Fear and Loathing in La Paz

The Cama bus was a great idea which resulted in us arriving in La Paz early in the morning feeling quite refreshed and excited. Viewing the city is quite unique as it is located in a depressed bowl below the altiplano (upper plateau). This means that you get a view of city below you as you descend into the downtown area. Thankfully we had acclimatised to the altitude and so did not feel uncomfortable in the highest capital city in the world.

We were booked into the Wild Rovers hostel. An Irish place with a notorious reputation for crazy parties.

Wikipedia:
"La Paz (meaning "The Peace" in Spanish) is the administrative capital of Bolivia. As of the 2001 census, the city of La Paz had a population of 789,585, and together with the neighboring cities of El Alto and Viacha, make the biggest urban area of Bolivia, with a population of over 1.6 million inhabitants. Located at an altitude of 3,660 metres (12,008 ft), it is the world's highest capital city."

The hostel is fairly large and we met some other travellers who we knew from our time in Iguazu. They raved about the great time they had so we got quite excited. We were conveniently located at an upper dormitory away from the bar and kitchen where most of the noise comes from every night.

A bunch of other people had also arrived that morning so we all teamed up and took a walk around the city starting at the famous "Witches Market". La Paz is a bustling city with narrow one-way streets that are permanently choked with traffic. People are moving everywhere and the streets are lined with small vendors selling "street food", a collection of fried foods, grains and just about anything that can be cooked on a small stove. This food is notorious for causing stomach issues with travellers so we steered clear despite the temptation!

I think this is the Parliamentary building where Evo Morales works

A riot in progress. They were chanting away and even firing off flares. We hot footed it away from the main bustle before turning around taking some pictures! Apparently they were car salesmen who were disgruntled at the new emissions law for vehicles. This meant they could not buy the cheap toxic spewing junk cars from Asia and the US anymore

The Witches Market is famous for its shops selling spiritual and voodoo artifacts and "natural" remedies. One of the most notable items that are for sale are Llama foetus´. These are used as offerings to bring good luck and prosperity. They were very very smelly and not very nice to look at! You can also get all sorts of remedies for ailments, most having bizarre ingredients. We decided to just look as nobody had an ailment serious enough to warrant a purchase of bat livers or frog eyes. There were also other shops around selling the standard travellers souvenirs which we weren´t interested in either.

A typical stall in the Witches market

Llama foetus anybody??

Just around the corner was the Coca museum which provided great insight into Bolivian culture. It documents how the coca plant is such an integral part of Bolivian culture and tradition, starting from when they needed the leaves to survive in the mines when the Spaniards used the locals as slave labour in the 1500-1700s. A large part of the animosity shared between Bolivia and the US is due to the US interference into the production and consumption of coca. As it is the main ingredient for cocaine the US tried to restrict production by imposing sanctions on any countries that did not halt supply. Coca had become part of Bolivian culture (not for cocaine) and this interference was deemed oppressive. Now the new president Evo Morales, a leftist, is pro-coca and the situation may become sticky!

The exhibit even included its own drug addict! He is holding his fix in his hand. Sources inform me that he was actually holding a bit of sugar.

Alan (Canada) and me enjoying a cheeky mid-morning shot of Johnny Walker Red Label

Anyway I digress. After the museum we booked ourselves a cycling trip on the Road of Death in a few days and went back to the hostel to relax. The main bar was quite festive and just about every person spoke English (all the bar staff are Irish). Several beers later we took a taxi to a club called Malegria that played a lot of Samba drums which was quite fun.

From left to right, Steve (Eng), Helene, Matt (Eng), Anne-marie (Netherlands), me, Riverdance

Friday started off with us watching some 6 nations rugby games. Our big event of the day was to visit the famed San Pedro prison. Mel had given me the book "Marching Powder" as a farewell present. The book is an account of a British cocaine smuggler, Thomas McFadden, who was caught and locked up in the prison for 6 years. This prison operates unlike any other prison I have ever heard of! Now getting into the prison wasn´t exactly legal but as for a lot of things in Bolivia, corruption rules. Common knowledge was that if you sat outside the prison in the adjacent plaza, a person would come and collect you to do a prison tour. We sat around the plaza San Pedro for about 30 minutes with about 30 other tourists. It must have looked the most blatant thing in the world with every bench occupied by white foreigners all staring intently at the prison entrance! Nonetheless, as we were told, a chap came out and signaled us all to follow him. He then took us all into the prison through the front entrance where we payed a fee of 250 Bolivianos (25 GBP). Once inside there were no more prison guards at all. We were met by our tour guide, Luis Felipe, a Portuguese guy who had also been caught smuggling cocaine. As he spoke English, he could work as tour guide. We also had several "bodyguards" who were all prisoners.

