So last night wasn’t the best night sleep i ever had. Most likely the altitude being the real issue. Breathing is just that much harder up here at 4000m. La Paz is in a deepish canyon valley so I should be thankful because the airport is an extra 500m higher up.
I met a nice couple from Canada (Mike and Andrea) at breakfast and they also were planning to do the mountain bike ride down the Worlds Most Dangerous Road. Technically its not even used for cars much these days and is no longer the worlds most dangerous road. Its now probably the worlds large mountain bike descent of approximately 3600m. Yes thats the change in altitude, the ride is approximately 60km.
I already had booked and just went to pay and the couple from Canada were easily convinced this was worth the hundred dollars. Given you get a t shirt and meals and snacks plus hiring the bike and gear its pretty good value.
We had lunch and arranged to meet in the hostel foyer at 6am.
Iglesia San Francisco
The rest of the day I tried to get out and walk a bit. However a few rain showers hit and going up hills isn’t as much fun with the altitude. You just have to take 2-3 minutes to get your breath back every so often. I did manage to go to the main square of Plaza San Francisco. The church there was built around 1548 but collapsed under snowfall in 1610, and was rebuilt in 1744 til 1753.
While La Paz is not the official capital its the main business hub of Bolivia, with Sucre the capital and a place I’ll visit next week and apparently a lot flatter and more beautiful city.
Anyway I better get some sleep I have a mountain bike ride to do tomorrow and I’m as excited as a kid before Christmas.