Still living it up!

Almost a month on. Damn, that was one quick month. My last post was on Halloween. Since then its been, well, crazy. Entering into Bolivia was epic. As soon as we were at the border, the bus driver came on the bus and asked for ´The American´ to please step out first. Yikes. Customs def. treated me badly and forced tons of paperwork on me, ask me questions in Spanish I didnt understand and took the nice little $135 visa fee from me, emptying my pockets. Ugh. It was worth it tho. Every penny. But really....screw reciprocity.
Two days later I was in La Paz watching the presidential elections. It was def. an action packed night, as I chose a great hostel to watch the next president be chosen. I am not a cool-aid drinker and I def. don´t vote blindly one way or the other, but everyone there was terrified that the woman from Alaska would be elected. Questions to the governor for AK: Seriously, don´t you follow domestic policies? Why did you get your passport last year? What publications do you read? Your son is in Iraq to protect free speach? Yes, Alaska is close to Russia. Go away lady, I never want to hear of you again. No wonder why abunch of raggety backpackers couldnt even see right this election. Anyways, the economy is bad and 8 years of serving the elite was more than enough to give this election fo B.O.
Two days after the election I biked Bolivia´s infamous ´Death Road.´ It was, in all regards, fricking amazing. In the course of 60 kilometers the road descends 11,500 feet. It went fast. It was scary. There are ALOT of crosses and memorials for the dead. But for me, just having a good bike and a solid head was enough not to die. In 1994 400+ people died on that thing. No big surprise, but eventually developing Boliva developed enough to build an alternate highway. Now deaths are only a few unlucky, or dumb, bikers who go off the edge. I have no clue why, but the Israelis tend to be the unlucky ones here. 4 out of 13 biker deaths since 1990 raises an eyebrow for me.
Last weekend I got cocky and tried my first peak over 6,000 meters. Huayna Potosi, 6,088 meters. There is overestimating your ability and getting cocky. I think I had both. I´ve climbed rocks for years, I spent summers working in Rocky Mountain NP. However, sleeping at 17,300 feet was tough! The air was amazingly thin. I had a huge headache and when we awoke at midnight to climb the peak, I was feeling abit off. I hiked to 18,900 and after 2 hours said screw it. My heart was beating out of my chest, I couldnt go 30 feet wo falling and my mind was a big haze. In such moments of desperation, you question the motive for any human action; ruining your body and torturing your lungs do not fall into the realm of logical. I turned around and wobbled down the giant beast, with guide in tow. No regrets. Not to mention, I could barely speak. Maybe 4 or 5 days up there would have done me good. The two guys I did it with made it. They said it was the hardest thing of their life. They also had been at 16,000 for a week. And they used a special ingredient, popular in south America. Hint, it looks alot like the snow outside.

Everything else in a nutshell.......3 days jeeping the Bolivian desert, a few night on an uncomfortable bus and now I am chilling in Sucre for 4 or 5 days. Me gusto la jungle. Need a break from living so hard. How far south can I go? Before my flight departs December 29th?