Music: Beautiful Days by Arashi
So lets not do this chronologically. This being my first entry on the South America trip, I'll be talking about
La Paz leg, because it was my favorite part of the whole travel experience. This is gonna be super long entry, I hope you won't get bored reading ok!!!
Upon reaching the El Alto International Airport, which is the second highest commercial airport in the world at 4061m ASL (highest is the Qamdo Bangda Airport in Tibet), we instantly felt the effects of directly arriving at a high altitude location from sea level, altitude sickness. Peak of Mount Kinabalu is 4095m, for comparison. We experienced dizziness, short of breath and vomit-like sensation in our throats. Actually, some people do vomit, but none of us did. We've anticipated these symptoms of course, but to go through it was really something. I remember when scaling Kinabalu, even then I felt a slight altitude sickness kicking in on the second part of the climb, for about 30 minutes before my body became accustomed to the lack of oxygen, and even then it was a gradual climb. So in La Paz, arriving by airplane, with no time to condition the body, the sickness felt was 10 times worst. I was out of breath when i walked a mere 50 meters to the restroom. When taking the stairs, I had to rest in between a few times just to catch my breath. If I walked too fast, the headache would pound like crazy.
At El Alto Airport. Altitude sickness not evident in this picture. But we were definitely feeling it.
From whatever little research I did on the trip, I found out that the locals use coca leaves to lessen and help with the altitude sickness. You can either take the coca tea, or eat the leaves straight raw, macam sirih. I takes a while to get used to the taste, but couple it with a small block of stevia, it tastes quite nice actually, to me that is. Since we reached the airport around 4am in the morning, we hung around to wait until the sun rises. The cafe was already open then, so we bought all of us coca tea and ate a hearty breakfast. It was the first time I ate an avocado sandwich, with the avocado so big and fresh, i couldn't finish it because I became too full. And it was so cheap, as we discovered later on that everything in La Paz is super duper cheap, that we did all our souvenir shopping here.
Super delicious avocado sandwich
We took a cab to our colorful hostel, rested for about 2 hours. At this high an altitude, it was very very cold despite it being summer season. I took a bath and it helped with the sickness as my body significantly freshened up, but the others didnt because it was too cold. They actually took a nap while I didnt.
The whole place was painted with unique murals like this.
First order of business was to check in with the Gravity Bolivia for our mountain biking activity the next day. Truth be told, Bolivia was not even in our list of places to go in our initial planning of the trip. Ok so before I go any further, lets name my travel buddies first for easy reference:
1) The Historian, the same person with me on my India trip: TH because this person seems to know everything and anything (as compared to my ignorant self).
2) Candy Girl. CG because she brought lots of candies and food bars which proved a blessing.
3) Shopper Backpacker: SB because, as the name suggests, this person shops a lot, and also one of the coolest backpackers I've ever been on trip with.
Mr. Z, which is SB's friend has been to SA before, and he was the one who suggested we try this mountain biking experience, because he did it and highly recommended it. Its basically a downhill cycle on the world's most dangerous road (WMDR) also more well known as the Death Road, or El Camino de la Muerte in Spanish. The road spans 64km downhill on a mix of highway road (tar) for the first 1/3 of the ride, and then dirt road the remaining 2/3. It starts at 4650m ASL at La Cumbre (a drive away from La Paz) and we descend for 1200m to the small town of Coroico. To illustrate this better, we started with 5 layers of clothing (because it was around 3-7 degrees celcius at the start), not including the water-resistant body suit that was provided, and ended up with just a single layer of tshirt and pants/shorts by the time we reached Coroico, where the weather was tropical, like we have it here.
Freezing cold at La Cumbre. Before the ride.
Of course there's a reason why the Yungas Road (original name) is nicknamed as the Death Road. It is on average a 3.2m-wide winding dirt road carved through hills and mountains of rainforest, roads so narrow that passing vehicles would be only a few inches apart when side to side, the cliff drops ranges from 600m to 1km below, and to make matters worse there are no guard rails. Hundreds, if not thousands of people, of locals and travelers alike have died falling off the road. Mostly people on buses driven by drunk drivers.
Towering cliff. Foggy weather. Low visibility.
This thrill ride for travelers on mountain bike was founded by a New Zealander (surprise surprise) some years ago. Thousands of thrill seekers have traveled to Bolivia to undertake this adventure, and that includes us! When I first heard it from Mr. Z, I decided within 5 seconds that I was gonna do it, so did TH and SB. But CG needed a little convincing because she's not the type at all. Between the 4 of us, TH SB and myself have done the bungy jump before and climbed Mt Kinabalu. Not to say that bungy jump is the most extreme thing to do in the world, but you get the drift in understanding our personalities.
