Lake Titicaca to La Paz. Bring on the death road.

Wednesday 24^th September 2014. Rest Day, Copacabana, Lake Titicaca.

You know what I did on the rest day? I slept, ate far too much food, sat around the town and did absolutely nothing. Then I went to bed at 9 pm and woke up at 6 am. One of the difficult things to do at altitude is sleep. It's not only me but it's others in the tour that have told me they wake up during the night out of breath. It's not a good feeling and it's one I won't miss when I get home.

Now for today's bike ride.

Thursday 25^th September 2014, stage 43, Copacabana to Hotel International, 67 kms, climbing 845 metres, summit 4340 metres. This had to be one of the best riding days on tour.

A beautiful morning greeted the cyclists as we left our hotel and the shores of Lake Titicaca to start a short day of riding that would take us to some of the most spectacular scenery in the world. The first part was to climb 12 kms and gain over 500 metres in altitude. The road meandered away from the lake giving us breathtaking view all morning. Each time we went around another corner we were greeted with an amazing view of the Bolivian coastline looking down into a clear turquoise waters of the highest navigable lake on the planet. We were climbing up to and over 4300 metres in altitude but it didn't appear to affect anyone, they were stopping, taking hundreds of photos and enjoying what is turning out to be an easy day on the road.

Looking back down into the small village of Copacabana, Lake Titicaca.

We rolled along with one on the road and the other looking at the views as we continued onto the lunch stop at 40 kms. I think this was the quickest 2 & ½ hours of riding in a very long time. It was like we had only been riding for an hour and the fire engine was just around the corner with our lunch waiting.

The lunch stop was one of those stops that take your breath away. Perched on the side of cliff looking down to the harbour where we would catch the ferry to the other side of the mainland. I took up a chair with a couple of the cyclists sitting near the edge of the cliff, enjoying the views and watching the small ferries carrying people, buses, trucks and cyclists across the narrow stretch of water we had to cross after lunch. I was in no hurry to move, I had the sun on me, a plate full of food and some pretty cool people to enjoy the moment.

It was time to move on and cross the lake and start the next climb for the day. This one was only 400 metres over about 7 kms but still was hard work at 4000 metres. I just rolled along up and over small hills until I dropped down to the lake. I joined a couple of other cyclists, stopping to take photos, have a drink and relax.

I reached our hotel around 1 pm and found a really nice place to stay for the night. Not sure of the Wifi at this stage, but we have a great room with a view looking out over Lake Titicaca. Some of the cyclists are going for a swim, but I'm keeping my clothes on, it's far too cold for this smart chap.

Tonight will be a dinner in the restaurant and then we head to La Paz, one of the highlights for me on the tour. Death road bicycle tour awaits us.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.

 I took the above photo whilst visiting the home of one of the families who live on the floating islands of Uros.

 The above photo was taken looking over the floating islands. This has to be one of the simplest ways of living I've seen in a long time. Perhaps we all could do better with less luxuries in life.

 The photo above was taken about 40 kms outside of Copacabana during our lunch stop. What another perfect location to have a break.

 The above photo was taken yesterday looking back to Annelott, Ellen and Lupcho. We stayed in the large hotel to the right which was pretty good and very quiet at night. What we have noticed since we entered Bolivia is the lack of traffic, and that's good for cyclists.

 The above photo was taken during lunch today. Lupcho our mechanic on tour met up with 2 Colombian touring cyclists who dropped in for a snack during lunch.

The photo above was taken on our last day in Peru. We had such a wonderful time at the local celebrations. The lady in the photo was my dancing partner. 

Friday 26th September 2014, Stage 43, Lake Titicaca to La Paz, 85 kms, 99% paved, climbing 450 metres, summit 4150 metres. Riding at 4000 metres all day is so tiring.

Today is the day we head to the city of over 3 million people, called La Paz. I should mention the hotel we stayed at last night has a sign in the lift that states, 'you are in the highest lift in the world', now that's pretty cool.

With a nice breakfast,  we all took to the road around 9 am and headed along flat roads with the snow capped mountains in the distance. The temperature was around 20 degrees C, slight headwind and very little traffic.

We arrived at the lunch truck by 10.30 am which took us about 1 hour 30 minutes to achieve the 50 kms. 

Barry and I rolled out of lunch at 11 am on our own to ride the final 40 kms to La Paz. Within 10 kms outside of lunch we were subjected to crazy mini van drivers, buses, trucks, dogs, bicycles trying to take our front wheels out or just run us over. This was just as mad as Saigon traffic.

We pushed on for 20 kms amongst the traffic at a steady pace. The town we were passing through was basically a dust bowl. Together with the diesel spewing trucks and vans, and the dust in the air, it was just terrible conditions to ride. We had no option other than to press on and get to La Paz.

As we got closer to the city, the traffic increased 10 fold. We were no riding at over 4000 metres gasping for air, not smoke and dust. We finally made it through the traffic and commenced the 10 km drop into the city. We had  to be really careful on the descent as the road was in a poor state and in 2008, 2010 and 2012 a rider had crashed and was taken out of the tour. I made sure this was not going to happen me.

Barry and I followed the Garmin which took us to a narrow street and a small entry to our home for the next 3 nights, hotel Cruz de los Andes. The hotel is perfect and situated right in the centre of all the activity. Shops, hiking, biking, clothing and food stores everywhere. 

After settling into the room and washing our clothes, we headed for a walk to find a place for an afternoon snack. I was amazed at the number of shops selling tours to Death Road or hiking to some of the snow capped mountains surrounding us. We have a 2 day break now and our first day will be taken up with the Death Road ride followed by the zipline. On Sunday a couple of us are going out to watch the local football match. Might have to buy the local jersey when I'm out there.

Over the past 3 days we've experienced incredible hospitality, friendly happy smiling people along the way. Past through villages that look like no one lives there anymore. Seen dogs the size of horses, and pigs as big as an baby hippo. 

I'm looking forward to my 2 days off in La Paz to enjoy some adrenalin fueled madness in the Andes.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.