Coroico

Breakfast in Coroico. Perfect.

The Road to Coroico

View from the early part of the route from La Paz to Coroico--prior to descending.

The road to Coroico taught me to take the highs with the lows.

After three busy days in La Paz, we traveled to Coroico--a small village in a subtropical climate with spectacular views.  Coroico originally became famous, or rather infamous, for the ¨Death Road¨--a steep, winding dirt road off which many drivers have plummeted. This road now only serves as a bike path and tourist destination, though bikers still die zooming around its bends.

The new road, we were told, is much better than the Death Road, though it still managed to terrify me. 

La Paz

View of La Paz from Monticulo

Ryan and I landed in La Paz on Saturday and discovered that the altitude did indeed make a difference.  We managed to see a bit of the city but spent most of the day asleep and more or less delirious.  But with our three nights in La Paz, we eventually managed to see just about everything there is to see, despite the hills and headaches.

To put it simply, La Paz makes Rome look like it is being run by Martha Stewart.  We stayed in Cruz de los Andes on Calle Aroma--a part of town known for being geared toward tourists.  Although we did see a few stores devoted to expensive REI-style clothing, many would refer to this part of town as a slum--there are real slums, however, ones that we only glimpsed.