La Paz - Jenna & Brian in Bolivia, Post 5
La Paz is one of the most visually stunning cities in the world. Visit, if you can. Sure, when you first arrive, you may have trouble walking up the street, or even breathing, as the altitude here is almost equivalent to the summmit of Mount Peale (3600 meters, for you non-Moabites.) And you´ll probably be bothered by the traffic, and the way horns are used in lieu of traffic lights. You might trip on the sidewalk, and wish they were in better repair, or cleaner. But after a few days you´ll acclimate. You´ll be walking down a busy street and look up to see a glimpse of Illimani, a snow-capped peak over 21,000 feet high, and one of several majestic mountains which surround the city. It will be then that you´ll realize that Paris or Madrid or Rome have nothing on La Paz…
During the last couple of months, Brian and I spent a lot of time in the southern part of the country riding across a plateau known as the Altiplano. In this area the Altiplano breaks and drops dramatically into what looks from above like a giant crater - La Paz is located at the bottom of this crater. Climbing back up to the rim on a bike is tough on the legs and lungs, but we´ve been here for over a week now and found a lot of great biking in and around the city. It´s also suprsingly easy to duck onto a side (read: steep) street and get away from traffic. And an hour´s ride will get you back into the countryside again, complete with llamas and green grass.
We leave in just a few days for our return to Moab. Since we camped quite a bit on this trip and overall have spent less money than we expected, we splurged and are staying in an apartment hotel. It´s been nice to have a kitchen and lots of room, and the neighborhood is quiet and residencial. I´ve been taking Spanish classes and both Brian and I have been having our share of adventure. This past weekend we did a day ride toward Illimani; unfortunately cloudcover obscured that perfect picture of the mountain, but we took plenty of pictures of the surrounding countryside. The terraced hills and green fields made me think of Peru. Later in the day, after a stout climb up to a remote mountain valley, I felt like we were in Tibet, or what I imagine Tibet must be like. Three different countries in one day - Bolivia really does have it all!
Thanks for reading my blog about our Bolivian adventures. After 10 weeks here, it´s hard to believe I´ll be riding Slickrock next week…