So after checking in with Gravity Bolivia and signed contracts (read: they are not responsible if we fall to our death) and made payments, we walked around town and window shopped. We also bought a plastic bag of coca leaves to chew on from the streets. Altitude sickness not yet gone mind you. We walked really slowly. And to make matters worst, the streets of La Paz is steep and hilly, something like San Fransisco, eventhough I've never been there before haha. Coca leaves are only legal in Bolivia and Peru. Its is used as one of the ingredients to make cocaine. You will be caught if found smuggling it out of the country, even a little. So I bought coca flavored sweets to bring back home, but its not the same thing as the real thing, which I had come to like and chewed it as much as I could. TH didnt like it so much. SB and CG was indifferent.
Pakcik jual coca leaves.
At 1pm we met the driver and guide that we booked earlier in the morning for a half-day tour of the city. As usual, it was full of historical stories and information, very informative and interesting. We also went to unique placed called the Moon Valley, because the landscape is, you guessed it, resembles the moon. Actually I'm not too sure if that's how the moon looks like but oh well. It was different and fun and something I've never seen before. We went around town, visited main buildings, went to a Mirador (viewpoint of the whole city, which was breathtaking), and ended up at the Witches' Market. Had dinner and slept early that night for our mountain biking activity starts at 7.30am the next day.
Levitating on the moon.
Witches market
La Paz is town that looks like something that I would see on National Geographic. It was nothing like I've ever seen before, the traditional clothings of the women of Aymara and Quecha are exotic, at least to people like us. They wear bowler hats and aguayo, a triangle shaped cloth draped around their shoulders. The women do not like people taking their pictures because they believe it takes the souls out of their bodies, so we had to take pictures of them secretly, one needs to respect the culture of others when visiting their place.o What makes it more exotic is how colorful these clothings are. Its here that I truly felt like I was finally experienceing the real South America. Prior to La Paz, we went to big cities and its like any other in the world, generally. I really cannot describe the feeling to give it justice.
Traditional clothing of the Aymara/Quecha ladies.
Our guide during the biking trip is an American from Pittsburgh who left the country with his Philipino wife in search of a more full filling life and serve the community, leaving his job in the corporate world. They traveled and ended up in Bolivia, fell in love with the country and decided to migrate to La Paz, set up an NGO that helps abused children, and do this guide thingy as a part time job. There are many stories like these in La Paz.
We did our shopping at the Witches' Market, although I didnt really shop that much, despite everything being really cheap. In fact, I didnt shop that much during the whole trip, and as it turns out, this non-desire to shop has been with me to this day. I've tried a few times but its been impossible. I have no idea why though. But I know it has something to do with this trip, although I cannot really put a finger on what is it that changed in me. I've never shopped for new clothings or shoes or whatever since (maybe once at Cotton On, and even then I lost rm200 as it was stolen from my handbag).
The next morning, after walking around La Paz for around 10 minutes, and getting lost for another 10 minutes, we finally found the cafe which is the meeting point for our much anticipated mountain biking experience. Met our guide Andy, and took our seats in the bus for the drive to La Cumbre. During this ride, Andy said its customary to introduce ourselves to everyone in our group and to mention a few things: name, where from, our travel plans, and one interesting/unique thing about ourselves or the craziest thing we've ever done. There were many Aussies in the bus, they turned out to be crazy and funny, in a good way of course. On the way back after the biking trip, they became drunk on the bus and was so loud it was a crazy atmosphere in the bus. There were British as well. Ours was a large group, about 15 people. When it comes to travel plans, I was envious of most of them. They are mostly on a 2-3 months trip, just exploring South America on their own pace, going to where their feet takes them next, with no plans. A British gal said something that truly made me envious: I have no idea how long our trip will be, but we will keep on traveling until our money runs out. I wish I could do something like that.
But alas we Malaysians are in career-oriented society, that spending our time and money away traveling is not a normalcy. But this is the norm for most Europeans, and we met a number of these people throughout the trip. As for the unique/interesting part of myself, I really couldnt think of anything interesting about me. The only thing that came to mind was bungy jumping. But even that seemed like nothing because TH who spoke before me said that too. SB is into diving so that's something right. CG said: the craziest thing I've ever done is investing in the stock market..
