Gearing up for the long haul

I am writing to you for the last time while in Bolivia. I have good news and I have bad news and then I have good news! In that order...Beth and I went biking down the world´s most dangerous road yesterday. I have to say it was the roughest biking we have ever done. We biked down 3600 meters in about 5 hours. The majority of it was downhill with a bit of intense uphill pedaling. I absolutely loved it! We saw a truck that had driven off of a cliff, several crosses where bikers have died, wore dust masks, and have extremely sore butts and hands! The road was insane...one lane most of the way with huge trucks and buses driving in each direction, having to honk horns around corners hoping no one would be there, inches away from several thousand foot drops, and all of this was a dirt and rock road! On top of this setting, my bike seat fell off while I was riding down the hill...talk about safe bikes and a reputable company! The scenary was gorgeous, the weather perfect, and the work out exhilerating! On our way back uphill (in a van fortunately) we drove through the clouds along this same cliff road with absoultely no visability. We had a flat tire along the way and almost hit by a massive truck. How different this world is from the one in the States!

Bad news...we have a 41 hour bus ride tonight! We have purchased loads of food and some world cup trading cards for our bus trip. Our butts are so incredibly soar from biking that it should be an interesting ride. However, the good news is Kayla will be waiting for us in Asuncion! Only two days until we are with her! How exciting. We are making this mad dash for one reason only...to be in Paraguay for the World Cup match- England vs. Paraguay! We (by we I mean me, Beth seems to just play along) are so excited for the World Cup!

Anyways, I will include our food bananza that took place two days ago (Beth and I ate whatever we wanted for an afternoon and the list is extremely long...I do not have it with me) in my next update...it was brilliant eating!

Please think of the craziness we will be facing on this bus...passing through mountains (roads similar to the one we biked), massive dust clouds, and cramped and smelly quarters! We hope it does not rain because roads can close and we could be stranded...missing the World Cup match! Alright, enough for now, we need to go get some food and go grocery shopping for this bus (we are eating our way through the misery)!

Have a great week!

Adam

I forgot to put in my previous post that Beth and I consumed cuy...guinnea pig in Cusco. We also ate Lama!

I would like to clarify what I mean by World Cup trading cards...it is a big book with every team picture, every team shield, every player, every stadium, and the trophies! You need to buy the stickers to put in the book...totaling 596 stickers...that is what we are going to be doing on this trip (we bought 100 5 packs this morning). We are addicted. Thanks Beth for requesting the clarification!