And now I am back

So I did it finally. I took a bike and did some downhill on the world's most dangerous road in Bolivia. I went with an expensive company but I think it was worth it. We had some of the best bikes and they worked really well. And I went really fast. There is a CD that I could purchase but I don't think that I am going to. I was hard to take pictures because I did not want to get my camera broken and I think that is something that I would do.
The day started off with us just riding down a paved road so that we could get used to the bikes and the brakes. I think that I was nervous at first because I was going fast enough to pass cars and I did not know what to do about the turns. After awhile I figured it out and I did not mind going so fast. The entire ride we had two guides and a support vehicle for our group which had about 12 people. There was one Brit and another Bolivian riding with us. They were both great riders and I learned a lot from the two. They also were really good at letting us know at which points people had died on the road and what mistakes they made before they died.
After the paved road we hit the gravel one lane road. It was a little different but still a lot of fun. The sheer drop cliff at 400 meters we not that intimidating because of the fog. I couldn't see it so it didn't make me scared. We went from 4800 meters above sea level to just under 1900 meters, rode 64 kilometers with 3 kilometers change of altitude. There were a lot of other groups of bikers on the road but no one in our group got hurt. So that was really nice.
The entire trip was so amazing, riding a bike through waterfalls and seeing so much green in a huge valley. I am very happy that I did the ride, I think that it has been one of the most exciting things I have done in South America.
After the ride we ended up in a nature refuge with monkeys, snakes, an ocelot, and cats. I thought that I would like the monkeys but one of them bit me for taking a picture of it. I wasn't this one, because this one was very cute, but a little camera shy. It was one of the squirrel monkeys. Just jumped on me and bit my knuckle. They had all been vacinated, but I am still mad at the little thing. At the reserve we got to eat and then when the bus didn't come back for us (it is Bolivia) we had some beer while we waited and I ended up going over my limit. At least I wasn't driving because we took the road back up. There is a new road, but it was faster to use the older one. It was a nice drive, but I understand why it was so bad.
Today I am going to see wrestling here in La Paz and then I am going back to Peru tomorrow. It should be good because I feel like I am finally making progress again, not just hanging out in a country and spending money. I can't wait to see the wrestiling so I am going to get some really good pictures.

Bolivia: Todo es posible, nada está seguro

I am in Bolivia. The whole experince has been interesting. To get to Bolivia I had to take a bus, a moto taxi, and hike across the border where I was finally able to take a bus to Copacabana which is also on Lake Titicaca. I saw another island on the lake and then Jennica and I took a bus out to La Paz.
The ride was a scenic one, but at one point people started getting off the bus and I asked where all of the gringos were going. Then the driver started yelling "apurate". Everyone had to get off of the bus because it had to cross the lake too and there was no bridge. So we took a boat across the water and the bus took a barge.
We were only in La Paz for a couple of hours when we took another bus in the morning trying to get to Uyuni in time to meet Jennica's friend David from high school. The first stop on the way to Uyuni was in Oruro where we were only about an hour late for the bus to Uyuni. But we caught the bus in La Paz at 7:30 so I don't feel too bad for not being on the bus.
Oruro was where I had my serious case of the culture shock. I really felt like the only white person on the street which is the first time in South America it has been like that. Everywhere else there were other gringos or I fit in. Here it was really obvious who I was and no one knew what I was doing there, including me. But I got to talk to Geno and vent and then I went to some really nice hot springs and I feel a lot better. It also helped that the places that I have been since Oruro have been a lot more turistic. But that is not the point; I am doing better with myself down here.


From Oruro we took one of the worst night rides on a bus that I have ever taken in my life. It was bumpy and so cold. Jennica happened to have a sleeping bag and that made it a much better ride, but when we finally got to Uyuni (at 4 in the morning) there was ice covering all of the windows. In Uyuni and some of the other places around the altitude was higher than the highest point in Utah. And it is not even winter here, but it is still really cold.


There is nothing to do in Uyuni, but there are a lot of tour companies that can take a tourist to see some of the sights around the city. The salt flats were so amazing. Jennica, David and I took a four day in a four runner. The first place we went to was a train grave yard. From there we took a ride to the salt flats. It was really impressive, but I don't think I want to go back I was there and now I am done.





The next day we went to a volcano, saw some mummies and then took a long drive to a city called San Juan. They only had electricity for about four hours at night and the rest of the electricity came from solar power. All together there were seven people on the tour and then Pedro the tour operator. I didn't think that I would like the tour with that many people in one four runner for that many days, but it turned out really well.


On the third day we drove for a long time to see some rock formations that happened due to volcanic rock and wind. Then from there we went to see different colored lagoons and I learned that the coloring on the flamingos is helped by the bacteria in one of the lagoons in Bolivia.







It was such a long day and we had to wake up at five the next morning that the seven of us went to bed early.
The next day we got up and went to see some geyser and lava that I could just not enjoy because it was so cold again. I think that it was close to zero degress fahrenheit. After that it was a ten hour drive back to the city.
The next day Jennica and I took a bus to Potosi where I am at now. Today I went to the mine and I realized a major difference between the US and Bolivia. The US would never have let a bunch of tourist into that mine. I was walking around with a rag over my mouth for air protection, there were just drops in the floor, we were walking around giving "gifts" of soda, coca leaves, and dynamite to the workers, then after I got to hold a ball of dynamite while it was lit and then watched as it blew up. I walked around an active mine and I got to talk to some of the workers. It was really depressing and just a completely different experience that I could not have had if I had not made it to Bolivia.This is a picture of a sixteen year old work on digging a hole in the rock so that he can put in a thing of dynamite. The worst part was that he had been working in the mine since he was thirteen.
From here it is back to La Paz for a couple of days and then back to Peru where I will make my way north. I am really excited that I get to spend a couple of more weeks down here because that means that I am going to be able to see colombia. I have only heard good things.
My next set of pictures should be great because La Paz is going to be exciting.
Besos.