3,4,5/8/2013 La Paz
Fine, hot days, not overly cold evenings
Well we are getting fairly acquainted with La Paz now. Our alojamiento is very central to everthing or almost so.
The main tourist street Sagárnaga is full on tour operators and any number of shops some tiny, selling all sorts of goods people travelling by vehicles and land can buy.
Quite by chance sauntering along I found an elusive resistencia, the ultimate item for boiling just one cup of water.
Since having bought it we are saving heaps of Bencina, it will be perfect for motel rooms.
One tour shop here sells bencina at $15 a litre, from my point of view he can keep it.
Blatant robbery!, best describes his price. With the resistencia we will probably have enough to last 3 weeks. Then it's onto using petrol.
We went hunting for a bike shop to sort Deirdres spoke problem out.
The best we could find was a guy selling chinese bikes. Anyway he was a fantastic help.
The cassette on Deirdres bike had never been removed. Loosening was like trying to get a hermit crab out of its home without breaking the shell.
Anyway the guy used an old chain to start with, both of us holding didn’t work. We had it connected to a loop of steel in the concrete to lock his shop roller door.
We ripped this thing clean apart at its weld.
He then went next door to get a proper cassette spanner. This would work, he then went to get two pieces of pipe to give us more purchase. At last we cracked the bugger.
Back home I tried to true the wheel, it was way out, the running around town to the motel had really buckled it.
We needed a pro bike shop.
That night Deirdre had a lot of visits to the ensuite loo for a series of oral and anal purgings.
It was a busy night for her as I only too well know, having been practised myself.
The next day she was no better.
I headed out to Calacoto, a suburb for the upwardly mobile.
It was a nice area, had a good feel about it , nice houses etc. Here was a bike shop on the corner of Calle 11 and Av. Sanchez Susutamante, T. 59122790515. The guy there was super helpful, he trued the wheel, it took some time.
I also got a new cassette, the one Deierdre had was almost worn out.
A bunch of spare spokes were bought along with some new sunnys for me.
A supermarket was located stocked with things one has grown up with and become used too.
Things like, good ground coffee, chocolate powder, maggi soups, etc.
We had booked to go to a live performance by a popular traditional musician Yuri Ortuño and his band, it was at the 168 year old Alberto Saaverda Perez Theatre.
Deirdre was still dodgy, we headed along together, she then started getting nauseas and had to head home. We headed back together, I still had time to see the show.
Luckily managing to sell her ticket at the door.
The theatre was such a pleasure, Deirdre had booked seats 8 from the front. There were 3 levels of stalls.
Some women in lovely pastel blue traditional dresses with bowler type hats were in the front row. They got lots of attention from the perormer much to the pleasure of the crowd.
The band included 5 guitarists, drummer and a guy on the pan flute.
The crowd really got going.
The pan flute led proceedings when things really reached a climax in many songs. It is such an emotion evoking instrument.p
The player was so talented. Yuri had such a strong but warm voice.
It was great to spend a night with a bit of culture among middle to upper class Bolivianos.
Each day Deirdre is heading down to the clinic. They are really obliging to be administering this vaccine for almost no cost. She said it was something like $200 a shot in Canada.
Once vaccinated, she will be bullet proof when it comes to any future canine conflict.
Today Sunday we headed over to the supermarket, bought stores and generally just hung about.
Always on a visit to town sees us buying a salteña each, an unreal pastry filled with a sweet spicy sauce with chicken or beef and some vegetables. They oare for sale on many corners.
The internet is very slow here due to getting overloaded. I feel from now on till we get to Chile, up loading photos to this site will be time consuming to a point where it is not worth it. Right now I am in the reception at 0430 just to get this sorted.
Deirdre is still not 100%.
Well the 5th , Deirdre has now been visiting the toilet for 4 days and has not been out of bed much.
She was not at all well.
Her weight loss is also of concern.
Today we went to the doctor. He has prescribed Siprol among a couple of other effervescent drinks to have.
He also gave her an injection to reduce the nausea.
He did go on to say the 5 days of shots may have been part of the cause, though more likely street food.
We had lunch in a comfort food restaurant as she calls it, western food.
An hour later she was kneeling at the loo.
I know what it is like, it is awful. You slowly get weaker and weaker.
Anyway after visiting the doctor things have improved slightly.
She is even contemplating going home from here. She is fearful of getting sick again .
She feels she is holding me up with the bike problems and all.
She is, but we are in this together and that has to be thought about. I am giving her as much encouragement as possible.
