KYLA IS HERE! Here's proof... oh sorry are you still not sure that this is in fact my sister? That's understandable. "Don't be Nervous" she won't rob you. Is this better?
Here she is in the flesh! Day one of Kyla's 10 day visit starting in La Paz ând the entire city came out to welcome her... marching band and all!
This is actually a "hat" we had to buy while we shopped in theWitches market in La Paz. Hoping it will make it up to Rose cottage at some point so one of you lucky souls might have the opportunity to wear it during a dinner, as is the tradition. We were told it is a traditional mask worn at Carnival and other festivals. Riiiiighhhhtt.The photo to the right includes some more items from the Witches market that we managed NOT TO BUY. Still born llama fetuses are considered "lucky" to the Bolivian people (can't imagine the Llama parents feel the same way). Either way they are said to bring good luck if you bury one under your home. As much as I wish good luck for Linda & Dave, Hali & Chris and Shannon & Andy (all new homeowners). You will not be recieving one of these upon my return. Appologies to you all.
I was originally worried about Kyla dealing with the altitudes in Bolivia. La Paz being about 3,600m and Lake Titicaca at over 4,000m but she seemed to be taking everything in stride (thank you altitude pills) so on day two we decided to bike down the World's Most Dangerous Road. Here on the left is a view from the top of the ride. 
Below right you can see in the center of the image, one of the buses that plummeted down last year. No survivors. For some reason, the Bolivian people who are typically very kind& calm become mad men when given the wheel of a car. That combined with awful roads and staggering cliffs doesn't make for a happy ending in many cases. 
It is a common tourist thing to do in La Paz but knowing that there have been more deaths on this road that any other really freaked me out. The road you bike on is no longer the main road down to the town in the valley but still check out the photos of our day spent traveling down 3.5kms in altitude over 54km in length with sheer cliffs diving down as steep as 400m
The first 21kms of the WMDR tour is spent on proper tar roads up in the clouds at 4,860m. I didn't really consider how beautiful the ride would be. I was more focused on how scared I was of becoming the 19th person to bike off a cliff and die in the 18yrs that this has been a tour. Good news though, I'm here to blog the tale so "Don't be Nervous"...
The real beginning of the WMDR starts where the tar road ends and the joy of riding on a road that becomes as thin as 3m across (meant for 2 way traffic?) and consists of dirt and "baby head"rocks begins. 
Here we are at the pay station. About $5cnd per person is paid to help the locals deal with all the landslides that block the road and put up the sporadic barriers along the cliff edges. A fair price to pay I think you'd agree. There are a ton of waterfalls throughout the valley and of course some fall right into the road so you have to peddle through them and take the road as it comes. We were taught not to look at the view much because people tend to drive towards what they look at and well... you get the idea. You probably can't really tell but at the beginning of the ride the temperature is pretty "nipply" as Kyla would say so we were bundled up in layers (long rain pants over long LuLus over shorts, rain coats over hoodies, over thermals over tank tops, gloves, scarves and of course helmets) but as we dropped in altitude the heat became thick. Glad we could peel down at the bottom!
Here is a look at one of the most sheer cliffs. 400 meters of vertical drop. Made my heart sink every time I looked over. This photo was taken by our Aussie guide Mark from the bus window on our drive back up. 
At the bottom Kyla agreed to support the local community by paying to do their Zip Line circuit flying at 400meters above the ground. Makes my stomach turn thinking about it. Then we had lunch at the animal refuge at the base of the valley and met these guys!
Got back to La Paz by 7.30pm. Enough time to shower and meet our guide Mark at La Comedie. A french restaurant in the nicer part of the city. Who says there isn't any fine dining in Bolivia!? Day three we are off to Lake Titicaca. With a name like that who could resist a visit? La Paz, you were good to my sister and I.
Muchos Gracias!
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