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Published: March 17th 2006
Blessing Before the Ride
We blessed the ground with alcohol before we started our bike ride down the world´s most dangerous rode. Some people drank it but not us since it was rubbing alcohol!Hi all, back from an exciting three days of seeing wildlife in steamy regions of Bolivia. Currently, we are in Rurrenbaque, a small jungle town that caters to tourist visiting Madidi National Park, one of the most biodiverse places on earth, with over 1,000 bird species (more than all of the United States) in a space only slightly larger than Rhode Island. We did not see all of them, but Sara made an honest effort. On a separate note, I am welcoming all comments, good or bad (please, not ugly), either just to hear from people enjoying it or from people telling me to shorten my entries (yes, sometimes they drag on too long). Now, back to La Paz for our supposedly short plane ride to Rurrenbaque and our additional travels in the city.
Well, after getting wallet stolen and hearing or seeing the stories of others, the regions of La Paz outside our hostel had become a very unfriendly place, at least in our minds. There were so many people, that it just seemed inevitable that something would get stolen again. So, instead of staying inside, we decide that there would be no more backpacks and only our tiny
One down, 11 to go!
If I remember correctly (its been awhile), there were 13 stages to our bike ride and here is a picture of Matt ending the first! wallet exposed to the caustic enviroment of criminal La Paz. The first stop was a set of four museums that were close to our hotel, chronciling the history of the city, Bolvian geography, precious metals of the pre-Incan people, and the house of a former Bolivian leader. All the museums were interesting, with the geographic one of most interest to me, showing all many wars Bolivia has lost. It used to include a good portion of Peru, a fifth of Chile, and large portions of Argentina and Brazil. The loss to Chile appears to be most deeply felt, as the Bolivian lost their only sea access and still openly hold a grudge. After our museum trip, we attempted to find a vegetarian restaurant that had apparently gone out of buisness, ending up back at the same lunch spot as the day before. This time, we carefully avoided Plaza San Francisco. After some brief shopping, which included picking up the aforementioned tiny wallet for 5 bolivianos (less than a dollar), headed off to look into going down the self proclaimed ¨World´s Most Dangerous Road¨ on mountain bike. Sara and I decided to sign up for this thrill ride mostly for the
Bundled up and ready to go!
As you can see, I have all my layers on as it was quite cold flying down the paved portion of the trail. Quite exhilirating though, especially among such great scenery! sights, though our lack of recent experience on a bike had Sara a little nervous, even though it was her idea to do it. Jill was going to take a rest day, as she had a bit of a fever and was nursing a cough picked up during our salt flats tour. After a brief rest back at our safe house, I mean hostel, we headed to yet another nearby vegetarian restaurant with yet another menu full of meat, and went to bed early for our respective reasons.
Sara and I got up early the next morning to walk to a meeting point near our tour company´s office. Fortunately, it meeting point was also an American-style (think Starbucks, but nicer) coffeehouse, so we had easily the best breakfast of the trip for a little over $2.50 per person. We vowed to come back the following morning prior to our flight to Rurrenbaque and take Jill with us. At this point there were a quite a number of people gathering in the restaurant, when our guide showed up. It was quickly obvious that he was not Bolivian. It turned out he was from Michigan and went to college in Kalamazoo,
Another Stage Down!
Here is I am (this is Sara) finishing another stage in the pavement, which meant the gravel part which I was dreading was getting closer! Michigan, near my high school. Small world. Anyway, we finished up and loaded up the bus to head above the city of La Paz. You would think 12,000 ft was high enough, but we were headed to over 4,700 meters or over 15,000 ft, hurtling down the mountain on paved roads to 3,600 meters over 22 kilometers, then another 40+ kilometers of the unpaved ¨World´s Most Dangerous Road¨ down to a little over 4,000 ft above sea level, a drop of nearly 11,000 ft. We had decided on Gravity because they seemed to be the safest, and our experience would reinforce this. However, our guide telling up that two past guide were killed while riding as ¨truck bait¨did nothing to reassure us. However, the worst any responsible rider had received was a broken bone or two, and if we felt uncomfortable, we could also hop on the bus and ride down that way. Anyway, we both raced down the first section at 40 mph or more, with Sara coming into each stop (about every 2 miles) with a huge smile on her face, and me waiting with the same. It was fantastic, and the views were amazing, looking down huge
Done with the uphill!
