La Paz, Bolivia

I´ve spent the last few days in La Paz, Bolivia. I really like the city. The bus ride here was a rather uneventful passing of farms and hills, but once we began the descent into the city it was beautiful. A sprawling valley metropolis fenced in by craggy mountains on every side. The city itself is a hectic clutter of market stalls, murderous busses (I actually got hit by one!!), and little oddities like dried llama fetuses (the Bolivians bury them under their porches for good luck). The sun, as it is all over the altiplano, is deceiving strong. The weather has been beautiful the entire time I was here. High 60s to low 70s and sunny.

As an early birthday present to myself I went dirt biking in the sourrounding countryside, which was eerily reminiscent of the canyonlands of Utah. I´m currently traveling with a friend I met in Puno, Peru. The off roading (I got a little Honda 200 dirtbike, he rode a quad) cost a ridiculous 80 Bolivianos an hour (approximatesly $12). We spent three hours on tiny winding roads with beautiful scenery and huge drop offs on the sides. We shared these roads with no one but a few locals hauling materials in from the countryside and, surprisingly, huge dump trucks which barely fit on the road. It would be an utter disaster if two of them met head on, there was hardly even room for us to pass without making a dangerous move along the cliffs (don´t look down!). It was an awesome time, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Afterwards I was sweaty, covered in dust, a little brusied up, and very happy (although that may have been partially due to the ice cream that they had waiting for me when I got back).