Fasten seat belt while seated, life vest is your seat. 
View from the hostel The elevation of the city made it difficult to breathe. Every little uphill or staircase felt 10 x as exhausting as usual and the dry, polluted air made the throat sore. Luckily we didn't suffer from other symptoms, headaches or anything. Altitude difference or not, we still decided to check out the bouldering gym of La Paz: El Muro! It was the tiniest and cutest little cave I've seen: just one small room filled with holds from floor to roof. There were a couple of nice problems and we enjoyed the exhaustion after the lazy days in Samaipata.
El Muro
Tough work in those altitudes
Streets of La PazLa Paz felt to me surprisingly nice, I had quite bad expectations but at least the "touristic area" felt safe and I really enjoyed the colors and the traditional clothes of the people. We only had two nights though, but we'd be back in a week or so: now it was time to leave for our 6-day Ride and River trip from Sorata to Rurrenabaque with Andean Epics! It meant 3 days of mountain/downhill biking and then hopping on a motorized dug out canoe and going down the jungle river and camping alongside it. I had never downhill biked before or even ridden a full-suspension bike but supposedly that wasn't a problem. Exciting!
Our great group consisted of a French family of four, who lived in La Paz and had two kids of 8 and 14; Ken (50) from Boston; Heath (42) from Canada; Jochem (27) from Belgium; Stav (22) from Israel; Hugues (27) from Canada and Marcos (52) our guide, from Australia! A very mixed group, I thought at first, but an excellent one indeed I learned!
Our trip started with a 3 hour busride to Sorata, and up the mountains during which we had plenty of time to introduce ourselves and get to know one another. And then at 3800 meters we geared up with helmets, jackets and pants and started off down a curvy asphalt road. The first day was 28 km and all on asphalt to get to know the bikes: the supereffective breaks, the right position on the bike, how to take the curves and all that jazz. I felt that I was going so fast all the time but still the guys rode far ahead :D The views were incredible, green mountains and valleys below us but there was not much time to look around, keeping an eye on the road was crucial. I still somehow managed to miss the upcoming speed bump and when I saw it, it was already too late. I was sure that that was it, and with a normal bike it certainly would've been but thanks to some instincts I didn't hit the breaks (was my first thought though) and the suspension caught the bump. I was fine!!! And still riding!! Pheww...
The speed bump wasn't the only obstacle: some school kids were trying to stop me with sticks and their bikes. No way, Jose, I was way too fast for them ;) At the very end there was a small uphill but afterwards I was really done. It took a lot of focusing and energy not to die on the way down so I think we were all happy to spend the afternoon visiting a huge cave with a lake inside and then resting in our pretty ecolodge near Sorata. The ecolodge had massive premises with camping grounds and gardens full of farm animals. Sadly the owner really ruined the place for us with his greediness but otherwise we enjoyed it, the dinner and the evening together with our group.
Happy downhill biking fans! 
Cool stuff
Views! 
The group 
And more views 
Bat cave?
Lake in a cave 
Pool at the lodgeWaking up at 5.45 served no purpose since the driver was late but we didn't really mind, we had an exciting day ahead again. I didn't expect to get the first thrills on the way up already but indeed this terrifying journey up the mountain on the narrow, muddy and all kind of sketchy dirt roads with zero visibility did that. Fog and the clouds made it impossible to see 3 meters ahead and of course we were seated in the front. I made elaborate escape plans in case the car would tip over the edge though none of them were very likely to be of any use.
5.45. Christoph 
Visibilty? 
Llamas!We survived the first part and now it was time for 65 km downhill (mostly, some ups and some flat too) descending from 4800 meters all the way to 1200 m. Full-face helmets, knee pads...I took all the safety gear available. We were just about ready to start and then it started snowing! Never mind, down we went anyway. Massive, loose stones, pot holes, washed away road and the steep downhills made the first parts scary and exhausting. Ken took the first fall but gladly didn't hurt himself too bad.
We took many short breaks on the way down to gather the group again and to rest the legs, arms and head. I never thought going downhill on a bike would be so strenuous but my god was I wrong!! It's far more exhausting than riding on the flat I tell you. The amount of focus it takes to read the path, the exhausting position of leaning back and standing in a half-crouch on the pedals and gripping the handlebars and the breaks is incredibly tough. The bumpy terrain made it so difficult to stay on the bike that I felt like I used up all the energy just no to fly off.
Getting ready at 4800 meters
Geared up! 
It's me! 
Snow!
Me AGAIN! 
