Victoria and Justin: Fear and Loathing in La Paz

We arrived into La Paz late on Friday night, just in time for the weekend! The last few weeks have been pretty quiet on the party front, with plenty of early mornings and long bus rides. So we decided to stay at "The Loki", one of the big gringo party hostels in La Paz. And like all the big hostels there's never a shortage of people looking to party, and we bumped into some English guys we'd met along our travels, so needless to say, we shot the lights out on Saturday night, Boom! Our night included a few of the local discoteques, Ram Jam, Blue and Traffic (and no, these weren't 'gay friendly' venues). Anyway, Sunday was a write off.

Monday morning we headed for the Brazilian Embassy to organise our entry visas and like most thing in South America it turned into a bit of shit fight, requiring passport photos (at a moderate level of annoyance), proof of departure from Brazil (our documentation was questionable), payment (very annoying, having to cross town to the Banco del Brasil, then back again) and photocopies of everything (only slightly annoying). Anyway, our passport was held by the Embassy for 2 days, keeping us in La Paz until at least Wednesday. The rest of the day was spend ticking off some admin, checking out the sights, a few beers and into bed early!

On Tuesday we conquered the 'Death Road', once considered the most dangerous road in the world with over 200 people dying on the road each year when it was the only route between the Amazon basin and La Paz. Now days, it only claims on average 2 lives per year, with a new road built to take the trucks and buses, still it's pretty extreme with some 400m cliffs and narrow gravel road sections. The downhill ride covers 65kms, decending from 4600m to 1800m, on a mix of paved and gravy roads. Our tour company Vertigo provided us with all the kit, full suspension downhill bikes, full face helmets, body armer, gloves and protective clothing. On monday afternoon Victoria was still debating whether she was up for the challenge but after seeing the impressive gear and chatting with the owner she decided it was 'go time'! At one stage I was following Victoria down the gravel section thinking "Fark, she's flying!", I must say, I was a pretty proud husband at the bottom of the ride.

Wednesday morning was some more admin, we picked up our passports (visa issued, no problems), dropped into the post office to sent some gifts home (all the crap from all those markets) and booked our plane tickets to Rurrenabaque (the main Bolivian town in the Amazon basin). In the afternoon, we checked out the front of San Pedro Prison in the centre of La Paz (the prison reportedly produces the best cocaine in South America according to the book 'Marching Powder', we can't confirm this fact). We also took a look at the '2009 World Press Photo Exhibition' which was showing in La Paz. So, after a long day we had a few beers that night, then it was time for the jungle (Amazon Basin) on Thursday!