La Paz, Bolivia: Part 1: El Camino de la Muerte - Death Road!

La Paz, officially Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Our Lady of The Peace), is Bolivia's other capital city. In the 19th century all of the government and power slowly relocated from Sucre to La Paz. Although, La Paz isn't the official capital of Bolivia, parliament and all government functions (except for the Supreme court of Bolivia) reside there. It is still considered the highest Capital City in the world.

La Paz is broken up into 2 cities, La Paz and El Alto (The High). The centre of La Paz is in a bowl completely surrounded by mountains on all sides with the suburbs built up the sides of the mountains and El Alto being the city on top. La Paz and El Alto are regarded as two separate cities but there is no empty space in between. The combined population is almost 2 million (combined it is the most populous city in Bolivia, when separate El Alto is 2nd and La Paz is 3rd). The altitude ranges from 3,200m in the centre of La Paz to 4,100m in El Alto.

As cheap as Bolivia is I somehow still ended up on the least luxurious bus... good sales people! After the 14 hour bus ride with mainly Bolivians I was finally in La Paz at 6:30am. I wandered in the direction of traffic to find the centre.  I passed a couple of hostels along the route of my search for proper coffee and WiFi. After coffee and cake I checked into one of the hostels I had passed.

The week of celebrations leading up to Bolivian independence day was in full swing. The street was full of marching bands for the next 4 days.

The rest of the day just involved 1 mission: Book Death Road for tomorrow!

El Camino de la Muerte (Death Road)
Until the 20 year completion of the new road in 2006 it was estimated that 300 people perished annually over the cliff drops of up to 600m.

I was picked up from my hostel about 40 mins later than the 7.30am pick up time (damn marching bands!).

1 of our 2 Vans

Once the vans had collected everyone in our group we drove to a flat area below our starting point to put on our gear and test the bikes... A girl went over the cliff and died the day before so I was quite nervous. Injuries occur daily but deaths by going over the cliff is only about a once a year occurrence.

After testing the gear we hopped back in the vans and drove up slightly higher to just over 4,600m in altitude... It was time!

We had 3 guides: 1 lead (snapping occasional photos), middle (snapping the majority of the photos), and one rear to stay behind the slowest person.

The Start

Our Group - Mainly French and English

The first section of our ride was 30km of downhill on a modern 2-3 lane road. Once I got used to it I was flying. The group had separated quite a lot but 3 of us were racing behind the front guide while overtaking many trucks and buses... no need to peddle, gravity does all of the work.

We stopped quite a few times for everyone to catch up.

1st to arrive and waiting!

The others starting to pull in

Me on the left!

After completing the 30km downhill section of the new road it was time for breakfast/morning tea (provided). We then loaded back in the vans and skipped a 5km flat section before turning off onto what remains of the old death road... Things were about to get serious!

In front of us was another 30km of down hill. This time on an uneven rocky 1 lane dirt road with a cliff that has drops up to 600m on our left.

We stopped pretty frequently in the beginning. I took the first few parts in between stops pretty cautiously before getting comfortable. After that I was going as fast as I could and jumping over small ditches in the road. I was only slowing down for right hand corners, for obvious reasons, while pushing it around left hand corners. The front guide just keeps pushing faster and faster when someone is behind him (it was easy work for him). As the sections got longer so too did the time the front guide and I would be waiting for the next person.

Me giving a thumbs up in one of the early sections

Not a good place to fall

The funnest part was overtaking the groups in front of us. There isn't a lot of room on these roads so you pick your spots and yell out "On your Left (or Right)!"

We had one drink stop along the way to remove some sweaty clothes and put on mozzie repellent due to the massive drop in altitude. We were heading into the amazon.

We finally finished at 1,200m in altitude in the amazon (3,400m less than where we started from). This was my lowest altitude in about a month.

1st place! Even after a stack that involved me jumping over the handle bars.

We Finished!

We drove to a resort area with swimming pools, showers and.... an all you can eat lunch buffet included in our tour!

I was dropped back off at my hostel at 6.00pm. I decided to walk to the bike company to collect my shirt and DVD with photos and videos before they shut at 7pm. I was considering leaving La Paz after my first 2 nights (this turned into 2 weeks).

The First Shirt I earned in La Paz

Death Road was one of the funnest things I did in South America. It's a must do and it's actually not very scary but over 60km of downhill while dropping 3,400m in altitude is incredible.

