Snapshot: As Training Pitches Go, Bolivia’s Is More Picturesque Than Most…

Chris Wright

28th, August 2012

4 Comments

By Chris Wright

Pies’ old Sunday League side used to train on a spit of dog turd-strewn bog, stuck like a marshy splinter between a sewage treatment plant and a HGV goods yard. The dizzying smell of burning diesel and liquefied human waste mingling on those warm, sticky, airless summer nights is something that will live with us for the rest of our lives.

By way of contrast, Bolivia’s national football squad train here (click for a full-size image) in the basin below a spectacular valley in La Paz – the only drawback being that it’s probably 1,000,000 miles above sea level and trying to breathe is like sucking a golf ball through a hosepipe…

(Photo: Juan Karita/AP)

Posted in International football

Share this article: Email

4 Comments

  1. Gabe says:

    Great post, Chris. I’m from Bolivia, & I tell you what. Going to La Paz is the worst thing ever on your first few days. You can’t breathe at all, you get nauseous, exploding headaches. But then its all good after your first week. The scenery is amazing!.. with the Illimani mountain making a showing.

  2. Zam says:

    Truly incredible!

  3. MJ says:

    thanks for the new desktop background!

  4. V says:

    Thank you for the insight, Gabe

Leave a Reply to V