Driving into La Paz in our rickety bus from Copacabana was like seeing a different world. A world where the people, for some unfathomable reason, had decided to build their city in a deep valley, and had continued construction up the sides of the surrounding mountains. Any piece of land, under about a 90 degree angle, was fair game. I have no idea how they have managed to do this, but since 2.3m people now live in the greater city, and it's growing all the time, it must be working for them.

We arrived at our super-premium hotel, an engagement gift from Pete and Claire (thanks again guys), covered in dust after a week on the road. I don't think the hotel staff knew quite what to make of four backpackers, but they were politeness itself and we were treated the same as any rich businessman's wife, who seemed to fill the majority of the other rooms whilst we were there. Our room was amazing – more of a suite really, complete with kitchen, living room (with actual sofas!) and a complimentary rubber duck in the bathroom.

All a bit knackered after a busy few days, and very excited by our new surroundings, we decided to make the most of it and spent our first night in La Paz in the hotel. First we had a little wander around the premium suburb we were staying in, mostly to stock up on goodies for dinner that evening. Back at the hotel, we enjoyed the sauna and steam room, and then settled down to watch Rock'n'rolla accompanied by various cheeses and a bottle of La Concepcíon red, Bolivia's national wine (it's not great).

The next day we ventured into the capital proper, and quickly found ourselves surrounded by the noises, sights and smells of this living, breathing city. La Paz might not be up there on the must-see cities of the world, but we found it fascinating. We wandered through the Witches' Market where weathered old ladies were selling llama foetuses for £5 – apparently putting one in the foundations of your home or office will bring luck to your family or to your work. James was a little disappointed that we didn't buy one. However, I imagine the conversation at customs in Heathrow come December wouldn't go so well....

From there it was on to the so-called Black Market (though it seemed fairly legit to us) with stalls selling everything from locks and keys, to toilets, to the bowler hats all the indigenous ladies wear (well I guess they have to buy them from somewhere). Feeling slightly overstimulated already, we then headed pver to the Coca Museum, which tells the history of coca, its conversion to cocaine, and the lasting effects on the Bolivian economy as a result of western demand for the drug. Pretty interesting stuff. We decided to try coca coffee and biscuits, which left us all talking incredibly quickly and led to some lengthy debates about strip clubs and artificial intelligence.

Sadly it was coming to the end of the first half: time for Pete and Claire to head back to the UK. We had a last celebratory dinner together, kicked off with a free drink in the hotel bar. We toasted a successful trip with delicious gin and tonics (good ones are few and far between here) but my new lightweight status meant that after it, I was already feeling pretty merry. This I compounded by my suggesting to Claire that it might be a good idea for us to move on to mojitos. Our meal was fantastic, and fortuitously just across the road from our hotel, so it was only a short stumble home. It was at this point I realised that I had misplaced our room key at some point during the evening. James and Pete fled upstairs, leaving Claire and I to handle the reception staff alone. Sadly, we couldn't remember the exact number of our room....only when we got up to the 9th floor did it dawn on us that we had got another key for Pete and Claire's room. Still no key for ours. The second trip down was more successful in that we actually got the room number right, but the key didn't seem to want to work in the door. On the third trip, the guy on reception sent his colleague up with us, ostensibly to ensure we got into our room ok. I think it was really to double check we weren't robbers casing the joint with a fake display of drunkenness. Judging by how sore my head was the next morning, I could've assured them there was no performance.

Pete and Claire headed off the next afternoon, but we weren't on our own for long. The following morning the second half of our La Paz stay began: Swills arrived for a week-long tour of Bolivia. We were heading to Uyuni on an overnight bus that evening, but that still gave us a day to show him around the capital. First we headed to the city centre park which offered awesome views of the city and its bizarre location. Sunday is clearly rest day in La Paz, and so as well as the vista we also enjoyed watching local families enjoy the slides and swings in the park, all dressed in their finest clothes – especially these two lovely ladies. Later, we headed to a local restaurant for a slap-up Sunday lunch. This being Bolivia, the feast included masses of meat, 3 types of carbs, including banana potatoes, and more salad, soup and vegetables than any sane individual could possibly be expected to eat. We did our best, but had to draw the line at dessert.