I don't usually give businesses a plug in my blog but I would also strongly recommend Vertigo as the company to use. They only have duel suspension bikes, are on par for price with the cheap companies whilst being half the price of another well regarded company with equally good bikes. All of the guides are Bolivian (the lead guide had almost perfect English), they regularly check your bike at every stop, especially the breaks, they had 2 spare bikes in case something went wrong and probably the best vans out of all the companies.

I slept very well that night.

Next Stop: Still La Paz... So much more to do!

Lessons Learnt:
Travelling doesn't stop me from being competitive and wanting to win.
The last few weeks had acclimatised me pretty well to 4,000m.
I knew I was back in a major tourist destination (not a good thing).

Bariloche, Argentina: Little Switzerland

I arrived in Bariloche, via bus, after the longest commute of my life, including flying from Australia to Europe and back twice... a 26 hour bus ride. The famous Ruta 40 is actually just many medium sized stones thrown together. So while taking in the stunning views my bum received a rough massage.

Bariloche (officially San Carlos de Bariloche) is in the far north of Argentinean Patagonia. It is a famous ski resort in the winter and is very famous for amazing chocolate, both giving it the nickname of Little Switzerland. They smashed the disputed world's largest Easter Egg the day before I arrived. There are also conspiracy theories and books about Hitler living near here after WWII... His body was never found in Berlin.

On my second day I ended up going on the famous 7 lakes tour half price, courtesy of a French girl that could no longer go. There was one surprise. The tour was in Spanish and I was the only gringo (everyone else was from Argentina and Venezuela). It was an all day bus trip passed 7 lakes and stopping at the little town of San Martin de los Andes before returning.

I took my days here pretty easy. It was time to relax after my previous weeks of hiking. I explored the city with other people from the hostel and alone, trying chocolate everyday. The main street is literally lined with chocolate stores. Real chocolate melted down and spinning in a machine all day made the best hot chocolates.

Sitting on the Shoulders of Giants

Bariloche also has some interesting places.

Top Blokes!

A nice name for a childrens' toy store

On one day I did manage to do one of the many famous hikes in this area, Cerro Campañario, with a group from the hostel.

I also discovered Argentina's famous Choripan while I was here. In Spanish Pan means bread and Chorizo in Argentina is just sausage (Chorizo is a specific type of meat in Spain)... Choripan is a gourmet sausage sandwich sold by a guy on a street with a portable BBQ.

I also started exchanging some of my US Dollars. Argentina has a slightly dodgy currency policy and government. The official USD to Arg Peso rate is 1 dollar to 8 pesos, however, due to massive restrictions on Argentineans to hold foreign currencies you can receive much higher rates known as the Blue Rate/Blue Dollar. In this city I was exchanging at over 25% higher but in Buenos Aires you can exchange at over 50% making Argentina much much cheaper if you come with physical cash.

The rest of my week here involved studying Spanish, eating amazing food at many restaurants, eating more chocolate, partying all night and missing a guy getting kicked out of my dorm room for trying to fight people and howling saying he was a wolf... I picked the right night to come home at 7am.

At the last minute I changed my next stop from Mendoza to Buenos Aires... only a 23 hour bus ride this time!

Lessons Learnt:
I love chocolate!
Duolingo is an awesome free app that will help with learning another language.
It's okay to hide in the hostel all day instead of really discovering an area if you want to.

Puerto Varas & Puerto Mont, Chile: The Beginning of Patagonia

My trip to Puerto Varas is the beginning of my month in Patagonia. Puerto Varas is a little town on a giant lake that is back dropped by 2 volcanoes. The town is in line with the bottom of Australia (Tasmania).

Puerto Varas has a lot of touristy tours/activities, much like Pucón,  but I just wanted to walk around and relax. My 2 days here just involved sorting out accommodation, walking along the lake, eating, booking a flight to the far far south and chiling out.

The lake!

Filtered photo with Volcán Osorno

The Casino

Some sort of museum

???

A very filtered photo

The entire white menu for 7 dollars. 4 courses + bread + drink

After a couple of days in Puerto Varas I arrived for 1 night in Puerto Montt. Puerto Montt is a cool looking port city with big street markets but I didn't have much time to experience it.

My only evening just involved a cameraless walk along the water, getting the office of tourism to sort out my accommodation (private room in a guest house for 14 dollars) and having Camila arrange my airport transfer from over 1,000k away (lucky me).


The flight had amazing views for the entire 1000km journey, except for the lady throwing up next to me. I gave her my spew bag before arriving within 1,000 km of Antartica in the town of Punta Arenas.

My first domestic flight outside of Australia

Next stop Puerto Natales and the ridiculously stunning Torres del Paine.

