flying in a tin can!

Leaving Rurrenbaque we decided the best mode of transport was to fly. This meant a forty minute flight instead of 20 hours by bus arriving back in La Paz at 6am and spending the last best part of the night on the 'Death' road. It was a tough choice for me as a flight cost 60 US dollars and the bus cost less than $10, but value for my life brought me down on the side of the plane.
However on reaching the airport, just a shed at the end of a long field and checking in our baggage (to the same man that sold our tickets, drove us to the airport and would check our boarding passes!!) the plane arrived. I can only describe it as a tin can with wings it wasn't much bigger than a large car, once inside (and seated in one of the 18 seats) it was possible to see out of the cabin window as it was so close in front.
I could hardly contain my excitement as we set off, not the same sentiment shared by Doug and Sarah (my travel companions) they were both a funny shade of grey as we bounced down the grassy run-way. The scenery was amazing, we took off from jungle terrain- slow moving brown rivers making their way through densely forested gentle slopes and before i could blink the scene changed to barren altiplano punctuated by snow capped mountains- 40 minutes later we landed, all rather breathless at 3600m in La Paz airport (the highest in the world).