La Paz

In La Paz, our hostel was in the Rosario district, close to alot of restaurants and shops - a fairly touristy area.

Early this morning, most of us headed off to cycle down Death Road, the most dangerous road in the world. After getting kitted out and having a short briefing, we headed off for about 20 miles of downhill on asphalt - nice and fast, with lots of tight corners - although there was other traffic using the road too.

The views from the ride were stunning, despite needing to concentrate hard on where we were going - alot of the road didn´t have barriers on the cliff edge. In what seemed like no time, we´d finished the tarmac section and were heading off on the dirt track. For the most part, it was simply a single track road; you could only ride in one of the tyre tracks, which made overtaking other cyclists potentially difficult.

The first lef was much slower, and more dangerous, so i was riding with the brakes on about half the time - yet I was still one of the fastest. As the day went on, I became gradually more confident, speeding up and gettnig mroe comfortable. Despite the sheer cliffs just a metre or less from where I was riding, I found myself mre worried about falling onto the gravel than over the edge!

After about three hours of downhill, we rolled into Yolosa village, at 1200m above sea level (we´d started at over 4000m), where we had a small uphill section, at the top of which was the end of the trip, and lunch.

Following a straightforward buffet lunch, we headed back up Death Road in the minibus (far more terrifying than cycling down it!), arriving back at the hostel at 6.30 with a commemorative T-Shirt and DVD.

Since it was (almost) Silvana´s 27th Birthday, and it was the last day of the tour, we all went out, planning a big night. Those that didnt do the biking had picked up a birthday cake and managed to sneak it to the restaurant, which was a nice Pan-Asian place, where Vikki and I shared chicken-filled egg rolls and vegetable spring rolls for starters, followed by Chicken Tikka Massalla and what was supposed to be Pad Thai.

After dinner, where Silvana had been moved to tears by the card and cake, we headed to Mongo´s, apparently "the" backpacker hangout in La Paz. It was pretty good, with good music, but it was relatively expensive compared to elsewhere in Bolivia. When it filled up, however, it was absolutely packed and fairly uncomfortable so we headed to a Salsa club around the corner. Most of us didn´t stay that late, however, and after a little dancing I headed home at about 2am I think.