Zongo Valley Disaster!

We had a few more days in La Paz after flying back from Rurrenbaque so after much deliberation and debate we decided to partake in another bike ride. The reasons behind the decision were basically that we had such a great day on the Worlds Most Dangerous Road bike ride and everything went so well (i.e we didn't die and I didn't fall off or break the bike) that we thought the bike ride curse of the past had been lifted and we would have successful bike rides from now on. So we signed up for the Zongo Valley bike ride.

The Zongo Valley is a beautiful green valley about an hour outside of La Paz, it's hard to imagine beautiful scenery so close to such a crazy, dirty, busy city like La Paz, but it is out there..and its amazing. The valley is flanked by the Cordillera Real mountain range comprised of 50 snow capped mountains which make the scene even more spectacular. The highest is Mount Illimani at 6,438m and can be seen in all its glory on any clear day from La Paz. Huayana Potosi is 6,012m and is pretty spectacular too. The third big one is Chacaltaya, a glacerial mountain at 5,421m. Chacaltaya serves as Bolivia's only ski resort and boasts to be the world's highest lift-served ski area. Our bike ride started at the top of Chacaltaya!

We were taken up to about 5,000m of the mountain and then walked up to the top. It was the hardest 400m walk of my life! It was really hard to breathe and it was sooo cold!! I was so happy to reach the top but also felt awful, it was the coldest I have ever been- I couldn't feel my hands or feet..I wanted to cry I was so cold! But we'd made it to 5,421m- the highest we've ever been..so we were pretty happy and the views of the mountains around us were fantastic. I quickly got back down to 5,000m though and added about 2 more layers of clothing. So this is where the bike ride began-really high up! The first 5 minutes were great, we raced down steep gravel track full of switch backs, on the side of the mountain. I was so pleased..it was all going well so far. But then I started to feel sick, really sick. I kept going, thinking it would pass, but I felt weak and light headed and I had to stop. Unfortunately it seemed I had a small case of altitude sickness..how annoying!! I was so upset! My bike was packed up onto the safety van following us and I got in, feeling awful. Things started to look up though when our guide got out an oxygen tank and a mask for me- amazing! So I sat in the back of the van, following Chris and the others cycle along, breathing in the best oxygen I had inhaled for about a month-given that we were rarely below 3,000m in Bolivia! I felt much better very quickly and wanted to get out and cycle again, although I could really appreciate the amazing views of Huayana Potosi from the comfort of the van..it was spectacular!

I was fully recovered and ready to get back on my bike after about half an hour, this section of the ride was the most technical apparently- it consisted of a number of switch backs very close to one another on a dust track. I started well and was feeling confident. Chris and the guys (there were only 5 of us, 3 of which were professionals!) went on and I continued at a steady pace behind for about 20 minutes when disaster struck. I am still not entirely sure what happened but I think I hit a rock and jammed on the breaks too hard and flew right over the handlebars onto the dirt track a meter or so in front. I fell on my head and hit my knee really badly in the fall too so I couldn't get up or move. So I just lay there in tears and waited for help. Help came quickly- the safety van had caught up with me and the driver helped me into the van. We caught up with the boys and Chris was horrified to see me in such a state..and back in the van! I was in a lot of shock and so disappointed that the ride went so badly! Why did we think a bike ride was a good idea??!!

Luckily nothing was broken, just a few cuts and graises..and I had a very nice ride in the van through the Zongo Valley- luckily the scenery was fab so it really wasn't that bad! Chris had a great ride, it worked out quite well as he could ride as fast as he wanted and not worry about me behind him! Once we reached the bottom of the valley we all had a well deserved beer and a great picnic.

As always with us, the drama doesn't end there. We had given some clothing in to a tailors the day before to be fixed, as it's so cheap in Bolivia we thought we'd do it before we left for Panama on the Monday. On the Friday night, we suddenly realised that we wouldn't be around the Saturday to pick up the clothes as we had booked this bike ride all day..and the tailor would be shut on the Sunday, and we were leaving the country first thing Monday morning! Nightmare! It was looking highly likely that we'd never see our clothes again. VERY upsetting. We got up early on the Saturday before the bike ride to leave a note on the tailors door (in our broken Spanish!) to please stay open until 8pm when we would be arriving back from the bike ride. We hoped and prayed all day that he would. So after the disastrous bike ride we had to rush back to La Paz as quick as possible to get our clothes, unfortunately it was a very slow 3 hour journey back exactly the way we (well, Chris) had ridden. It was quite a tense bus journey back to say the least.

We finally arrived back in La Paz at around 7pm and Chris ran as quickly as possible to the tailors (I just hobbled to the hostel and waited for his return). I was so nervous waiting for him to come back, would he return with or without our clothes? After about 20 minutes Chris arrived back with all our fully mended clothes!! Amazing! We were very lucky! A good end to a nightmare day..we had a great night out in La Paz to celebrate! We've since decided to climb no more mountains and get on no more bikes.