Here is Matt a bit breathless after finishing the uphill stage of the ride but he was happy to come in second. valleys and up to towering peaks. After the only rough climb of the trip (about 1,000 ft, I came in second out of 15 and Sara sixth, the first girl), we soon came to the notorious section of the ride. The most dangerous part of the road has to do with how narrow portions are with only room for one vehicle and, if you are very careful, one bike. Fortunately, there were many turnouts and our three guides kept us quite safe. They were in constant radio contact and blew whistles whenever a vehicle approached. This was of little comfort in the cloud forest portion, when we could only see 100 ft in from of us, but the air soon cleared and, for better or worse, we could see what we were dealing with, which included 2,500 ft drops off the left side of the road. There was very little traffic, but the traffic that was there normally consisted of buses and moved at a rapid pace up the hill, so blind turns were not to be taken lightly. Also, downhill traffic has to take the left hand, or cliff, side of the road, which can be uncomfortable if caught
Got him at the end!
I wasn´t going to let another boy beat me so I kicked it into high gear and passed him right at the end! in a narrow section with a large bus. This is where we were glad of our tour, as the other tour group on the road seemed quite wreckless, with only one guide and the supply bus sometimes passing riders and leaving them behind. We were never caught in anything near dangerous, and after a few hours, the road opened up a bit and we stopped braking as much and picking up a little more speed. This was not without consequence, as rattling over the road left several portions of both of our bodies (hands and rear, mostly) quite sore after the ride. Fortunately, we soon reached the end, 6 hours after getting on the bike (though about a quarter of this was spent resting), and had cold beer and soda waiting at the bottom, followed by a drive to a local hotel in Coroico for an included buffet lunch and swimming in the pool. Though I can´t say for sure, I would wager that this ride would be any mountain biker´s dream. A long but spectacular bus ride later, we were back in La Paz, exhausted but happy, and ready for a good night´s sleep.
The following morning consisted
Beautiful scenery everywhere!
As you can see from this picture, the scenery on the ride was incredible and variable from mountains to waterfalls. of breakfast, a trip to find sandals, and finding a way to the airport. The first two were easy, but the last proved more difficult. La Paz, as usual, had broken out in protests, so the highway to the airport was closed. The protest were all peaceful, but turned our 20 minute cab ride into 45 minutes. We had allowed plenty of time, though it was irrelavent, as it was raining in Rurrenbaque. Normally, this wouldn´t be a big deal, but since the runway is made of grass, no planes fly when it´s raining. We were sent away after 4 hours, and told that the plane would try again at 6:30am the next day. So, back to La Paz, which was a bitter disappointment to Sara, as she was anxious to leave the crime behind and head to less crowded locals. Jill and I headed our to book our final ticket from Santa Cruz back to La Paz as well as pick up some dinner (Lebanese cuisine in La Paz!), followed by finally watching Episode III of the most recent Star Wars trilogy, which likely would have been better without the sound. Once again, early to bed.
At 5:00am
Cloudforest and gravel
Here I am on the world´s most dangerous road! The gravel wasn´t too bad but the blind curves and the vehicles made it interesting! in La Paz, taxis are the only things moving, so we quickly found one which we shared with a young Brit who was on La Paz for two months and taking the same flight as us. After stopping, and starting, and stopping, and starting, and then boarding, then disboarded one passenger (the flight was overbooked), and starting on the runway, then coming back (they were waiting for a plane to test the Rurrenbaque runway), then finally getting the OK to go, we were on our way to Rurrenbaque. Which is were I shall stop, as it is getting late and I have a long day of relaxing (and searching for a TV with the NCAA tournament on it) set up for tomorrow. Until then.
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Bernadette Thomasy
non-member comment
A nice mix
Matt and Sara, You're doing a great job adding a little history, geography and culture along with your personal experiences and observations. My only tip would be more paragraphs. I'm enjoying the entries and would read them no matter what form they are in since they are written by my favorite travelers. Keep on writing!!! We hope all is well with all three of you. Love, Mom