No Dangerous Roads

Friday May 2nd

The day did not start well at all. We were woken up at 5 in the morning by the sound of firecrackers going off in the street outside. The first of May is a holiday in bolivia, and fireworks are often let off on that day, but at 5am? I actually thought that the Israeli plan to take over the town by sending in thousands of tourists had failed and so they had gone for an out an out invasion instead (there were a lot of israelis staying in our hostel, and they didn't know how to talk quietly, or shut doors without slamming).

When I woke up for real later I had to change my emergency dollars into the local currency as I had run out, and unlike in La Paz there were no ATMs here. After that I had to buy some new clothes as I was literally stinking in the ones I had.

Refreshed then all we ahd to do was hang around the town until our flight, which the tour company managed to arrange for later that afternoon. All it meant was that we lost one day from our itinerary. However it was the day that we were supposed to be cycling the most dangerous road in the world. I was quite disappointed I didn't get to do it, but I guess my mum is happy I didn't do it.

We got back into La Paz with a bit of daylight to spare so I was able to look around the shops a bit. It looks like quite an interesting town, and it is a pity we weren't able to spend more time there. But the group wants to get to Peru and Lake Titicaca, so onward we march.