I kind of thought she was bullet proof after her efforts in Peru. This kind of health problem can bring the best of us back to earth.
Today the 6th, I decided to ride down the so called death road here from town.
It would be a good opportunity for Deirdre to rest further.
Heading off at 0700 clad in my sandals, longs and a few layers, it was 24 km to the top of the range east of town.
Up here at a lake there were many mini vans unloading tour group bikes from their rooves.
For a couple of hours my feet were not part of me they were so frozen. My hands were not much better.
I had under estimated the cold up there.
Though I knew things would warm up rapidly on the descent.
Asking one of the guides about the road. The deal was they ride down the asphalt to a point where another small climb begins. From here about 6km the turn off to the old road begins and it is all the way down to Coroico, some 50km on gravel.
I was absolutely freezing coming off the top, though had no choice but to roll on and wait for things to warm up.
At the turn off was a small tienda serving soups, a hearty vegetable and wheat soup was enjoyed. Heading to the turnoff, a tour van came by, this confirmed that it was indeed the right road.
Just down a bit, the van had stopped. The guide asked me to join the briefing. Luckily I did, as the rules of the road say that those going down keep left, opposite of the general road rule here.
Well, the old touring bike unloaded without suspension was a full on bone shacking affair all the way to the bottom.
It was all about concentrating, I let air from the tyres to ease the bumps.
The guide and I stopped half way down together and had a yarn.
He told me of a guide not long ago taking photos of his charges. He stepped back a
bit and fell over the edge. Tourists on bikes have also come to grief.
The road is as dangerous as you want to make it.
It is well maintained as it is such a money spinner with some 150 plus cyclists on it every day. Not much other traffic was present.
The views, though impressive, were not as stunning as many other mountain roads ridden.
All the young tourists on the suspension equipped bikes were flying down. All they probably knew was the sky was blue, the forest green and the road brown!!
Me with my speed I had time to notice orchids, bromeliads, sheer drop offs and some spectacular waterfalls that were pretty much mist falling on the road. Forty odd years age difference tends to do this to you.
Time was spent with an Austrian guy who was riding up the range. He had a good set up with a solar panel on the back of his bike.
All the way down the temperature increased till it was close to 30°, it was nice to be back in the warmth. La Paz is about 4000m and this town was 1500m.
My feet had been back with me for some time now.
Deirdre had given me some salmon jerky for my birthday, this was savored on the way down at intervals.
Once at the bottom, in a pueblito below Coroico, I hastily grabbed a spot on a mini van back to La Paz.
It was great only four of us in it and my bike.
It was a race back, at least that’s what the driver thought. We were back in La Paz before dark. He turned a 3 hour trip into 2, partly due to lack of traffic. Also the relentless need to pass every car encountered, sleeping eased the anxiety of created by his driving habits. I had about 5km to ride to the hotel.
Today was Independence Day in Bolivia.
On arrival here, Deirdre had been in the improve all day and was in much better spirits.
It’s good to see her getting back to normal.
7th August
Deirdre was now well on the mend, although still a bit weak. Though, importantly she had her appetite back.
We were still concerned about her back wheel shedding spokes.
I had spoken with a guide on the mountain yesterday.
He was from Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking.
They had a workshop here in La Paz.
So in the morning I took her rear wheel in .
They guys there were really informative and knew what they were on about.
They must have had 60 odd bikes in there for repair, their own bikes. Mainly all the Kona brand.
They found the spokes were too tight in the wheel, so all were loosened, some nipples replaced and the wheel trued with the spokes set not as tight.
We now both feel better about it.
Other than that we just relaxed, I had a haircut and visited an art gallery.
An evening meal of steak was enjoyed at a western setup.
It was Deirdres call for dinner.
Tomorrow we will leave here .
We have spoken at length about our situation.
If she is not feeling 100% in the morning she will stay and fly home.
If on the road she feels unwell, she will return to La Paz and do the same.
It is important that I am in Patagonia for the beginning of the southern hemisphere summer . I also have a commitment to meet my son Callum in Santiago in early November.
This decision has been hard but we both know it is the reality of our predicament.
I am unable to spend time not moving south due to foreseen circumstances.
Deirdre understands this and does not want to restrict my travels any further.
Fine, hot days, not overly cold evenings
Well we are getting fairly acquainted with La Paz now. Our alojamiento is very central to everthing or almost so.
The main tourist street Sagárnaga is full on tour operators and any number of shops some tiny, selling all sorts of goods people travelling by vehicles and land can buy.
