19.12.07: the Road of Death

Exciting news: I have found a friend, Jon, who has been to Bolivia, not only that, but it is the country he liked most in South America. And he did visit others. He was enthusing about it at a party last night. Unfortunately, being heavily in the Christmas spirit and a little deaf (especially over the sound of Slade), I failed to gather much apart from the fact that it is astonishingly varied. Also, there’s a particularly unpleasant scam involving spitting on people and then pinching their wallets when pretending to clean off the mess. I’d almost rather be mugged.

From reading his travel blog www.jonathanbrain.com, it seems Jon’s love for the country did not extend to La Paz. However, he showed some excitement about the Road of Death. Susi had told me about this, a notorious single track that two lanes of traffic hurtle down from La Paz in the Altiplano (high plain) down into the jungle. As its name suggests it’s eye-wateringly dangerous. In fact, she is adamant about never travelling on it. Jon, instead, planned to cane down on a hired mountain bike. The only thing that stopped him was Cathie, his wife, who pointed out a German had smashed his head open the day before having careered off the edge doing the exact same thing. And he seemed so sensible.