All downhill from here

We took a freezing night bus over the plains of highland Bolivia and when we woke up we caught our first glimpse of La Paz: the great city, nestled on the steep slopes of towering Andean mountains, welcomed us in the pale light of the morning sun. La Paz probably is the greatest sight it has to offer in its own. We spent two days wandering around the old city where the heart of the tourist action lies. There are old churches, beautiful park-like plazas with seas of pigeons to swim in, government buildings and palaces, handicraft shops in steep alleyways and the famous witch market where you can find everything you need for a good old shaman ritual, from llama-fetuses to all sorts of leaves and spices. The altitude of 3660m makes running up and down the streets quite a challenge and we happily made pit stops in some of the many bars and cafes along the streets to catch our breath, have some good food and watch football with the locals. We also took a city tour by bus, that isn't really recommendable, though. We saw all the sights we had walked to before and rarely got any interesting information. The only real highlight of the tour was a stop at a viewing platform above the city that offered splendid vistas of the city and its impressive surroundings of bare mountainsides, lush jungle valleys and snow capped volcanoes in the distance.

After having explored the northern, old center of La Paz in such detail, we also wanted to see the southern part further down the mountain. The climate is much nicer down there so that's where the richer people of La Paz have their quarters with modern shopping malls, big cinemas, wide streets and everything a real metropolis has to offer. We spent a night at the mall/movies, ate bad Mexican food in the food court, took fun pictures in front of famous bu
ildings – and soon got bored and went back to the poorer but so much more exciting higher areas of La Paz. We stumbled upon an amazing night market that appeared in the streets around our hotel and spend hours walking around there, trying more food and bargaining for stuff no one really needs. As sudden as the market appeared, it was also gone in a moment at quite a late hour.



If there is one thing La Paz is really famous for (other than its altitude, maybe) it's got to be the nearby Deathroad – the most dangerous road of the world. Every year, many people die on that winding, narrow gravel and dirt road that opens into the valley with vertical walls of hundreds of meters. A new alternative road for heavy traffic was opened some years ago and released most of the pressure, but still cars, trucks, motorbikes and mountain bikes share the road – the former to safe some time and money, the latter for a day of fun and adrenaline. We belong to the latter.

We took some time to find a reliable tour operator with safe bikes and good equipment and then took off to the La Cumbre pass at 4650m. From there, we started our 64 km downhill experience to the pueblo of Coroico at only 1200m – a rush in every aspect. The first part leads over the new good road, so speeds of 70kmh are easily reached. The landscape is breathtaking but much care must be taken since the normal traffic goes up and down the same road. After entering the National Park, the original Deathroad starts and from then on it's gravel, rocks, dirt, rivers and waterfalls you have to ride on/through at sometimes great speed. The temperature rises with every meter you go down and with it the pulse at every corner, that could hide coming vehicles or the next unrailed 600m-drop-down. An accident, that without proper gear could have meant serious problems, couldn't stop us from enjoying the crazy ride and after a whole action-packed day we proudly got back to La Paz with our new “I survived the Deathroad'-shirt. Downhill is awesome cool!