The Death Road

I wasn't supposed to travel down that road. That's why I bought air tickets. Unfortunately, the god of weather decided otherwise.

As soon as we got back to Rurrenabaque, Nicole and I headed to the Amaszonas office to confirm our flights. Turns out that planes haven't been taking off since a couple of days ago due to the rain. Hence, there was a backlog of people waiting to get on whatever flight was going to take off in the near future.
We were supposed to get on the first flight out the next day (at least that's what the ticket said - CONFIRMED), but the airline decided to push us back. WHAT?!?!?!?! I did not want to waste any more time in this little town. It's a good place to relax, but I was on a tight schedule - only 2 months of traveling left! ARGHHHHHHH
Thus, WARU HAD A FIT...
What fu*king airline bounces you off a flight when the ticket is CONFIRMED on that particular flight?!?!?! Airline argues that passengers on the first cancelled flights get priority on the next flight. Don't CONFIRMED ticket holders get to take their flights, while the cancelled passengers get on if and only if there's an unoccupied seat remaining?!?!?!
Waru and airline agent went on and on and on, arguing… WARU WAS HAVING A MAJOR FIT!

All my efforts wasted. Because the following morning was rain. No flights.
Who knew when the next flight out was going to be?!To get back to La Paz, there was the dreaded Bolivian bus option or the chartered jeep. Luckily, we found a few other people who needed to get back to La Paz ASAP (including the 2 Dutch girls on the pampas tour) and organized a jeep. Totally overpriced at 430BOB, not that different from the flights. I better get my promised refund from Amaszonas when I get back!!!

So began the journey. We were supposed to be in La Paz by midnight - about 10 hours on the road (vs. 20 for the bus).
The jeep was from my childhood years. Very uncomfortable at full capacity, squeezed in, little leg room (even for my short legs!).
Before leaving town, the driver stopped by his house, hoping that his wife could squeeze in with us. Yeah right! She wasn't no tiny woman! He finally gave up after we all refused. Wife didn't seem too happy.

As you can see, the roads aren't all that great:Especially with all the rain, we encountered several road blocks from falling rocks. Nothing we couldn't get by, but some were huge. Certain death if it fell right on top of you.
And of course, the expected breakdowns. Let's see - about 3 flat tires, which left us with no spares. We stopped by a small town on the way to get them repaired just in case we encountered more problems down the road. Good decision.
In the meantime, we strolled around the market and did some local photo taking. Cute kids:Did a lot of chatting with the other jeep riders. Conclusion - I think I am going to the Galapagos!!! I met this woman, Debs, who recently came back from a cruise there on the catamaran that I thought about taking a few years ago. She raved about it sooooo much, that I became convinced. I need to go to the Galapagos. I need to find a boat that would take me. Soon.

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that the death road has been improved recently. I don't know what sort of improvement they did, but most of the road was still harrowingly dangerous! Extremely narrow, unpaved roads going along the edge of the mountains. And we had to pass this during the night, making it all the more fun : )
Interestingly, there were areas along the road where the lanes were switched. In other words, one stretch you're driving on the left, but in others you're driving on the right. Rather confusing. Which I think is dangerous. But I think it's regulated for safety reasons - you get the better view depending on which side of the curve you're on. I THINK.

Well, midnight passed. Total darkness.
FREEZING - We had to keep the windows open so that the driver didn't fall asleep. Nicole, who got to sit up in front next to him, was nice enough to have conversations with the guy to keep him up!

The sun rose.

Back in La Paz.