Plane, Train or Taxi......

We had three options to choose from to travel from La Paz to Uyuni...... We could fly and be there in an hour for about $100, we could take a 4 hour bus journey from La Paz to Oruro and then take a 7 hour train or take the bus all the way which would take about 13 hours. With time on our hands we opted for the Bus and Train (and as it turned out boat) combo.

The view across Lake Titicaca en route to Uyuni

Leaving La Paz we had the best seats on the bus, top deck front two seats which give you an excellent view of the traffic jams that you sit in for two hours as you try and escape the chaos that is La Paz! One notable cultural difference, the traffic was crazy and on top of that the driver kept stopping and very time he did the locals would start shouting "Vamos" and stomping on the floor of the bus - Abs got quite good a giving the driver this feedback after the initial hesitation that goes with our British reserve.

We made it to Oruro with about 30minutes to spare - we'd met a very nice Swiss couple when we got on to the bus in La Paz and hooked up with them to go in search of some food at a restaurant that had been recommended to us. We found the restaurant easily but service was slow and as we hadn't eaten by ten past three we asked for our lamb joint (no kid) and corn to be put into a takeaway container - imagine the face you pull at people when you're on the tube on your way home and there's someone next to you with an aromatic KFC - now imagine the faces of the travellers around us as we tried to devour our meat and one veg - it was very tasty but it will never be a contender for the Ronnie Mac's throne.

The train journey was fine, we were sat next to a couple of nice Irish guys who we'd met in the restaurant and they were good fun. There were on board movies, I gave the first one a miss in preference to listening to my music and watching the ever changing scenery fly past and the sun set then I watched the Total Recall remake which was very good.

At about 9pm we decided that it was beer o'clock - taking on liquid is a decision that is never lightly taken when travelling on public transport in South America and with only an hour or so of the journey left we figured that it was a risk we were prepared to take and shared a beer and played a couple of rounds of Shithead.

We got in to Uyuni just after 22:30 we hadn't booked a hostel and so followed Martin and Jeanine to theirs, we were able to get a room for five pounds each, our cheapest yet and it was worth every penny and not a penny more.....

Salar de Uyuni (Salt Flats) tomorrow, where the fun begins.......

Raine x

The Worlds Most Dangerous Road

Big gaps between blog entries are a dangerous thing, you forget so much even though only a week has gone by.....

We arrived in what from now on I will refer to as the 'chaos that is La Paz' on Tuesday afternoon. 

The chaos that is La Paz - Aerial shot

We stayed in a B&B called Casa Hermanus Manchego which we'd selected as it was located in a quiet district called Sopacatchi away from the chaos that is La Paz and it was perfect. Fortunata the brilliantly named housekeeper with gold heart frames on her teeth (I wish I'd taken a photo) was fantastic helping us to get our jeans and bags repaired and making us breakfast.

None of our meals in La Paz really credit a mention they wouldn't score much more than an 'Average' Trip Advisor rating but they were ok, I do sincerely hope though that our wine choices perk up once we get to Chile.

For me the real highlight of La Paz was without a doubt the Worlds Most Dangerous Road (WMDR) bike ride. We  went with a company called Gravity - they have the fewest fatalities on their rides and we thought that was a good stat to go with. 

All joking aside the road has a very sad history, it runs from La Paz to Coroico (approx 70k) with none of it wider than 10ft, there have been politically motivated killings, Bolivias worst traffic accident where 100 football fans died and an estimated 400 people killed on the road in individual accidents each year. A new road was finally opened in 2006 and so the route we took is almost exclusively used by mountain biking tourists now and it is amazing........

64k downhill hitting speeds of  somewhere between 40 - 50k it was the best, most exhilarating fun.

Personal highlight: Five older Brazillian men were part of the group, all wearing Lycra and cycling tops, as Paddy our guide was kitting us out he asked one of the 'Pro's' if he cycled a lot to which the response was a proud "Yes, all the time", Paddy's response; "Right, erm, you've got your helmet on back to front"*.

I'm glad that I left my Lycra and London to Brighton race top at home and opted for walking trousers and boots, it meant everyone's expectations were lower - including my own and resulted in me having the most amazing day.

Personal Lowlight: I was a bit too enthusiastic and a couple of times took a few bits too quickly which resulted in a  couple of near misses, one with the cliff edge but the most frightening one was when I took a corner too quickly and came face to face with the cliff face - my sudden braking brought the back of the bike up and very nearly over... Like I said exhilarating.

Out take:

Bridget Jones - before and after the mini-break car journey

Next stop Bolivia - you don't want to miss that update.....

See you there.

Raine x

* The Smallest Print:  It would be disingenuous not to mention that half way through the ride after a break Paddy had to tell me that my helmet was on back to front but as I said, without Lycra the expectations were lower......