La Paz (Bolivia)
08 May - 11 May 2015
Welcome to the jungle. This urban
sprawl has liquid mania coursing through its veins with every coloured
mini-van, every honking horn and every screaming ticket tout whose destination
sounds about as recognisable as the lyrics of a Lil Wayne ‘song’, or should
that be a cerebral vasospasm? It’s an exciting place that can take some time to
get use to. It cajoles you, almost taunts you into scaling its steep roads,
only to smack you down to size with its own innate knowledge that ‘the air up here is thin man’. The home
town experts have adapted but for those of us that have simply popped into La
Paz, the trick at operating at 3500mtrs + is what the change in atmospheric
pressure does to the body. Less pressure equals less oxygen which means that
the heart and lungs up their capacity to do the very same thing that they would
need to do at sea level. It’s exactly the reason why Bolivia fought so hard to
have all their home games played at the Estadio Hernando Siles. The likes of
Messi & Neymer are often brought to their knees in games where any sort of
physical exertion can cause dizziness, headaches, loss of breath and loss of
the very skills that they own.
Diesel, soot, detritus. Masked
gunmen cleaning shoes on the street corner. Zebras guiding you across Av.6 de
Agosta. Bank guards with machine guns. Shadows. Light. Heat. Cold. Conflict and
resolution, that’s kind of what La Paz seems to be. This is also where the
urban skyway comes into play. In order to beat the congestion and find the most
practical way to get the city moving the Mi
Teleferico was built. This is an aerial cable car urban transit system and
it zips people above the jumble of houses and terrain, to points that sit above
the bowl. Back in 2015 we saw a few lines operating but from what I understand
the plan is to have a network with an intended reach of somewhere close to
35kms.
The amazing La Paz - Bolivia
Making our way up to El Alto via
the teleferico on one of our days we gazed in awe at the vast jumble that
spread out before us. It’s not practical but it’s certainly impressive, and
from a few metres above, and more specifically, from the view points at the end
of the line, you get to see what this city needs to contend with on a daily
basis.
One of our highlights in La Paz
on this occasion was the afternoon we spent jumping out of an open window some
16 floors above the city centre. This was another of those mental v.physical
challenges that I inevitably place myself in when opportunities of this nature
arise. A psychic civil war, a fight against the accepted laws of my mind, Urban
Rush in La Paz is the ticket you buy to trigger that internal conflict of fight
or flight. You need a couple of chugs of ‘harden the f**k’ up to be able to
conquer this one but abseiling or rappelling down a building in this city just
felt like the thing we needed to do.
As commonly is the case between
Inga and myself, the process by which we settle on an activity like this is as
follows;
Henry: “Oh wow, URBAN RUSH. You
can jump out of a building over the city”
Inga: “That looks cool, lets do
it if it doesn’t cost too much”
The idea to invest in our
stupidity then sinks into that section of unspoken conscience. We have the
awareness of the activity, our plan and the spoken desire to execute. I say
spoken desire, as for me the bravado of mentioning what we can do is surpassed
by the internal fear of what may happen if we do what we said we would. My role
now, as seems to be the case, is to let the idea slide out of sight and then
somehow manufacture an excuse as to why we couldn’t continue with our plan but
at the point where the requisite time we would need to do so had passed. This
however was not one of those occasions. This time…this time Inga called me out
on an afternoon when we were looking for something to do.
Inga: “So, are we going to do Urban
Rush?”
Henry: “Hmmm, maybe, I don’t
know”
Inga: “What price would be too
much? What would be your top price?”
Now this last question give me an
opportunity. It allows me to ‘seem as though’ I’m interested but also give me
the escape clause all in the one response. What I need to do here is work out a
price that sounds reasonable and rational, one not too low so as to show that I
want to back out, but also, one not so high that commits me to the task either
way. I run the numbers in my head like a Phd student on the verge of a mighty
breakthrough in string theory and come up with the number…
Henry: “250 bolivianos”
Now, I know this is expensive,
for Bolivians. Actually, it’s extreme for Bolivians. For Australians though,
$50AUD is a fair deal and not at all an issue. My hand is now played. I’ve
banked the cost being over 250 bolivianos and knowing Inga, if that price is
higher, at say 350 or so, then we will cancel the option. I know that for a
fact. For right now we commence the walk and head to Urban Rush headquarters.
We arrive at the reception area
of URBAN RUSH.
Inga: “Hi there, we are
interested in knowing how much the abseiling costs?”
Reception person: “250
Bolivianos”
F**K!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’d just signed by own death warrant.
Inga hanging out in La Paz - Bolivia
That's called an 'ultimate leap of faith' - Inga - La Paz - Bolivia
Twenty minutes later we were high
above the city, dressed in fluorescent orange jumpsuits staring at a gaping
hole in the wall of this perfectly solid structure.
Now I have abseiling experience.
Back at camp in Year 7 I abseiled down a rock ledge that might have been 6 mtrs
high, so no problem right!? Just multiply that by 8 or 9 and reversing your
rear out of a building with some supportive staff and partner watching should
be an absolute piece of cake.
I put on my ‘big boy pants’,
regressed back to year 7 and backed out high above the cacophony and madness of
what was going on below me. It was a little surreal. An endorphin filled sail
through the Bolivian stratosphere. Mini-jumping down the dirty green façade of
the Hotel Presidente, apparently ‘La Paz’s finest’, quoting the Urban Rush
Bolivia site.
La Paz - Bolivia
Urban Rush - coming at you - La Paz - Bolivia
Then it was Inga’s turn and she
stepped up without hesitation. Feet on the edge, back to the city, 50mtrs above
the ground, 10 mins training in her back pocket. I’m not sure what it is with
these Latvian women. Absolutely fearless. I was very impressed as she sailed
down the wall as the gaudy Urban Rush sign framed her orange outline.
ALL FINISHED RIGHT
>>>> EVERYTHING PROVEN >>> OR SO THEY’D HAVE YOU BELIEVE.
NOW, TIME TO GO DOWN FACE
FIRST!?!? ABSOLUTELY, THAT’S THE RULE!
La Paz - Bolivia
Inga - 'fly time'
Undertaking your induction into
the world of face first rappelling via an indoor 2 metre practice wall doesn’t
quite have the same impact as stepping up to an open window and knowing that
you’ll be taking a casual stroll down a wall whilst the rest of La Paz watches.
For perspective I’ve add a YouTube video of exactly what this looks like;
After the vertigo and the
inability to let go of THE BUILDING, you make peace with the fact that a few
ropes ‘have you covered’ and thus your walk commences. It progresses all as
outlined in the ‘training manual’ mind you, to the letter, until you get about
6-7 floors from the finish line – that’s when they say, ‘Just let go and jump’.
Obviously holding on to anything is unnecessary right? Jumping from 6 floors is
perfectly sane, especially when wearing a Batman costume!
Still, for anyone reading this
and thinking about giving it a go I would say ‘absolutely’ do it’.
If you do, here are the details:
URBAN RUSH
Calle Linares #940
First floor, Office 5
Two drop special is 200Bs these
days / First drop 150Bs
Just remember, signing of the ‘death waiver’ is obliligatory!
La Paz, Bolivia, Urban Rush, South America