And the whole crewBut after a somewhat clumsy and uncertain beginning I started feeling more confident and enjoying the ride. Although for the last bit, when my arms, back and legs were in such pain and my head so exhausted that I was afraid I'd loose control of the bike, the enjoyment was gone. It was a bit too long of a day, but otherwise superb.
On the way down we had a lunch break in a small village, in a plaza where our guides prepared the most delicious salad and sandwiches. The whole day was filled again with great views and some obstacles too: instead of school kids, it was the animal kind this time. Some sheep were crossing the path when we came behind a curve and the last little lamb got all confused in the hassle of sheep and bikes and started running as fast as it could after Christine (the mother from the French family) thinking it was its mother. Our guide had to guide the little lamb back to to the right place afterwards, it got so far from its group.
Dogs were also running after all the bikes around the villages but the scariest part were the bulls. I came behind a curve with a full speed just to find a huge bull with some pretty creepy looking horns right there in the middle of the path. Will it attack me if I ride in front of it!? I practically closed my eyes, went as fast as I could and hoped that it wouldn't feel any urge to use those pointy daggers on me. It was a mellow fellow, luckily, and didn't care too much (even about the red jacket ;) ).
On the way down
And more way downFinally we were down and done. That day there were some uphills that also added to the exhaustion but we were warned: the next day we'd be riding in lower altitudes (aka hot, humid tropical air) and there would be a lot more of going up. My whole body ached and I wondered if I'd be able to ride the day after...But a little swim in a waterfall after the ride did recover some of the strength and after dinner everyone was happy and feeling great! Our hostel was hmmm rustic...to put it nicely :D We slept in a room that seemed more like a warehouse: it was filled with old loudspeakers (?). I'll leave out the description of the toilet or the shower :)
Lunch break at a plaza 
Swim at a waterfallLast day of riding started again with an amazing breakfast that featured Marcos' delicious chocolate sauce and afterwards another 1,5 h of riding in the jeeps. This time it was too hot for jackets and pants but I still opted for the full-face helmet and the pads, just in case. I felt great! I really felt so confident on the bike, turning on the curves with speed was no trouble at all and taking the big rocks and pot holes was a piece of cake, I was fast! Of course Chris was far ahead, jumping over ditches and stones like a pro but with especially the flat parts and the uphills I was faster than the many of the guys who had overtaken me in the downhills the day before. I passed Stav in a steep downhill with a warning shout ("Passing from the left!!") when suddenly I heard I load noise behind me: Hugues and Stav crashed, Hugues was passing Stav but didn't shout and Stav rode in front of him! Luckily again everyone got off with just tiny bruises!
The words of the day were mud and uphills. The roads were in horrible condition, with huge landslides and ditches and holes, and every now and then there were muddy rivers crossing the path: one just had to ride through and hope that they weren't too deep! The uphills were killing everyone. It was hard to breathe, the air was hot, heavy and humid and with the full-face helmet I got claustrophobic sometimes. Still, everyone pushed on and the last part before lunch was an amazing long downhill where I had my best run, even with a scary skid that I managed to control in the last second. I felt invincible ;)!
River crossings 
Exhausted Jochem
Break! 
Another break
Max riding 
Sweaty Holopainen 
And sweaty GysinWe had lunch next to a river where we cooled down, washed our bikes and ate again the same excellent lunch as the day before! Somehow we had all been in the false hope that the last part of the ride was downhill. Yeah right, it was mostly uphill or flat at best in the scorching sun. Motivation of the group seemed a bit low at that point but hell, it was the last part! We rode mostly through small villages were people would stare and shout and whistle...and throw rocks!! After the ride Stav and Ken told that some kids were throwing stones at them. Also some kid tried to poke Chris with a massive stick. Crazy. Everyone made it alive and the ride was a lot shorted than I expected! And in the ended cold water, beer and cola was waiting for us, and showers and nice rooms and clean toilets.
Lunch at the river
Mariposa and Marcos 
Everyone made it
Cold drinks
Last days gearWe had a great evening, dinner and beers first at the hostel, everyone was in a great mood telling stories and relaxing. Afterwards we headed to a karaoke place where some pretty intoxicated versions of Losing my religion, Lemon tree and Don't worry, be happy were sung :D Good fun with good people.
View from hostel roof
Mari-Lou and a local kid playing 
Karaoke evening
More of that crazy singing
Sitting on the roof
MothNext day we hopped in a boat but that's a whole different story.
No comments:
Post a Comment