Quite by chance sauntering along I found an elusive resistencia, the ultimate item for boiling just one cup of water.
Since having bought it we are saving heaps of Bencina, it will be perfect for motel rooms.
One tour shop here sells bencina at $15 a litre, from my point of view he can keep it.
Blatant robbery!, best describes his price. With the resistencia we will probably have enough to last 3 weeks. Then it's onto using petrol.
We went hunting for a bike shop to sort Deirdres spoke problem out.
The best we could find was a guy selling chinese bikes. Anyway he was a fantastic help.
The cassette on Deirdres bike had never been removed. Loosening was like trying to get a hermit crab out of its home without breaking the shell.
Anyway the guy used an old chain to start with, both of us holding didn’t work. We had it connected to a loop of steel in the concrete to lock his shop roller door.
We ripped this thing clean apart at its weld.
He then went next door to get a proper cassette spanner. This would work, he then went to get two pieces of pipe to give us more purchase. At last we cracked the bugger.
Back home I tried to true the wheel, it was way out, the running around town to the motel had really buckled it.
We needed a pro bike shop.
That night Deirdre had a lot of visits to the ensuite loo for a series of oral and anal purgings.
It was a busy night for her as I only too well know, having been practised myself.
The next day she was no better.
I headed out to Calacoto, a suburb for the upwardly mobile.
It was a nice area, had a good feel about it , nice houses etc. Here was a bike shop on the corner of Calle 11 and Av. Sanchez Susutamante, T. 59122790515. The guy there was super helpful, he trued the wheel, it took some time.
I also got a new cassette, the one Deierdre had was almost worn out.
A bunch of spare spokes were bought along with some new sunnys for me.
A supermarket was located stocked with things one has grown up with and become used too.
Things like, good ground coffee, chocolate powder, maggi soups, etc.
We had booked to go to a live performance by a popular traditional musician Yuri Ortuño and his band, it was at the 168 year old Alberto Saaverda Perez Theatre.
Deirdre was still dodgy, we headed along together, she then started getting nauseas and had to head home. We headed back together, I still had time to see the show.
Luckily managing to sell her ticket at the door.
The theatre was such a pleasure, Deirdre had booked seats 8 from the front. There were 3 levels of stalls.
Some women in lovely pastel blue traditional dresses with bowler type hats were in the front row. They got lots of attention from the perormer much to the pleasure of the crowd.
The band included 5 guitarists, drummer and a guy on the pan flute.
The crowd really got going.
The pan flute led proceedings when things really reached a climax in many songs. It is such an emotion evoking instrument.p
The player was so talented. Yuri had such a strong but warm voice.
It was great to spend a night with a bit of culture among middle to upper class Bolivianos.
Each day Deirdre is heading down to the clinic. They are really obliging to be administering this vaccine for almost no cost. She said it was something like $200 a shot in Canada.
Once vaccinated, she will be bullet proof when it comes to any future canine conflict.
Today Sunday we headed over to the supermarket, bought stores and generally just hung about.
Always on a visit to town sees us buying a salteña each, an unreal pastry filled with a sweet spicy sauce with chicken or beef and some vegetables. They oare for sale on many corners.
The internet is very slow here due to getting overloaded. I feel from now on till we get to Chile, up loading photos to this site will be time consuming to a point where it is not worth it. Right now I am in the reception at 0430 just to get this sorted.
Deirdre is still not 100%.
Well the 5th , Deirdre has now been visiting the toilet for 4 days and has not been out of bed much.
She was not at all well.
Her weight loss is also of concern.
Today we went to the doctor. He has prescribed Siprol among a couple of other effervescent drinks to have.
He also gave her an injection to reduce the nausea.
He did go on to say the 5 days of shots may have been part of the cause, though more likely street food.
We had lunch in a comfort food restaurant as she calls it, western food.
An hour later she was kneeling at the loo.
I know what it is like, it is awful. You slowly get weaker and weaker.
Anyway after visiting the doctor things have improved slightly.
She is even contemplating going home from here. She is fearful of getting sick again .
She feels she is holding me up with the bike problems and all.
She is, but we are in this together and that has to be thought about. I am giving her as much encouragement as possible.
I kind of thought she was bullet proof after her efforts in Peru. This kind of health problem can bring the best of us back to earth.
Today the 6th, I decided to ride down the so called death road here from town.
It would be a good opportunity for Deirdre to rest further.
Heading off at 0700 clad in my sandals, longs and a few layers, it was 24 km to the top of the range east of town.