Pinos Section - this is one of the more affluent sections and where Luis lived

Luis Felipe, our Portuguese drug-smuggling guide

Working out in prison. I did over a 1000. I got the deep burn

Alamos Section - This is where Thomas McFadden (Marching Powder) lived

Now this all sounds really dodgy and unwise but in reality this tour has been in place for over 6 years and, as you will see, it is in the prisoner´s interest to keep the tourists safe. Luis Felipe went onto explain how the prison works which matches what the book mentions. San Pedro prison does not receive any government support at all. Prison cells are viewed as property where they can be bought and sold and even renovated! In San Pedro, the more money you have, the more power you have. In other words it works just like a mini-economy. We saw children and wives there with their inmate husbands, cooking and cleaning. The prison is also separated into sections (much like neighbourhoods). Some sections are more affluent and safer than others where in order to live there you need to buy a cell for up to $1000. You can buy TVs, a kitchen... anything you want really. We were shown around some of the better sections such as Pinos and Alamos. They all looked very different and had their own atmosphere. Luis explained to us that in order to live in there you needed to make a living. There were shops (run by inmates) that sold sweets and soft drinks. There were restaurants and hairdressers and even schools. Each section had a leader and there were even "guards" in uniform who were inmates! The underlying for this economy is a bit more sinister. It is said to be one of the biggest cocaine factories in Bolivia where a lot of inmates deep inside the prison manufacture and sell to the outside world in order to bring in money. For this reason there was enough cash to support the economy. All in all the place was absolutely fascinating. After the tour we were led out back into the real world where it suddenly struck us all that we had been walking around a prison that contained many violent criminals. Despite this we had felt almost totally safe at all times there.

The prison was right in the city centre. Washing was dried on the rooftops!

Water got heated by dipping two live electrical wires in a bucket. Health and safety violation right there for you

Luis and two inmates in their "cells"

One of many small shops - you can buy ice-cream, corn and medical supplies.

Inside one of the restaurants where we were given some unappetising cake.

The Kitchen - apparently all the inmates who broke prison "rules" were sent to work here as punishment. Incredibly smelly and not somewhere I would ever consider eating from

An inmate who made figures out of copper wiring. The Dragon in the back took him over 3 months to complete!

Cancha Section. This section is the only place where you can play football. The section makes money by renting out a space for teams to play or practice

This section had its own garden which it maintained


Section San Martin - this is the infamous pool mentioned in the book Marching Powder

Marie with a prison "guard". This guy is actually an inmate but has been assigned a job as a guard. He even has a uniform and a baton!

Back at the hostel at 7pm the music in the bar started blaring and everyone started drinking. We popped out to a restaurant called the "Star of India" for a cheeky curry where Helene ate the hottest Vindaloo curry they had, earning herself a t-shirt! We went out to a bar called Traffic with a big bunch of friends including Matt (Eng), Annemarie (Netherlands), Carolyn (Eng) and her brother Steve (Eng). We even managed to make it to an afterparty at a bar called Route 36 which took us into the early hours. Saturday was a relaxed affair although we did go out for a few drinks to celebrate Matt´s birthday.


On Sunday I went to check out the infamous Cholitas Wrestling. Latin American luchadores (wrestlers) went at each other in a WWF re-enactment. It was very amusing despite the acting being very painfull at times and not all the punches seemed to make actual contact! Top moments included a dude wearing a Jason costume from Friday 13th beating the crap out of a girl with chairs and metal railings! There was also Spiderman flying off the top rope, midgets and two Zombie dudes, carrying huge hunks of real, stinking meat, clobbering everyone (including the crowd)!

Spidey off the top rope!

Midgets got some action in too. These are female Cholita wrestlers

A freaky looking Mickey Mouse midget and his tag team buddy

Carrying a hunk of real stinky meat

Mountain Biking
Monday was the day to test ourselves on the Road of Death. The below sums it up quite nicely:

"Starting high in the rarefied air of the Bolivian Andes, the steep and bumpy La Paz-to-Coroico road plunges down almost 3,600 meters on its spectacular 64-km path to the lush, sub-tropical Yungas and the sleepy town of Coroico. The narrow -- occasionally very narrow -- track hugs the walls of the sheer valley as it snakes its way beneath waterfalls and rocky overhangs. A fatal accident every fortnight is not uncommon on the Coroico road."

