Attitude at Altitude, La Paz

Friday 20 March 2009

Attitude at Altitude, La Paz

We survive the overnight bus to La Paz and are greeted with that amazing view over the city of La Paz as we drive through El Alto. It is just as breathtaking (no pun intended) as I remember from a previous trip here, five years ago. We are staying at The Wild Rover hostal, Irish-owned and very much a party atmosphere. On our first day we meet some new friends, Carolyn, Steve, Matt, Anna and Alan - we all hit it off and begin planning, what end's up being a very crazy week ahead.

San Pedro Prison
Rightly, or wrongly I visit the jail. I am not going to go into details or even attempt to explain how this micro-economy works, this is a crazy place. Read the book "Marching Powder" by Rusty Young to get an idea.

Star of India, Jackie Chan's, Sol y Luna & a rather large splattering of clubs

We eat at the hostal many nights and when we don't eat here, we eat at some of these places...

Sol y Luna is a great place, nice food but remember to factor in a couple of hours to get the food. Sloooooow.

Jackie Chan's - what an experience! My advice: stay clear of Bolivian wine in a Bolivian-Chinese restaurant. The spicy food is a welcome change.

Star of India is a British-owned Indian curry house. If you eat a bowl of the Vindaloo you get a t-shirt. I try a mouthful and almost die. Helene, who is obsessed with spicy food, hoovers it up, tears streaming down her face and bags the t-shirt.

Every night is a good night to party in La Paz. Yaaay!

New friends enjoying a meal at Sol y Luna

We glamourous ladies dancing at the new club, Orange

Oliver´s Travels - The "Fake" English pub of La Paz

Downhill Mountain Biking on "The World's Most Dangerous Road"
We survive. I fall off, a little too close to the cliff-side for my liking. Adam crashes over the handlebars and gets some pretty-coloured bruises and scratches. It is adrenaline fun! The views are outstanding.

Getting our intial prep-talk!

The first hour is lovely asphalt terrain!

First glimpse of "Death Road"

Higher than the clouds (4,600 m)

A spot of lunch beside a waterfall (later cycle through!)

Christ & Matt - the boys from Salisbury, UK

Caught mid-mouthful!

We cycle through rivers & waterfalls - no bother to me!

Sheer cliff to my left

Hairpin bend!

Looking back over the bumpy, rock, winding road!

The Survivors of "Death Road"! (Altitude: 1,400 metres)

A well deserved beer at the end of the bike-ride (distance covered: 64 km)

St.Patrick's Day at The Wild Rover

It is fun. Lots of dancing, and well (sorry Mum!) drinking. Adam is sick, but manages to reappear a couple of times during the day for a shot of Jameson's! I party mainly with Alan the Canadian who has never had Guinness, let alone Baby Guiness before. Other Irish specialities such as "Cheese & Onion Tayto crisps" & "Barry´s Gold Blend tea" are also consumed - making me feel very at home! Note: All pictures taken before 2pm.

The Wild Rover, hostal & pub

Fuel in the form of Irish Stew

A wee drop of ¨Baby Guiness¨ (Tia Maria with a Baileys head)

Adam appears wearing a green t-shirt

The Crazy Irish boys dancing on the bar

Alan gets acquainted with the ways of the Irish

Hip-hip horaay for a very Happy St.Patrick´s Day in La Paz!!!!!

All in all, quite a crazy week! Now it is time to say cheerio to Adam, as he sets off on new chapter as he travels by road through Peru. We plan to meet up in Columbia in a few weeks. Meanwhile, I meet up with the lovely Sarah (an x-work colleague and close friend from London) and we are destined for the countryside outside of La Paz to stay with friends...for a very different type of adventure! More gossip to follow.........

4 comments:

Ana24 March 2009 at 10:43
Have vertigo and feel hung over after reading that!
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Sam Crawley24 March 2009 at 14:31
Am worried that you are drinking too much, young lady.
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Anonymous1 April 2009 at 16:58
Hi Elaine,

I came across your blog by pure chance (searching proverbs), and I must say that I am quite enthralled by your travelling endeavours! the pictures look absolutely amazing! It's always so inspiring to see people appreciating the wonders of the worls and what nature has to offer. Do you do this as a hobby?

Much love,

Pei-Shyen (Malaysia, currently in London)
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Elaine2 April 2009 at 20:45
Thank you Pei-Shyen! It is lovely to know that you are enjoying my journal. A short-term hobby one could say, that it until I join back to normality in the search of a job! Take care, El
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Pearls of Wisdom

Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.

- James Bryant Conant

Say what you want and be who you are because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

-Dr. Seuss

You cannot stop the birds of sorrow from landing on your shoulder, but you can prevent them nesting in your hair.

-Chinese proverb

Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.

-Winston Churchill

The discipline of writing something down is the first step towards making it happen.

-Lee Iacocca

The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer someone else up.

-Mark Twain

Our prime purpose in life is to help others. And if your can't help them, at least don't hurt them.

-Dalai Lama

It is better to have lived one day as a tiger than 1,000 years as a sheep.

-Tibetan proverb

If you want to be happy for a short time, get drunk; happy for a long time, fall in love; happy forever, take up gardening.

-Arthur Smith

DESIDERATA

GO placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with other, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy.

IF you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, or being lied about, don't deal in lies, or being hated, don't give way to hating, and yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools: If you can make one heap of all your winnings and risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, and lose, and start again at your beginnings and never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew to serve your turn long after they are gone, and so hold on when there is nothing in you except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!' If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds' worth of distance run, yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, and - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son! -Rudyard Kipling

Elaine's Trail of Thoughts — Travel Memoirs

Friday 20 March 2009