After a poor nights sleep at Newport Pagnell Services we headed for La Paz, the highest capital city in the world. Feeling a tad peckish we stopped at a roadside diner where half a sheep's head was on the menu. So I tried it and I must say it was very tasty except it took two swallows to get the eye down. I am a great believer in that if you are killing an animal then the whole of it should be used. Besides these sheep have lived free, without hormones, animal feeds or anything unnatural. Have I placated my vegetarian friends?

The ride to La Paz was fine but trying to get into the city and finding accommodation was a nightmare. Vehicles travelling every which way, people stepping into the road without looking, combis stopping with a nano seconds notice, roadblocks, demonstrations and all conducted on the side of a mountain so the clutch was working overtime. Buenos Aires is no longer my most disliked city in South America. I just do not remember Bolivia being so unpleasant, in fact it was my most liked country in South America. Not now? We also tried to buy some fuel. In those garages where the attendant could be bothered to acknowledge our presence we were either told that they would not sell petrol to foreigners or if they did it was three times the price. Welcome to the country of let us hate tourists and then let us fleece them!

At this stage the plan was to find a place to stay. When that proved fruitless we decided to ride out to the start of the death road and it took us nearly 2 hours to get out of the city. OK having had enough the plan was changed to let us find a place to stay and then let us get the hell out of Bolivia in the morning.