Day 4 - La Paz

Today we had a lazy morning as we knew we would be a bit sore from death road. I wasn't too bad apart from the 35+ bites I managed to get in around 2 minutes at the end of the ride (more than both of us have had combined up until that point). Blake on the other hand was feeling the effects of her little tumble.

We slowly got up and ready and headed to the market just down the road to grab some breakfast and fresh smoothies. Blake opted for an avocado sandwich and pineapple, kiwi and strawberry smoothie. I went for an empanada and a mango and pineapple milkshake.

We then headed to the witches market where the agency for death road was to collect our t-shirts and DVD with all the pictures and videos on. When we walked out the shop we bumped right into Amy and Richard again fresh out of the jungle.

La Paz has a few cable cars dotted around the city, mostly starting around the centre and ending on the outskirts of the city. We had all heard there was a market in El Alto at the top of the red line so decided to check it out. The views from the car were incredible as it goes quite high up the hill. We had never really seen a panoramic of the city and were amazed of the size!

The flea market was waiting for us at the exit from the cable station. Rows and rows of stalls all selling things from fried eels to nuts and bolts, traditional cholita clothing to taxi signs (you can tell all the cabs are legit here). After making our way around what we assumed was most of the market and not being enticed by fried eels we decided to hop on the blue line for a round trip before heading back down the hill. Once on the blue line we realised we had barely scratched the surface!!

We made it back to the bottom of the red line and were feeling pretty peckish. Amy and Richard told us about choripans which are fried chorizo in a bap with salad and lots of sauces. No further had we made it out of the station and there was a stall with a big sign saying CHORIPAN. They were delicious!

In the evening we had booked to go to the Cholita Wrestling. A cholita is the name given to the traditional Bolivian women that wear a Borsalino, shawl and a pleated skirt with many underskirts (to emphasise their child bearing hips). Then imagine these woman on WWF and you get Cholita Wrestling. We were picked up in a bus and driven up to El Alto where we pulled up outside what looked like an abandoned warehouse. The inside didn't look much different but there was a ring and our 'VIP' seats. We grabbed a drink and some popcorn and waited for the show to start. A man started to shout some Spanish over the tiny PA and out came the wrestlers. All in all the show was hilarious and we got some great videos and pictures to bring back.

At the end you could get a snap with the wrestlers themselves who like to throttle you for the picture. I don't know if you can see from the picture but the smile is whilst trying to breathe as they really did get you locked in!Read more