Acetazolamide and Coca Tea

I finally arrived in La Paz after a very long journey via Los Angeles, Lima and Santa Cruz. Overall duration door to door was 32 hours. Needless to say I was exhausted and after 13 hours of solid shut eye I feel human again. At just over 13,000 feet the air is very thin and breathing is somewhat difficult particularly when doing anything strenuous such as typing on a keyboard. The effects of high altitude however are diminished significantly by the use of Acetazolamide (big word for my limited vocabulary) and Coca tea (makes me happy). Both, unfortunately have side effects as one acts as a diuretic and the other drank frequently in copious amounts necessitates frequent trips to the sandbox.
For those of you that have just recently joined this blog, I should explain what this journey is all about.

After arriving at the Airport I grab a free cab to my Hotel

La Paz from my Apartment window

Ten foolhardy adventurers are about to embark on 23 day motorcycle journey organized by Compass Adventure Motorcycle Expeditions out of Australia. We will travel through Bolivia, Argentina and Chile. At last count our group is made up of seven riders from Australia, two from Canada and one from the USA. We are supported by a ride leader and a support vehicle backup person. In total we have 4 females and 8 males ranging in age from 49 to 65. Our goal is to explore the Andean districts of South America and we will be visiting places such as Potosi,Uyuni,Cordoba, Mendoza, Pucon and Santiago to name a few. Our journey will begin on Monday but in the meantime the next few days will be about exploring La Paz and acclimatizing to the high elevation. Today promises to be interesting as the entire city of La Paz has gone on strike for reasons I have yet to discover. I will attempt to explore and learn more however the locals have cautioned that violence is common and that I should exercise extreme care.