We had two
reasons to stay a few days in La Paz. One was that we had to because of Uyuni
and the second was downhill biking. Markus wanted to do the Sorata single track
which is a downhill biking tour through mountains and jungle with jumps, drops
and narrow paths on the mountains. The only problem was the price. Because Edda
didn’t want to do it, Markus had to go alone, and if there’s only one person,
it rises the price. It had been almost double price and over 100$ more
expensive that the Death Road a.k.a World’s Most Dangerous Road a.k.a Youngas Road. After a short
pondering, Markus decided to do the Death Road.
For once we
had a quite tight schedule for a few days. We had arrived back to Puno from
Cusco to continue our journey to La Paz, Bolivia. We had booked one night in
Puno because we could not cross the Bolivian border in the night. But then… We
heard that there would be a strike/road block in Puno the next two days and no
buses would come or leave Puno during that time. We had already been in Puno
before and really didn’t feel like spending two more days there. Even if Johan
and Maria would’ve also been there 😃
We
discussed the issue with our hostel’s (HomeCenter Puno) receptionist and they
told us that there would be a speed boat going from Puno to Yunguyo, close to
Bolivia’s border. The boat should have left at 7am, but it left around 7.20am.
The ride should’ve been 3,5 hours, but it was about 5 hours. We were expecting
to come to a harbor, but instead we stopped in shallow water. Everyone was
wondering what happened and then we noticed a small ROWING boat with two people
in it. We then realized that the rowing boat was there to transport all apprx.
40 people and the luggage to the shore. The boat was leaking and the bottom was
covered in water. We came to the main land and there the rowing boat couple
wanted money. We had asked before if we had to pay anything extra and the
hostel said no. We felt that it was not okay to ask the passengers for money –
the couple should’ve asked the boat company for extra compensation instead.
