Hola,
Im currently having a mate de coca (coca tea) and chowing down on a cheese burger here in Potosi (the highest city in the world) at 4500meters (or somewhere close to that number). Bascially, Im killing time before my 7 hrs bus ride to Uyuni, bolivia to do a salt flat tour and get dropped off in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. Its the 24th of July, and i now have less than a month to go until my trip comes to an end, and im really ready to leave. Im tired of the freezing cold showers and bad food, but i will miss being a backpacker....a carefree lifestyle that knows no boundries (withstanding financial and time constraints of course). Anyways, in La Paz I did the Death Road, or the [Worlds Most Dangerous Road], which is bascially a 4-6 hr downhill bike ride down a one lane road that hugs the side of a mountain, which at one part had a sheer 1000meter drop off. Oh, and did i mention that their are no guard rails, the road is unpaved, and has 2 way traffic. It goes from 4600meters down to 1200 meters. Anyways, it was the sickest thing ive ever done on a bike. I paid about $33 USD and got a decient trek bike with front suspension and disk breaks, safety gear, t shirt, and cd rom of my trip. Everthing was good execpt for my tour group which consisisted of about 17 Isralies, who were all completey rude and absolutely fuckin vile people. Now, i know not all Isralies are dicks, in fact ive met and have in fact traveled with some pretty fuckin cool Isralies, but the group that was one my bike tour warrents mention as being complete shitheads and have severely damaged US-Isralie relations....(more incidents like that and ill have to politely ask my goverment to stop giving them weapons...ha ha ha....no, seriously folks) Luckly, they were in the slow group and me, a dude from New York, 2 crazy Slovinians, and a laid-back frenchman were in the fast group. Next day, i got some cavities filled for like 7 bucks a tooth (gotta love 3rd world dentists).....and the dude actually did a good job and used good equipment. Then i did some serious shopping for all the stuff i wanted/needed, like hammocks, t shirts, belts, shampoo, ect. Then it was off to Sucre the other capital of Bolivia (bet you didnt know that bolivia had 2 capitals)..Sucre was boring so I only stayed there for one night, the next day I went to Potosi. In Potosi i did the Mine tour of Cerro Rico (rich mountain) which supplied 1/2 the worlds silver during colonial times. The mine tour was interesting and im glad i did it. Ill never bitch about work again, cuz its nothing compared to what the miners put up with. Its dark, dusty, hard to breath, hot as hell in some places, and colder than a whiches titty in other places. The working conditions are appauling and children as young as 12 work in there (even though this is illegal according to Bolivian law). Once going into the mines workers can expect to last 10 years and 30 if they are real lucky. During Colonial times the mine we visited claimed 8 million lives. On the tour we encountered some miners and gave them gifts of booze (96proof grain alcohol taken straight is the miners prefered drink), cigerates, coca leaves, and soft drinks. Then we visited Tio, the miners god, which looks alot like (in fact is) the devil. The miners offer tio coca leaves, booze, cigerates, and llama fetesus for good luck and protection in the mines. Then we road a miners cart around indiana jones style and once outside of the mine we blew up some dynimite mixed with amonioum nitriate, which can be purchased on the street by anyone....detititationers and fuses are also available to anyone who is interested. Well, Potosi is dam cold place and ive got a bus to catch (ironically to a place thats probably twice as cold) so Ill holler at yall later.