16 Jan Up and out at 5.45am this morning to go bike ride the `Worlds most dangerous road´. The road runs downhill 64km from a place called `La Cumbre´ to `Yolasa´ which is about 95km away from La Paz. We descended from a height of 4640m down to 3345m. Our first stage was along tarmac through the thick mountain top fog onto gravel mountain roads as wide as a country lane. The roads edge dropped 1000´s of feet with no protection, as we flew down. We had state of the art mountain bikes with thick tyres and front and rear suspension that just chewed road. It was savage craic. Also known as the `Death road´ there are lots of crosses in memory of people that met their maker along the way. We saw trucks down the sides of mountains and somebody told me they saw a bus too. We blazed through mud, rivers, waterfalls, jumps, gravel bends and avoiding oncoming traffic. It was a pity it had to end and we seriously thought about doing it again.
17 Jan We decided to go to La Paz prison Aka San Pedro Penitentary for the guided tour. The tours are given by the prisioners. Its all unofficial, off the record and E25 bribe must be paid to the guards to get in. Once inside you need to hire a bodyguard as you mingle with the hardcore of Bolivian prisioners. We were shown around different districts (the more you can pay the better the accommodation/district you can live in), the Kitchens, courtyards, gyms, football pitch.... There were shops, restaurants, repair shops and little factories making toy cars, crafts and another making cocaine powder. Its not a conventional prison arrangement, its a town in its self that you live in and make your own way. The guards dont move from the exits. The inmates are allowed their wives and children to come and go freely and some even live there. Our guide was full of shit and a bit of a nutcase but we saw what we wanted to see. Frog did his usual Nude pose in the prison showeroom whilst bending over to pick up a bar of soap. He had the onlooking inmate in stiches laughing, obviously a new one on them. We bought sweets for the children and cigarettes for the inmates beforehand and handed these out to the ones that allowed you to photograph them. They all had their hands out for them as we walked around. The experience was somewhat enjoyable and very fulfilling to see the place in action. We spent 2 hours there and Id hate to be there any longer. As I sat in the Moroccan restaurant that night eating lovely food, I couldnt help thinking about all those young men with lost faces loitering around some of them with 1000 year sentences for drug offences. They will never know a normal life again.
18 Jan Quiet day today. Was raining most of the day and thankfully the hostel had internet and a good collection of DVDs. There was a Mexican night in the hostel and for E3.50 we had a great feed of tacos and salad. Afterwards, there was a quiz, which we came joint first and enjoyed a complimentary jug of beer.
19 Jan Up at 5.30am and were collected for our 3 day boat cruise to Rurrenbaque. We said our goodbyes to Caroline, who is flying to Peru to meet her mother. Our bus journey to the boat took 12 hours and had a few scheduled and unscheduled stops. The rainy season is in full swing in the rainforest areas and we came across 3 landslides, the first of which held us up for over an hour. We watched the rocks falling down and although most were small, they fell at such force that they would kill a person and severly damage a car if a direct hit were made. The other 2 were in the advanced stages of being cleared. At another point the road had been washed away and we were stopped for a while whilst the driver worked out how best to cross. I made a bridge out of a couple of logs and the driver had us all get off the bus and cross ourselves to lighten his load and maximise his chances of getting across. It worked and was great craic to watch. Due to all our delays, we missed out 5.30pm boat down the river to our campsite. We were put up in a (E2 p.n.) rural hotel for the night which was a dump. Liz had a nest of insects in her ceiling, another lad had a leak from his ceiling onto his bed and I discovered creepy crawlies on mine. I lit my mozzie coils and put them under my bed to kill the bugs before heading out for the evening. No sign of the little feckers when I came back.
20 Jan Up and out at 7am and onto our boat. It was a timber vessel about 30ft long, we had no life jackets and the river was running at full throttle with all the rain over the past 24 hours. We bobbed and weaved down the river avoiding swirls, logs and waves. After 1 stop in a tiny village for a toilet stop we got to Puerto Carmen for our overnight stop. This is a remote community of only 13 people and for a few bob, they allow us pitch our tents for the night, cook our food and do a couple of Jungle walks. After lunch we set off on our 3 hour Jungle trek. We saw different types of ants, trees, nests, medicinal and poisonous plants. At the half way point we went Piranha fishing with raw beef baited to our hooks. The guides helpers had to hack a passageway through the jungle with a machete knife to the waterside. With great excitement and anticipation we threw in our hooks, but to no avail. We caught nothing.
The Jungle is a complete bug infested place with all kinds of things landing on you, flying around you and wanting a free meal. Any standing around for a few seconds invites them to dinner and swatting and swishing becomes a full time job. That night we went back into the Jungle on a night walk to see noctural creatures and listen to the Jungle chorus at night. Didnt see much.
21 Jan Headed off downstream again to Mandiki national park. We went on another 3 hour jungle walk where we saw Mackaws (parrott like birds) & wild Turkeys, We also saw a few interesting plants and trees. After that we headed to Rurrenbaque, a nice small town where we checked into a nice hotel (E5pn) and had a good meal in a local restaurant.
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