Day 77: Bike challenge

It´s a bike ride like no other. On one side of the road, you have a 600-metre drop off a cliff. On the other, a vertical rock. No wonder its unofficial title is the world´s most dangerous road. It is unpaved and on its upper reaches the clouds hug the cliff edge. The scenery, if you dare take your eyes off the road, is breathtaking. But the crosses that line the route remind you that not everyone gets to the other end, most recently an Israeli backpacker, just last week.

THINGS I DIDN´T KNOW BEFORE TODAY
1. About 200 people on average died every year on this road, before a new road was constructed in 2006
2. Cars drive on the left, not the usual right, so that drivers going downhill can see the cliff edge
3. Eighteen cyclists, mostly backpackers have been killed going over the edge

Day 76: A lazy Saturday

To my surprise, I found a shopping centre in the city. Obviously beyond the means of most locals, it was very empty apart from the odd wealthy Bolivian family doing their Saturday clothes shopping.

Huge pictures of David Beckham and Ewen McGregor were in shop windows. And the sports pages of the national paper carried a story about Wayne Rooney being sought by Real Madrid.

THING I DIDN´T KNOW BEFORE TODAY
No country can escape the influence of Western culture

Day 75: Shouting buses

Another feature of La Paz is the shouting buses. The streets are full of vans that pick people up on every corner. Although they usually have a sign showing their destination, there is one person whose job it is to hang out the door, shouting out the names of the neighbourhoods ahead. Sometimes this person is a child of about 10, sometimes it is a woman holding a baby.

THINGS I DIDN´T KNOW BEFORE TODAY
1. Bolivia used to have a coastline but lost it in a war with Chile
2. It has also ceded territory to Brazil
3. Ecuador´s currency is US dollars

Day 74: Shoeshine boys

I´m very much a trainer person, but I wish I´d brought a pair of shoes with me, because shoe shiners can be found on every corner, and I bet they are real characters.

Some wear rather sinister masks. At first I thought this was to preserve their lungs but I was told it was because they were ashamed of having what is considered an undignified job.

Those with the full shoeshine stall seem to have a higher standing.

THINGS I DIDN´T KNOW BEFORE TODAY
1. Eight million Bolivian miners, mostly indigenous people, are thought to have died in the tin and silver mines of Potosi in the 17th and 18th Century
2. Some spent six months underground
3. Today 5,000 are working there, with a life expectancy of 40

Day 73: Fancy dress

Everything in this city is for sale in the street. It is one big marketplace. You will find a stall for staplers, one for toilet rolls and one, of course, for chicken skeletons.

Women set up shop on the pavement, dressed in traditional costume, complete with thick socks, skirt and bowler hat, carrying their wares in a big multicoloured shawl.

I have asked taxi drivers why it is that women dress traditionally but not men. One suggested it was because men in La Paz were more likely to have jobs that required shirt and trousers.

THINGS I DIDN´T KNOW BEFORE TODAY
1. The bowler hat worn by women was adopted from the British
2. And their skirt was once a symbol of Spanish oppression, but has now become a badge of pride in being indigenous
3. Even their traditional middle parting was imposed by the Spanish, and is still followed today

Day 72: Loving La Paz

Like crossing Sydney Harbour Bridge for the first time, or seeing Rio de Janeiro from Table Mountain, the first glimpse of La Paz, approaching by bus, is quite spectacular, sitting as it does in a bowl surrounded by Andean peaks.

THINGS I DIDN´T KNOW BEFORE TODAY
1. La Paz´s setting is unexpectedly "Wow"
2. Three-hour bus journeys cost only one pound
3. But so does a Snickers bar. Go figure

Day 71: Here comes the sun

Up at 4am to watch my first 360-degree sunrise, on the salt plain. There was a shimmering red on the horizon in every direction.

Passed a memorial to 14 people killed two years ago when two jeeps collided on the salt flats. It´s a reminder that safety standards are not always applied here. A few hours later, another backpacker told me his jeep driver had turned up drunk.

The tour finished in the small town of Uyuni, which has a graveyard of disused locomotives. Hope that´s not my train to La Paz.

THINGS I DIDN´T KNOW BEFORE TODAY
1. Bolivian kids are the cutest (sorry China)
2. Harry Enfield´s Kevin and Perry Go Mad In Ibiza was quite big in Israel

Day 70: Want salt with that?

El Salar de Uyuni is the largest salt flat in the world, covering more than 10,000 square kilometres and 10 metres deep. It is perhaps more famously the place where backpackers take funny pictures.

THINGS I DIDN´T KNOW BEFORE TODAY:
1. In Israel there are restaurants just for humus
2. Israelis learn Arabic at school
3. My teeth look really white in good lighting

More funny (and beautiful) photos of the salt flats HERE

This is the lovely Anna, who is Dutch. Outnumbered by eight Israelis, we both finished the tour fluent in Hebrew. (Thanks for the pic, Hagai)

Day 69: Altitude and Israelis

Hardly slept, because my head feels like it is in a vice, my heart is pounding and I´m ready to vomit. So this is what altitude sickness feels like. Everyone is feeling a bit ropey. And tonight we´ll be even higher.

But nothing can detract from what is around me. Bolivia is a country that looks like it´s been Photoshopped. So vivid are the colours that you are rubbing your eyes, wondering if they´ve been digitally enhanced. Spectacular.


Sharing a jeep with four Israelis means that while my eyes are feasting on the beauty of Bolivia, my ears are learning much about Israel. One of them joked that on leaving military service, all Israelis are handed a Lonely Planet guidebook and a map of South America (joke copyright Eli Cohen).

THINGS I DIDN´T KNOW BEFORE TODAY:
1. About 60% of Israel is desert
2. Everyone must do military service, but girls do less than boys (two years, not three)
3. Israelis eat a lot

More pics of the desert HERE

Day 68: The Big Tour

INGREDIENTS: Two jeeps, two drivers, one cook, eight Israelis, one Dutch, one Brit

RECIPE: Drive for 1,000 kilometres through the Bolivian Andes, up to 5,000 metres above sea level, passing volcanos, mountains, lakes and remote villages

SERVING SUGGESTION: Take plenty of coca leaves for altitude sickness, no showers, 4am starts

After nearly a full day of driving, and seeing no signs of settlement, only stunning views, we stopped off at the tiny village of Santa Pablo, where the houses were made of clay and the only living to be made is rearing llamas for their meat and fur. Equipped with a bag of lollipops, I spoke to a few boys aged between 12 and 16. They had never been to the nearest town and had never heard of England, but were interested to know how far it was.

We stopped for the night at another village. At 4,200m high, the simple act of taking my rucksack out of the van is enough to leave me panting for air. The bad news is that tomorrow we go even higher.

THINGS I DIDN´T KNOW BEFORE TODAY:
1. People with nothing can still be happy
2. Altitude makes you as breathless as people say it does

More pics of Santa Pablo HERE