Viña Del Mar, Chile: Back to School

Once I sorted out my language school at the last minute, I booked a hostel for 2 nights and jumped on a bus to Viña del Mar. However, my phone must have received one last email before I got out of WiFi range. On the bus I discovered the news that my hostel had double booked. I was going to arrive in a new city at midnight with no accommodation.

Once I arrived I tried unsuccessfully to find a WiFi connection. Luckily for me I walked passed a hostel that had one bed left just for one night... I took it. Then I discovered another email from the hostel I booked saying they could give me a private room for the 1st night for the same price since they double booked but also had absolutely nothing for the 2nd night... too late.

The next day I left my luggage in the hostel, contacted the other hostel to let me know straight away if they have a cancellation, then took off to look at rooms in proper apartments to rent for 2 weeks... This was really going to test my Spanish. The first place I looked at was perfect (gym, swimming pool, BBQ, sauna and modern) except for location. The young Chilean couple in the other room had a 4 year old son, I ate lunch with them and watched Thomas y Sus Amigos (Thomas the Tank Engine)... It was good for my Spanish.

Upon returning to my hostel I received the good news that the other hostel had a cancellation and booked me in. I checked in before going to view 2 more properties, both with the same landlady that speaks no English. These were very close to my school so I chose the one with 5 Chilean housemates and saved about 70 USD compared to the language accommodation. Using the phone to type numbers to negotiate price, due language barriers, reminded me of Thailand

That night was a massive party at the hostel with about 30 people (mainly Chilean and Argentinean). I tried Pisco for the first time, the spirit of Chile and Peru, sometimes straight from the bottle. After drinking at the hostel, and in the street we eventually arrived at a club to dance the night away. I even experienced the very traditional Chilean recipe of Italiano Completo on the way home, a hot dog with avocado, tomato and mayonnaise (think flag, not cuisine).

Here is a video someone made on the way to the club, watching is optional. Facebook Video

After the big night I went to meet my landlady, Patricia, to settle into my new home. She taught me that "caña" means hangover in Chile. In Spain it's your standard glass of tap beer and my most common order. So before and after I guess.

The next day I commenced class, 5 days a week 9-12:40 for 2 weeks. School organised many activities during the week. Including  traditional Chilean cooking, asado (BBQ), touring the beautiful Valparaíso by bike and kayaking in the ocean next to seals.

Boiled Pumpkin and Flour... Sopaipillas

Then fried in oil

During the first week I also got back into running most days and went to Patricia's daughter's 20 birthday.

At the end of the first week 3 housemates moved out and 3 new ones moved in. One was an Australian, Tom, he was on a one year exchange program. I also experienced my first earthquake which became a regular occurrence.

 The next week involved many nights out. One night started off with Tom, a group of US exchange students and I drinking at our place, then led to doing boat races at a bar with some additional new Chilean friends. Then I was at McDonald's ordering a happy meal (caja feliz) and giving the toys to a Chilena, Camila, and saying it was a present for our baby... A quiet drink at home can escalate to parenthood with a stranger.

Before the boat race

The next day I thought it might be a good idea to get to know the mother of my future children (mum, this was a joke if you're reading). So I met up with Camila for beach tour. I found out she was a 21 year old psycho, I mean psychology student, and a genuinely really cool and funny girl.

Camila

The rest of week involved school, the beach and clubbing.

School was complete and my 2 weeks were up! The day before I was due to leave I arranged with Patricia to stay another week then met up with Camila in the near by town of Valparaíso, the town of her birth, where I ended up giving her a tour (the best parts of my bike tour from the week earlier)... Valparaíso might sound familiar,  it is the world heritage city in Chile that recently had a massive devastating fire. It is a really old port city and actually home to the Chilean Congress (I was surprised to hear congress sits here instead of Santiago).

The rest o the final week involved planning my next destination, reading about Chile, running, drinking with Tom and the exchange students and more time with Camila.

At the end of the week I went to Camila's place for dinner, I had already cooked for her twice, so it was her turn to try demonstrate her skills. She succeeded.  The next day it was time to say our goodbyes but not before she cooked lunch and acted as my translator for my first haircut in 7 months... A very awesome girl that is welcome in Australia anytime.

The Last Supper

Next stop the countryside outside the tiny town of Melipeuco.

Lessons Learnt:
Pisco is a dangerous drink.
Chilean Spanish is very different to Spain.
You never know who you will meet.
If you're enjoying somewhere/something then stay longer/do it more.
Time is the world's most valuable resource.