The Weekend Part Two: Fruit truck back up Death Road

(read Part One first, click title for photos)

I woke up on Sunday morning to find that Lucas (the drunken wreck from the previous evening) had already had breakfast and swim in the pool. So I dragged myself to the balcony and had a cold (rare in Bolivia) bottle of coke for breakfast.

The previous day we'd seen goods trucks loaded with people in the back and we had decided that would be fun and scary way to get back up death road to La Paz. The transport we ended up taking to get to La Paz was:

1. On the roof of a 4x4 from the hotel to Coroico.
2. Back of a 4x4 from Coroico to Yalosi
3. Back of a fruit truck from Yalosi to La Paz outskirts
4. Minivan from outskirts to central La Paz and BURGERKING!!!!

The real adventure was the 4.5 hours in the fruit truck back up death road. Having to stand up for the first 4 hours with lactic acid in my legs being the only source of warmth. Suprisingly, teetering over the edge of an 800m drop in a rickety old truck as another truck squeezes past felt very safe. Mainly because I assumed that our objective of not dying and making it to the top were closely aligned with the driver's objectives. As we neared La Paz and hypothermia was possibly setting in, it began to snow and a kind chap sitting behind us offered to cover us with his yellow plastic sheet as well. I'd never imagined that being cramped and twisted among Bolivians under a yellow piece of plastic at the bottom of a truck could be the most heavenly feeling imaginable when compared to standing in the freezing cold wind and snow. But we made it - and had a huge Burgerking meal to warm us up.