Up here at a lake there were many mini vans unloading tour group bikes from their rooves.
For a couple of hours my feet were not part of me they were so frozen. My hands were not much better.
I had under estimated the cold up there.
Though I knew things would warm up rapidly on the descent.
Asking one of the guides about the road. The deal was they ride down the asphalt to a point where another small climb begins. From here about 6km the turn off to the old road begins and it is all the way down to Coroico, some 50km on gravel.
I was absolutely freezing coming off the top, though had no choice but to roll on and wait for things to warm up.
At the turn off was a small tienda serving soups, a hearty vegetable and wheat soup was enjoyed. Heading to the turnoff, a tour van came by, this confirmed that it was indeed the right road.
Just down a bit, the van had stopped. The guide asked me to join the briefing. Luckily I did, as the rules of the road say that those going down keep left, opposite of the general road rule here.
Well, the old touring bike unloaded without suspension was a full on bone shacking affair all the way to the bottom.
It was all about concentrating, I let air from the tyres to ease the bumps.
The guide and I stopped half way down together and had a yarn.
He told me of a guide not long ago taking photos of his charges. He stepped back a
bit and fell over the edge. Tourists on bikes have also come to grief.
The road is as dangerous as you want to make it.
It is well maintained as it is such a money spinner with some 150 plus cyclists on it every day. Not much other traffic was present.
The views, though impressive, were not as stunning as many other mountain roads ridden.
All the young tourists on the suspension equipped bikes were flying down. All they probably knew was the sky was blue, the forest green and the road brown!!
Me with my speed I had time to notice orchids, bromeliads, sheer drop offs and some spectacular waterfalls that were pretty much mist falling on the road. Forty odd years age difference tends to do this to you.
Time was spent with an Austrian guy who was riding up the range. He had a good set up with a solar panel on the back of his bike.
All the way down the temperature increased till it was close to 30°, it was nice to be back in the warmth. La Paz is about 4000m and this town was 1500m.
My feet had been back with me for some time now.
Deirdre had given me some salmon jerky for my birthday, this was savored on the way down at intervals.
Once at the bottom, in a pueblito below Coroico, I hastily grabbed a spot on a mini van back to La Paz.
It was great only four of us in it and my bike.
It was a race back, at least that’s what the driver thought. We were back in La Paz before dark. He turned a 3 hour trip into 2, partly due to lack of traffic. Also the relentless need to pass every car encountered, sleeping eased the anxiety of created by his driving habits. I had about 5km to ride to the hotel.
Today was Independence Day in Bolivia.
On arrival here, Deirdre had been in the improve all day and was in much better spirits.
It’s good to see her getting back to normal.
7th August
Deirdre was now well on the mend, although still a bit weak. Though, importantly she had her appetite back.
We were still concerned about her back wheel shedding spokes.
I had spoken with a guide on the mountain yesterday.
He was from Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking.
They had a workshop here in La Paz.
So in the morning I took her rear wheel in .
They guys there were really informative and knew what they were on about.
They must have had 60 odd bikes in there for repair, their own bikes. Mainly all the Kona brand.
They found the spokes were too tight in the wheel, so all were loosened, some nipples replaced and the wheel trued with the spokes set not as tight.
We now both feel better about it.
Other than that we just relaxed, I had a haircut and visited an art gallery.
An evening meal of steak was enjoyed at a western setup.
It was Deirdres call for dinner.
Tomorrow we will leave here .
We have spoken at length about our situation.
If she is not feeling 100% in the morning she will stay and fly home.
If on the road she feels unwell, she will return to La Paz and do the same.
It is important that I am in Patagonia for the beginning of the southern hemisphere summer . I also have a commitment to meet my son Callum in Santiago in early November.
This decision has been hard but we both know it is the reality of our predicament.
I am unable to spend time not moving south due to foreseen circumstances.
Deirdre understands this and does not want to restrict my travels any further.
looking SW over La Paz
The Alberto Saaverda Perez, walking distance from the Latina Residencia on Calle Junin
Looking back over La Paz
On the way down. The helmet got some use for the day.
From a bygone era, the new road now in use for over ten years took 20 to construct.
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A big saving on bencina when in motel rooms
Tuntos, a staple here rehydrated extensively in soups., They are dried potatoes
The summit where tour groups set off from. 24km uphill from La Paz
Bolivia may have problems with rubbish and public sanitation but honesty and respect of other peoples property appears to be intact. Here stall holders just cover their goods with plastic at night.
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