This may have been something to do with the chickens that were brought on by some of the locals (and which made Ash nearly jump out of his skin!). At the small town of Tiquina we all had to get off the bus and take a short boat trip across the Lake whilst the bus itself was loaded onto a barge and floated across the river!
After another hour on the smelly bus we began our descent into La Paz, which was breathtaking. The city is nestled in a bowl-shaped valley surrounded by huge snow-capped mountains (one of which is 6,402m high). As we travelled down into the city centre, we could see the buildings literally spilling down the mountainsides from the 4,800m altiplano to the valley floor some 800m below. La Paz also holds the title of 'highest capital city in the world' at 4,000m which is as high as some of the tallest mountains in the Alps. In the afternoon we wandered the streets and absorbed the culture. Our hotel was situated right near the Witches Market which sold some bizarre looking herbs and potions, along with dried llama foetuses which the locals bury under their porches for good luck. We were both a little disgusted!
On Tuesday we were up early to go mountain biking down the 'World's Most Dangerous Road', a trip that Ash's sister had bought us as a Christmas present. We chose a company called Gravity Biking for their excellent safety reputation. After a 50min bus journey up and out of La Paz we arrived at our starting point, 4,800m high up on the Andean Altiplano. We were given helmets, gloves, buffs, and protective clothing and each had a full suspension Kona mountain bike. 
After a safety briefing and an offering to Pachamama (Mother Earth) of 97% proof sugar cane liquor (plus a small, highly unpleasant glug for ourselves!) we began our downhill biking. The road itself is 64km long, descending from 4,800m to the Yungas jungle region at 1,100m. The first half of our biking was on tarmac, which we hurtled down at speeds of around 35mph, through a drugs checkpoint (!) until we reached the off-road part, the so called '
World's Most Dangerous Road' which continues down to the Yungas and the town of Coroico. The road is aptly named. At its narrowest point it is only 3.5m wide, is dusty and full or potholes, not to mention a sheer 600m drop off the side! There was a fatal automobile accident on the road every 2 weeks until March 2007, when the Bolivian Government decided they should build an alternative tarmac route because there were so many casualties! 
This decision was good for us as it meant we had the road pretty much to ourselves although it made the ride no less hairy!The off-roading was steep, twisty, fast and flowing and made for excellent mountain-biking (or so Ash said!). The scenery was also beautiful although we didn't have much chance to look at it as we were both concentrating hard on not biking off any cliffs! There were some sections
of uphill which were particularly hard work at 3,500m, but Ash blasted them. At one point on the uphill Ash started off at the back, rode with Bi for a while and then shot off, passed the 16 riders in our group in front, then some from another group, and sat waiting smugly at the top! 
As we descended further down it began to get much hotter, dustier and more humid. Bi, whilst enjoying the downhill bits wasn't too happy about the uphill, especially in the altitude and in the heat. Our group all had previous mountain biking experience (expect for Bi) so she did extremely well to keep up! We arrived at the bottom just after midday and had lunch in La Sende Verde, an animal sanctuary. A local volunteer 
showed us around the sanctary and we saw many monkeys, ocelots, coartis, macaws and a boa constrictor. As we sat eating our lunch a squirrel monkey jumped onto our table and stole a piece of bread! We returned to La Paz in the late afternoon, arriving back around 8pm where we both collapsed into bed. Ash has properly had his South American mountain biking fix now!
Unfortunately Wednesday was a bit of a write off. Bi woke up very unwell and remembering how unpleasant it had been last time in Ecuador we thought it was better to be safe so Ash phoned a Doctor recommended in the Lonely Planet guide book. Poor old Bi went back into a private hospital for two nights suffering with E-Coli food poisoning! Ash bumped into someone from the bike ride and he, along with the rest of the his group were all also sick. Ash was lucky not to become ill despite having eaten the same as everyone else! We were meant to fly to Sucre (second and judicial capital of Bolivia) this morning but with Bi in hospital that was not to be. Ash went into the City centre this morning to change the flights and was amazed to see that the flight had been cancelled due to a 24hr strike in Sucre... what amazing luck.. we would not have been going anyway! We think someone must be watching over us... although it is terrible Bi has been sick twice, on both occasions we have been somewhere where we have had access to good private medical facilities. Fortunately, Bi was not quite as ill as last time and after two days in hospital she is much improved and hoping to be out on Friday morning for our flight to Sucre. She has doctors orders to put on weight (having unintentionally lost 8kgs in 4 months) and has been advised to eat a piece of cake and some chocolate every single day.. seriously!! That is not something she thought she would ever hear in her lifetime but we are sure that once we hit Fiji and New Zealand getting back to normal will be very quick and easy for the both of us!! In any other circumstances we would now think that enough is enough but as we only have 7 days left in this part of the world (before we reach safe-eating Chile!), of which 4 days of that is a tour, we are determined to see out our time here in Bolivia.
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