When we came to La Paz on the 23rd of January, we checked in at adventure brew hostel. Included in the 49 bolivianos pr. night you get pancake breakfast and a free localy brewed draft beer every night. We arrived in the evening and went for our free beer and decided to sleep early.
The next day we went to book our trip on the Death Road. The tour agent told us that today was a special day. It was the day of abundance (Alasitas). Many bolivians go to the market and buy stuff in miniature such as houses, cars and money. Then they go to get it blessed and hopefully the miniature will help you get what you want one day. This is what we did. We bought some money and different stuff and went to an old lady with a small fire in front of her. She took my money and placed them in a plastic bag that she gave back to me. Then she made a lot of smoke and made my hands and money fload over it while she yelled stuff out to bless me. She threw in different kinds of flowers in the bag, threw salt over me and stuffed some kind of alcohol in my mouth with her finger. We all went through this amazing blessing and recevied fake dollar bills from locals since that is considered to also bring you luck in the future. A very special day, just once a year at 12:00pm. That was pretty good timing :)
In the evening all five of us went to the cinema to watch the Hobbit. Huge room but only about 10 other people than us in there, since the movie was in english.
We woke up early on the 25th to do the Death Road. The Death Road is considered to be the world most dangerous road and probably for this reason it became a big tourist attraction to do a biketrip on the road. First we went to the tour company to get our breakfast and equipment. Then we were driven up to around 4700 meters altitude where we got instructions and our bikes. The first part of the trip is around 20km on a normal road down the mountain. This is the part were you need to go as fast as you can! I've never biked that fast in my life.
After this you go to the Death Road for about 40km and down to the altitude of 1200 meters. At first it is a bit difficult. Your hands are shaking a lot because you have to hold on to the handlebars and the brakes. This starts to hurt after a while. The road is a rush though. It is great fun and amazing views. You have a lot of stops to wait for everyone and enjoy the views which was great. We even drove under a few small waterfalls. At the end of the trip we had a beer and a great lunch buffet. You need to bring insect repellent since there is tons of nasty mosquitoes or something similar that bites you. These bites are small but itches a lot!
We had to rush back to town since we had a bus to catch. We were off to Sucre at 8:00pm and the trip back to town would take around 3-3,5 hour, which meant we would miss our bus. Fortunately our tipsy driver and drunken guide insured us that they could make it in two hours and so they did. On the mountain road in extreme fogs, they rushed back to town and left us 2 minutes from our hostel. We got our stuff and made it to the bus, which turned out to be 20 minutes late anyway.
My bloodsugar on the Death Road was easy to control. I brought a snack in my pocket just in case, but it wasn't necessary. You barely use any energy on the trip, since it is just down hill and you don't actually need to bike. You just need to hold on to your bike and that's all. Remember that you go from 4700 meters to just 1200 meters, where you will have your lunch. The big difference in altitude probably means you need a bit less insulin for the lunch.
The next day we went to book our trip on the Death Road. The tour agent told us that today was a special day. It was the day of abundance (Alasitas). Many bolivians go to the market and buy stuff in miniature such as houses, cars and money. Then they go to get it blessed and hopefully the miniature will help you get what you want one day. This is what we did. We bought some money and different stuff and went to an old lady with a small fire in front of her. She took my money and placed them in a plastic bag that she gave back to me. Then she made a lot of smoke and made my hands and money fload over it while she yelled stuff out to bless me. She threw in different kinds of flowers in the bag, threw salt over me and stuffed some kind of alcohol in my mouth with her finger. We all went through this amazing blessing and recevied fake dollar bills from locals since that is considered to also bring you luck in the future. A very special day, just once a year at 12:00pm. That was pretty good timing :)
In the evening all five of us went to the cinema to watch the Hobbit. Huge room but only about 10 other people than us in there, since the movie was in english.
We woke up early on the 25th to do the Death Road. The Death Road is considered to be the world most dangerous road and probably for this reason it became a big tourist attraction to do a biketrip on the road. First we went to the tour company to get our breakfast and equipment. Then we were driven up to around 4700 meters altitude where we got instructions and our bikes. The first part of the trip is around 20km on a normal road down the mountain. This is the part were you need to go as fast as you can! I've never biked that fast in my life.
After this you go to the Death Road for about 40km and down to the altitude of 1200 meters. At first it is a bit difficult. Your hands are shaking a lot because you have to hold on to the handlebars and the brakes. This starts to hurt after a while. The road is a rush though. It is great fun and amazing views. You have a lot of stops to wait for everyone and enjoy the views which was great. We even drove under a few small waterfalls. At the end of the trip we had a beer and a great lunch buffet. You need to bring insect repellent since there is tons of nasty mosquitoes or something similar that bites you. These bites are small but itches a lot!
We had to rush back to town since we had a bus to catch. We were off to Sucre at 8:00pm and the trip back to town would take around 3-3,5 hour, which meant we would miss our bus. Fortunately our tipsy driver and drunken guide insured us that they could make it in two hours and so they did. On the mountain road in extreme fogs, they rushed back to town and left us 2 minutes from our hostel. We got our stuff and made it to the bus, which turned out to be 20 minutes late anyway.
My bloodsugar on the Death Road was easy to control. I brought a snack in my pocket just in case, but it wasn't necessary. You barely use any energy on the trip, since it is just down hill and you don't actually need to bike. You just need to hold on to your bike and that's all. Remember that you go from 4700 meters to just 1200 meters, where you will have your lunch. The big difference in altitude probably means you need a bit less insulin for the lunch.
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