the big1: LA PAZ

La Paz, not known for its wide green spaces

WHERE: LA PAZ

WHERE (less detailed): the highest not really the capital, capital in the world

WHEN: days 229 - 232

despite the fact it was built some 800 years after the Pyramids locals seem to be pretty impressed by this amazing feat of architecture

PEOPLE ARE: still nasty, the Chirrilo women seem to cross the street to walk into you, then scowl at you for the audacity to be in their way.

just keep your distance

HIGHLIGHTS/LOWLIGHTS: ... our evening departure from Sucre is filled with bizarreness. We're repeatedly assured our bus leaves from platform 11 despite the last platform being number 10, perhaps Bolivia has mistaken us for Harry Potter... the luggage loading system is an exercise in creating pointless jobs. You wait on the platform two minutes away from the bus, then are instructed to take your bag upstairs where it is then lowered by winch down passed where you were just standing and towards the bus. A luggage thrower then unhooks it an loads it onto the bus....

La Paz town square, and a rare piece of greenery

... despite paying for full reclining beds we only get partial reclines which paul doesn't stop pointing out for the next two hours ... funnily enough Paul has the best night’s sleep of all of us ... arriving in La Paz we are confronted by two staggering sights, first the improbable city housing plan that sees thousands of homes built into the mountain-side and secondly the ridiculously dressed tourists who have either gutted a Llama and crawled inside or they’ve bought an entire wardrobe made out of llama wool ... we soon suffer the effects of altitude. La Paz is at 3,700m and you get out of breathe drying yourself after a shower ... visiting a witches market and checking out the llama foetus' ...

Llamas foetus', good for colds, headaches and curries

... visiting the cocaine museum (amazing how such an interesting subject can be made so dull) ... possibly the worst day trip in South America, despite glowing reviews from Lonely Planet the Tawanaku Ruins are like something a four-year old might make using a bunch of square Lego blocks - thank god the Incas came along to breathe a little creativity into the area

the girls with the only thing on the 4hr tour that was of any interest

... possibly the best day trip in the world, the World’s Most Dangerous Road, both Rhaani and Julie fail to mention the trip in conversations with their mothers hours before ...

what happens when you don't pay attention

because this is our cycling course for the day

... descending from 4,600m to 1,600m with only a metal frame and some rubber between us and a sheer drop ... Paul prepares for the worst by offering to give Rhaani back her passport in case he goes hurtling off the edge (keeping his own for identification purposes) ... 12 in the group, 5 crashes and none of them including us - although Julie had a temporary melt-down after developing five massive blisters on her hands and not being able to find the medic van ... Rhaani maintains the scariest aspect of the whole day was the eagle that flew 40ft over her head and the snake she ran over ...

the snake was this big

...Paul's plan to be a caring boyfriend and peddle alongside Rhaani ends after barely 400m when his desperately competitive streak takes over and he abandons Rhaani to try and beat the hugely annoying Australian we keep bumping into in South America (aka Douchebag) .... luckily for Paul despite a few close calls he doesn't end up in a bloody mess ... visiting the infamous - and being warned away by machine gun toting guards - San Pedro prison where prisoners families also live inside the prison and prisoners have to buy their cells, we spot a lucky soul having a new fridge-freezer delivered ...