At the top of the hill

The description is pretty much spot on. We were with a company called Downhill Madness, one of the first biking tour operators and by all accounts very professional and safety oriented. That morning we were shown our hi-tech double suspension bikes and fitted with over-trousers, gloves, helmets and goggles. We were then ferried up to the Altiplano to the top of the road at La Cumbre. Our main guide Hector went through several safety procedures before taking us down the first leg. Our initial descent was overlooking a cloud choked green valley on paved roads. Even though technically we were meant to "test" our bikes on this section, a large amount of people decided to fly down at top speed (myself included). We hit around 60kph which was very exhilirating! We were on the new paved road that had been built in response to the amount of vehicles launching off the side of the original Death road.

Descending into the Coroico valley

Click to view the video

We reached the end of the paved section and took a break before getting into the seriously dangerous stuff. Once everybody was happy with their bikes and equipment we moved on in 4 separate groups of varying speeds. Being the reckless individual I am, I decided on going fast with the lead guide. We went very fast! The road is all loose gravel and averages around 3 metres wide. On your right is a cliff face and a ditch. On your left is an almost vertical drop into the jungle below. The drop varies between 100m and 600m!

The Death Road. 3 metres wide

That was a 600 metre drop off the edge

We passed under a few waterfalls and got soaked. Then as everything was going well for me, something locked my gears. All I remember is flying over my handlebars and crashing several times on the road. After a moment of disorientation and dizziness I realised I was still alive although quite battered. My right arm from the elbow to the shoulder was badly scraped as was some of my back and knees. My helmet was a write-off with the entire visor being crushed! After a few minutes rest and a bit of medical aid (iodine disinfectant to the scrapes which stung like hell!) I was back on the bike again with a slightly more cautious attitude.

Lunch Break

Getting soaked under a waterfall

Riverdance showing no fear of the water crossing

The aftermath

As we reached the end in the town of Coroico, we took count and tallied a full complement of survivors. We were taxied up to a local hotel for a buffet lunch and a swim in their pool before returning to La Paz. All in all a fantastic day out!

The next day was the 17th of March... St Patrick´s Day. When you are staying in an Irish Party Hostel you know you are going to be in trouble when this day comes around. I however managed to largely dodge it due to an upset stomach picked up from the buffet lunch the previous day. Marie and Helene left in the morning for Lake Titicaca and Cuzco, leaving me to fend for myself in bed and feeling awfully sorry for myself. Riverdance was excellent company. She would come give me hourly visits (with a shot of whiskey) and updates about how the party was going. It was amusing to see her drunken state intensify with each visit (although she did maintain a very ladylike demeanor throughout)! I did manage to make it out for a whiskey or 2 and had a good time.

Riverdance and Alan knocking back some baby Guinness shots

I must admit that this is a completely staged picture. I felt AWFUL and went to sleep promptly after this was taken!

I felt much better the next day but still had to be careful what I ate! One of our final meals was shared with Steve and Carolyn from the UK. We went to Jackie Chan´s Chinese restaurant in downtown La Paz which was actually pretty good despite our initial hesitations.

I was dead-set on doing the Pampas tour from La Paz... this involved a flight to the town of Rurrenabaque in the Amazon jungle where you went boating around viewing the wildlife, hunting for anacondas (really... I saw pictures!!), swimming with pink dolphins and catching piranhas. Sounds amazing right! The only problem I had was that all the flights there were getting cancelled due to the large amount of rain falling. I kept my booking until the last possible moment until I realised I would miss my Cuzco appointment with Britters and Machu Piccu. I very sadly cancelled my booking and arranged a bus to the town of Copacabana on the shores of Lake Titicaca. It was also on this day that I bid farewell to my travel companion for the last 2 and a half months. Riverdance will be meeting up with her friend Sarah and spending some time in the Bolivian jungle (me = jealous). We will however be meeting again in Colombia in around 3 weeks. Let us hope that Adam can keep it together until then! Will be meeting Britters who has my debit card so hopefully my cash flow issues will stop!

So now I am ready to leave La Paz. What a fantastic place but I will be glad to move on.