Surviving Death Road to ring in Cusco 2016...

Day 24
My overnight bus from Uyuni got into La Paz around 6am where I then made my way uphill to my charming little hostel Residencial Latino. After the past week of very restless and sleepless nights it was great to have a private room to recuperate in. A much-needed nap later, we were off to do the walking tour at 1:30pm. La Paz is such an interesting city, blending the modern with the traditional. We'd walk through an urbanised part of the city, turn the corner and be in a market where the cholitas would be selling their fresh produce, another corner and we'd be in the Witches' Market where there were all sorts of trinkets and potions for sale (including llama foetuses). Anyways not much to this day besides the tour, eating and resting.

Welcome to 2011...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! 

It's now 2pm Swiss time on Janauary 1st, which would be the end of the first day in Sydney. Only just got up an hour ago, after quite a late night. Ended up spending NYE as a bartender at my uncle's and aunt's restaurant last night. It was so fast-paced. I've never worked in such an environment. I'll certainly have a bit more patience next time I eat at a busy restaurant lol. I did however have easy access to the alcohol, plus a certain alcoholic holiday punch that we had made for our guests. It was made with lychee juice, orange juice, Campari and Cointreu and tasted absolutely amazing. And since it was right there in front of me, I ended drinking around two litres of that throughout the night lol. I also learnt how to pour beer from a tap (and also how to drink from the tap lol). As midnight approached, we simply put on the radio since we were still in the process of closing up the restaurant. Countdown in German!! Once midnight struck, champagne was flowing, and it was just a more relaxed atmosphere than the hectic pace earlier on in the night when the restaurant was packed. Fireworks were going off outside, but they were nowhere near as good as the ones in Sydney lol. Here's a short clip of the fireworks and my thoughts at the start of the new year on Facebook. After I could drink no more champagne, I ended up heading out for more drinks at a nearby bar with some of the people from the restaurant. I guess that this year's start was a bit quieter than what I would have liked (plus their fireworks are nothing compared to Sydney's), but I guess the fact that I'm in Europe has to count for something lol.

White Christmas in the Austrian mountains...

It's now the 29th of December, 2010, and it's been a few days since I arrived back in Switzerland after my Eurotrip. Technically, my Eurotrip hadn't ended since we ended up going to Austria for the snows, rather than the Swiss Alps like I had told everyone lol. But yeah, I got back into Switzerland from Florence on the 23rd, and on the morning of the 24th, my relatives and I headed over to a place called Arlberg in Austria for our snow break. Anyways, more on that later. Last I left off, I was about to head back to Switzerland.