La Paz (Bolivia)

After breaking down in the middle of nowhere twice, we arrived in La Paz late and very tired. Leaving us just enough time to find a hotel and to go and see the Bolivian wrestling. This was one of the weirdest experiences of the trip and involved men, traditionally dressed Bolivian women, dwarfs and someone dressed as Rafael Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle wrestling in a ring. The costumes looked as if they were made at home that afternoon and the crowd got involved by throwing whatever they could find into the ring at whoever was closest. Strangely entertaining.

Another tour that had been recommended to us whilst we were in La Paz was the prison tour. La Paz prison is run from the inside with the prisoners establishing their own community and hierarchy. With the guards outside turning a blind eye the inmates are able to run guided tours to the tourists waiting outside the prison gates. This however was soon scrapped when I turned on the news to see guards on top of the prison walls (they don`t have guards inside the prison) firing shot guns and gas into the prison.

An arguably safer alternative was mountain biking down the worlds most dangerous road, which was given the name in 1995 by the Inter-American Development Bank christened due to the high number of motorists who have persihed over the cliff edge over the years. This turned out to be one of the best days of the trip, going as fast or as slow as you like down a bending gravel road from a high altitude (again snowing at the top). A bonus was that we managed to get our tour for half the price of many of the others. The equipment was arguably not as good (one of my gears didn´t work) but it was all down hill so all you need is good brakes.