BOLIVIA

Ahem, I may have been a little hasty in my last posting. While I stand by what I said about Lake Titicaca in the vicinity of Puno, where most of the tourists go, namely that it is a septic lagoon, yesterday I discovered how big the thing really is. We left Puno & headed to the Bolivian border post of Copacobana (not the one in Rio) then on to the capital of La Paz. We covered about 300km, and most of that was in view of the Lake. It is massive, about 8000 sq km. And I have to say that it looked pretty good, & clean. However, there is no doubt that it is used as a giant drain, & so it is not infinite. There, I stand corrected.

The border crossing was a smooth albeit lengthy process, & a few km further on we hit the small town of Copacobana, still on the shores of the Lake. Here we came to a sudden stop. There was a fiesta & street parade in full swing. This weekend is Bolivian Independence Day (apparently). The streets were blocked off, & in true South American style, there was nothing like a simple detour in place, traffic just stopped. This gave us an opportunity to see something special, & take numerous photos. The cosumes were terrific, very colourful & intricate, & there was music, fireworks , the whole shebang, it was just great. We lost a great deal of time on what was already a long day, but nobody was sorry about it. Speaking of photos, it might just be easier to come over to my place & see them when I get back. If I find one more computer that wont upload the bastards in under a week, Ill kick it into the lake, but I digress.

We eventually got through &, surprise surprise, immediately hit one of the best bike roads I have ever been on. This was in fact the concensus of the whole group. This is why we ride, it was about 40km of everything we like, uphill, downhill, fast corners, slow corners, fantastic alpine scenery reminiscent of the south island of NZ, whenever you could sneak a peek, it was as smooth as silk & with hardly any traffic, seeing as how eveybody else was in town at the fiesta. The bikes got a real good workout. This brought us to a point in the Lake where there is a narrow constriction, & where we had to cross by ferry. This was no ordinary ferry, these are old wooden barges powered by small outboards. How they remain afloat defies all know theories related to bouyancy. We rode in head first over uneven, twisted planks with large gaps between, then had to back out on the other side. The water looked reasonably smooth but the barges pitched & tossed like mad. Even trucks & buses were carried across in the same way. I suspect that eventually one will be able to drive across on the bodies of the sunken vehicles & barges, & these guys will be out of a job.

Once safely across, the group continued through farming country, the number of villages & amount of traffic steadily increasing. The houses looked pretty rough, mostly made of mudbricks. Bolivia is clearly poorer than Peru, which is mildly disturbing, and the crime rate is higher while the roads are said to be worse, notwithstanding the great ride we had shortly after entering the country. So who do you believe? Anyway, by this stage we were nearing the outskirts of LaPaz, & it was getting dark. We pushed it a bit, probably more than I would have liked, but nobody wanted to get left behind. Shortly we hit the outer burbs, & the real bunfight commenced. This area was absolutely horrible, the place looked like Iraq, half finished buildings & junk everywhere. By this stage, the 4WD & trailer had arrived, with Compass´s local fixer on board. The plan was to head into Los Altos on the city fringe, park the bikes securely, then go to our hotel in the CBD by bus. The 4WD led the way like a battering ram through the traffic, all we had to do was follow it, easier said than done in this type of traffic. We have already become adept at riding in a tight bunch, the second there is a gap , someone else will just barge in. Again, the consequences of becoming separated were too awful to contemplate, so we stuck like glue. It was aggressive & fierce, with no quarter asked or given, but generally within the rules, not like the mayhem of Indian traffic where people constantly find new ways to scare the crap out of you.

Anyway, it was tough, but we got there on adrenaline. After transferring to the bus, we proceededinto town This joint really is quite different & very dramatic. The cityof some 2 million citizens sits in what is best described as a bowl, surrounded by hills. The difference in height between the hills & the bottom of the bowl is about 1000m & the whole thing is covered in buildings. It was now dark, & as we reached the rim, the sight of zillions of twinkling lights was more than spectacular, it was surreal. Our downtown hotel is excellent, we are in suites rather than rooms. I can just about get lost in mine. But there were no party animals last night, eveyone just crashed after a long & tiring day. There was a city tour this morning, which covered The Valley of the Moon, the main city squares, Government buildings & the main Cathederal, the wealthy part of town & bizzarely, the notorious main jail which is right in the CBD !! This is a place of legend, where the prisoners ran tours of the jail for paying customers, & also the biggest cocaine factory in Bolivia. Tourists were once allowed to stay in the jail overnight for a fee, but that sounds too heavy for me. Who do you complain to if they dont let you out? Is it covered by travel insurance?

After the tour, we had some free time to check things out individually, places like the Witches Market, where there are all kinds of stuff available. Never know when you are going to need a dried llama foetus or two (personally I like to keep a couple in the pantry in case of unexpected guests) . And the coca leaves go without saying! You can even make coca tea in the lobby of our hotel! Gotta say LaPaz didnt look as good as it did last night, but nevertheless, it is still quite spectacular & unlike any place I have been hitherto. We head off into the more remote parts of the country tomorrow, with a big ride of over 500km. Hasta Luego, amigos.

PS: This is weird, but the people of Peru & Bolivia, particularly those with indigenous genes, are really short. The group concensus is that this is Darwinian, as short limbs are more efficient in steep mountainous terrain & at high altitude. I will be glad to get down to more normal altitudes. I have had a headache for a week, & just cant drink enough water.