We were given our gloves and helmets according to our sizes, and upon reaching La Cumbre, were given our bikes that were already customized to our individual requirements, which had super good and soft suspensions that I did not even have a sore butt after cycling down on dirt roads for at least 50km. During the whole ride down, a bus follows not far behind, carrying our stuff and drinks and food and extra bikes and other necessary equipments. For those who decide not to ride anymore can also get on the bus. There was one part of the ride whereby we had to cycle uphill for 8km. All the boys in the group decided to do it. All the girls decided not too, except SB and me. SB quit after 2km, it was hard! I quit after 4km. I wanted to finish it but I was clearly slowing the group down. I think the other girls on the bus were also saying I should quit, although I didnt hear them say it directly, but I get the feeling when I finally came on the bus. Its just a nicer of saying mereka telah mengumpat aku. Hahaha. I didnt mind really. They were right anyway.
There were 17 pit stops throughout the whole journey, and at each pitstop Andy would describe the layout of the road and what to look for or be careful of. He reminded us (safety speech was given earlier on the bus) not to go too fast, but not to break too suddenly either. Be careful of the cliffs as they turn really sharp. It gets foggy at certain areas that sometimes you can't see the corner up ahead. In essence, have fun but also apply common sense, don't be too confident as well. During the start, it was raining quite heavily, it was super foggy and my goggles fogged up, but if you dont wear your goggles the rain would fall straight on your face and its hard to open your eyes. We had to share the road with other lorries trucks and cars as well, at the highway part. Our bikes had no lights but we wore bright colored vests. At one point on the dirt road, it was raining so heavily, I decided not to wear my goggles, and I realized that I was smiling all the way down. The feeling was exhilarating yet peaceful at the same time. The water falling down and the cool wind blowing on my face, the lush green surrounding me, riding through waterfalls that appeared because of the rain.. it was incredible really. At that moment, I really cared for nothing and just enjoyed the moment, literally. My mind was blank and all I felt was the joy of the moment. I can go so far as to describe the moment as magical, but that sounds really corny, hahah.
We stopped for snacks. And at pitstops, we had to wait until the whole group sampai before proceeding. Prior to 2006 the road was still mainly used by vehicles but since then an alternative highway was opened, so throughout the cycle down we only encountered one van driving up. Andy told us about a few travelers who have died while doing the activity since its inception. There were many crosses along the road as well, to mark the places where people have fallen of the cliff and died. Its really crazy and dangerous when you think about it. But we did it anyway. Actually, there was a disclaimer on the Gravity Bolivia's website that said this (the time we were there) is not a good season to be doing this activity, because its rainy season and the roads are highly slippery, and they discourage those who have no experience whatsoever on mountain biking to do it during this season. But obviously we decided to ignore the warning and go ahead anyway. Who knows when I'll ever go to La Paz again, or maybe by that time I'm already 50 years old and have severe arthritis or whatever right. Now (then) is the time to do it and nothing was going to stop me. And I don't regret it at all.
One of the many crosses along the Death Road.
At the end of the trip, we had a full fledged meal, took our bath and proceeded to our next activity, 1.5km of flying fox, broken into 3 parts. The first 2 I did it alone, and the last one I did it tandem with TH. I have a video and pictures of it, but I don't think I should show it to anyone. The position we had to be in is a little embarrassing hahaha.
Flying fox
After that, we had to take the bus back up the way we came down on Death Road. This seemed to me much more scarier than the ride down our bicycles! By the time we started our way up, it was very late, and starting to get dark. It was pitch black and our driver had to manouver the narrow dirt road and he could see nothing except a few meters ahead as far as the bus' headlights can see. So a curb is not visible until you get very2 near to it, and at some points, the bus tires were so close to the edge of the cliff, if the rocks or soil were to give away, the bus would most probably by tumbling down the cliff and I wont be here writing this. To make matters worst, it was raining!! By then the Aussies were super drunk and one of them actually peed back in the beer bottle that he finished. They were singing very loudly to the song that was playing, it seems like the playlist was customized to these European's taste. Coldplay, RHCP, Incubus, Beatles, some pop songs..
Driving really close to the edge.
By the time we reached our hotel that night, it was 10pm I think. We stayed for a moment at Gravity Bolivia's office to get our pictures that were taken during the whole trip before that. We were soooo tired. While waiting, I remember our topic of discussion was about the uprising that was happening in Egypt at the time. It was big news, and SB's whole family was there at the time for a vacation, which so happened to coincide with the uprising. They decided to cut their trip short and come back, and it was at least 2 days before they could secure a flight back to KL. All the time people were advising us how South America is dangerous and to be careful, and then its such an irony that Egypt was the more dangerous place to be traveling to at that moment.
Slept soundly that night, and we left La Paz the next morning for the next leg: Machu Picchu. And that warrants an entry of its own.
