Finally, my timing was perfect, Kim. I arrived in La Paz just in time to see their uber colorful Gran Poder festival and parade, which was one big party!
Then I stumbled upon a huge student demonstration against their president Evo Morales—for changing the term limit—that was even more interesting.
But hauling-ass down Bolivia’s Death Road on a mountain bike—starting the twelve-thousand-foot descent on pavement in sub-zero cold, then racing down the gravel ‘Camino de la Muerte’ in a tropical climate—was the most fun!
The forty thousand tons of silver mined from Potosi’s Cerro Rico—starting in the late 1500s—bankrolled the Spanish Empire but caused appalling suffering among the indigenous people.
