As if our day wasn’t already exciting, Vik got pickpocketed in the most classic squeeze and grab tactic. When he turned a corner on the street, he was suddenly blocked by some people in front and a bus queue on the side. Then came the pushing and shoving behind him. Sensing something amiss, Vik had one hand on his bag and the other on his wallet, waiting for the pick on his phone, but he got distracted when an auntie beside him shouted to give way. 5 seconds later, Vik knew his phone was gone, and couldn’t track who the pick was.

Anger, then the sense of loss, then the relief that it was just a phone, which was a cheap Xiaomi that was password locked. We returned to the hotel to consider our options and to inform our family and friends. Once done, we headed straight for the Witches market to seek divine intervention as Vik calls it, but also to buy some lucky charms and souvenirs.

At a corner of Witches Market

With no intention to let such an incident affect us, we continued as planned to do our own cable car tour of the city. We took a cab to “Buenos Aires” the nearest yellow line (Linea Amarilla) teleferico station to our hostel. For 3BOB (0.60 SGD), you get a one-way ticket. 2 tickets will bring you almost 30 minutes one way on the cable car (yellow and green lines) to the end of the entire La Paz city, where you get to witness both extremes of neighbourhoods; from slums to Beverly hill type mansions. The return trip took us up to El Alto, and we took a cab to the Red line (Linea Roja) and took the cable car back down to the city centre to complete our experience. Its definitely the best way to see the city on a budget, and sit with the locals! We even got to witness a wedding photography session!

We grabbed a sinful satisfying chorizo bun and fried chicken to munch on our way back to our hostel. Once back, we used Leann’s phone to once again update and get updated. We rounded off the night by meeting our new singaporean friends once again for dinner at Sol y Luna, a dutch owned well acclaimed eatery that also served some Asian food (Indonesian Satay).

Day 3

The death road cycling tour kicked off at 4700m La Cumbre on the main expressway; a much safer alternative to the famed dirt road that at one point killed. We were given our bikes, safety gear, and briefing before we dropped 1600m in altitude at almost 80km/hr for the first 20 mins on the expressway.

The warm up before the Death Road

Smooth and easy, we thought, wondering how and why this could be called the death road. We soon realised that the easy part was over. The remaining 2000m of altitude or so (or at least the first 500m) is a narrow and winding steep dirt rocky road with hairpin turns at cliff edges, that could put both your adrenaline on extreme high and your life in real danger if you decide that brakes are a sign of weakness while you cling onto your handlebars for dear life. Lose focus, and your bike may hit a big rock and flip you over the edge to meet your maker.

The scary parts include steep drop offs coupled with narrow paths with potholes and slippery rocks

The safer option of course was to hold onto your brakes all the way and slowly make your way down, which was what we did. Both options will test your forearms and your butt to its limit. Lucky for Leann, she wasn’t the only one who hugged the back end, as we met a cute French couple who also took their time. Long story short (ignoring Vik’s fashion disaster), we finally reached the bottom, and were given a break at a café while the operators collected the gear and washed the bikes. The French couple, Tiphaine and Alex, borrowed Vik’s GoPro to film a short clip of themselves as they left theirs behind in their hostel. We soon found, over lunch, that they too were travelling the world, and also had a blog and social media outlet to document their travels (check their site out: www.prendstestongs.com). As we were travelling in opposite directions, we were also able to share information and tips on previous destinations.

We headed back to La Paz in the evening and caught up with our Irish friends at La Cueva, a Mexican restaurant, and possibly our favourite due to its great prices and great (spicy) food!

Day 4

We were picked up in the morning after breakfast to meet up with the driver who then drove us out of La Paz via El Alto. 30 minutes later, we realised we were still in El Alto but not going anywhere. As if our past few days wasn’t adventurous enough, we soon found out that there were demonstrations going on and the El Alto streets were in lockdown by the city’s population. Every possible exit out of the city was barricaded, not even tourists were let through. After an hour of trying all alternatives, and even trying to discuss with the demonstrators, we were forced to turn back.

Even then, the bus got stuck en route back to La Paz city, as the demonstrators now blocked the entire portal going in and out of La Paz. We disembarked, carried our stuff and had to walk past the demonstrators, who were firing off flare guns, chanting, and lining up against the riot police who were ready. Thankfully, it was still a rather peaceful demonstration and they maintained their distance with each other. When we finally got past them, we hopped on to those minivans that took us back down into the city centre for 3BOB each. Hats off to the bus company’s driver who tried his best to get through El Alto, and the female assistant who helped shepherd us with clear instructions and brought us back to safety.

So back we were at Hostal Copacabana to check in, before we went back to the bus company to get our bus bookings changed. We were told to board the bus at 0500 the next morning, as they had insider news that the blockades will begin at 0600 by the protestors. With nothing much left to do, we just drifted around the food places: lunch at Namaste (Vegan), coffee at Writers Coffee, and dinner at La Cueva once again.

Day 5

We finally got out! Details in the next post on Lake Titicaca!

Tips:

Do the free walking tours on the first day, as they will provide you with a good orientation to the city and teach you loads of cultural stuff
Do not take photos of the bolivian women before asking them. To them, it is extremely rude to take photos without their permission.
Hostal Copacabana is a decent hostel in a good location (15minutes walk to bus station), affordable prices, pretty good breakfast, laundry service, and very good discounts for death road tour with Xtreme downhill.
Xtreme downhill is a pretty well organized team with great gear, bikes, and a nice souvenir CD and T-shirt at the end of the day. BUT the T-shirt was disappointingly ugly.
The San Francisco tower ticket includes a fully guided tour of their museum so try not to go too late.
The cable car experience as mentioned above is really worth the effort and time. It is really simple to do it yourself. It may also be a good idea to head up the red line early to capture some good shots before the sun gets a little too harsh.
The El Choro trek with Incan ruins came highly recommended by an avid trekker we met in Patagonia. “It’s a smaller Machu Picchu without the crowd and Disneyland feel; proper ruins worth looking at” – Ben Yyarel