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South America » Bolivia » La Paz Department » Coroico
November 5th 2006

Published: November 27th 2006

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patrickscott

El Camino del Diablo

This is it...the world´s most dangerous highway. On average, 26 vehicles a year go off the road and from the vertical drops along the road, I can pretty much say that once you go off the road, your done!

Well, this entry is difficult to write because of the controversial topic that it contains. If you know anything about Bolivia, you may know that the World's Most Dangerous Highway is located here and it is actually quite close to La Paz. At the other end of the highway is a spectacular little town called Coroico, which is a weekend getaway for many Paceños (what people from La Paz are referred to as). I will give a brief description of why this is considered to be the world´s most dangerous highway. The highway is unpaved, mostly single lane (ie. very narrow), contains no guard rails and there definitely exists no shoulder. Going off the road and death are pretty much synonymous in the case of this road. On average, 26 vehicles a year meet their fate on this road. Most of these accidents are related to inexperienced drivers in private vehicles and large buses that should not be on this road to begin with. Also, most accidents (not all though) happen during the rainy season. From the advice of locals who have gone to Coroico many times in their lives (and obviously survived), taking a minibus to Coroico is the safest

The minibus to Coroico

As my friends went to Coroico the day before, I travelled by myself in this minibus with 14 other Bolivians. From listening to what the locals have to say, taking a minibus is the safest way to get between La Paz and Coroico. I don´t know how anything bigger makes it down that road.

way to go there as they are smaller (fit about 15 people) and the drivers are usually very experienced. The local people mentioned that Coroico is not a place to miss in Bolivia either.

So on Friday, my friends Karla, Lesley and Véronique left to go to Coroico but I had to stay behind in La Paz for the day to finalize everything with CUSO, such as picking up my passport with a valid working visa, my Bolivian identity card, and opening up a bank account. I told them that I would try to meet them in Coroico on Saturday. I hummed and hahhed about it all day and then finally I decided I would catch a bus the next morning.

So Saturday morning, I got myself out of bed at six in the morning. Not sure how considering Margott in the CUSO office had a dinner party the night before and her husband would not allow us to have an empty drink. I caught a taxi to Villa Fatima, a region north of Miraflores to find a bus to Coroico. I didn't realize how popular Coroico was as a weekend destination until I saw how many people

Bienvenido a Yolasa

About 20 minutes outside of Coroico, the bus pulled over in a small town so people could grab a bite to eat before heading up to Coroico. "Lefts every day" :) For you Bridgehead fans, the Bolivan cofee that is sold there comes from Caranavi.

were searching around to find a minibus to Coroico. I was hoping to catch a seven o'clock bus, but was only able to find one that was leaving at eight o'clock. As I had to wait an area around the bus stop, I noticed this area is very lively first thing in the morning with a large market. If you forgot to bring snacks for the ride, there were lots of places to buy them. Finally, eight o'clock arrived and I hopped into the middle seat of the front row of the minibus. Looking around I noticed that I was the only non-Bolivian on the bus. I was sitting besides Pele, a paceño, who was really interested in talking to me, and an Aymara woman, bowler hat included. Finally, a real Bolivian experience. Unfortunately, about 10 minutes into our trip, a few of us had to get out of the bus and walk up a very steep hill and the bus could not do it with everyone in it. After this, everything went smoothly for about 20 minutes, I even saw some llamas and alpacas grazing beside the highway, then we hit a huge traffic jam at the checkpoint onto

Downtown Yolasa

Yolasa has one street and that is the highway running through it. Here you can buy food, juice out a sandwich bags, and coca leaves.

the highway. At the checkpoint, I think they were making sure that all the drivers of public vehicles were certified to drive on this road. After about 20 minutes of waiting, we were through and onto the highway. I was so impressed by the conditions of the highway for about the first hour after the checkpoint. Two lanes, paved, guardrails. Is the highway really that bad? Then we got to a point where the highway was closed off, and the bus went onto a little dirt road. (I later found out that the close off part of the highway, is the new highway which they have been building for years. Some companies use this road but pay much more money). This is the highway that I read about, single lane and unpaved and weaving its ways around the mountains, winding its way down to Coroico. There was only one nerve-racking moment, and that is when we met a minibus coming from the other direction. As downhill traffic has to yield to uphill traffic (also downhill traffic is on the outside), we had to backup a bit to a wider area to allow the minibus to pass us. I found out

24-hour Gas Station

I don´t think I would count on this place being up at 2AM.

that the rules of the road are different on this highway. Everywhere is Bolivia you drive on the right side of the road, but here, it is the left side of the road (which means if you are going downhill, you are on the outside). The views were absolutely amazing along the way, and it is incredible how green everything gets as you descend from La Paz.

Finally, the end of the dangerous part was over and we stopped in the village of Yolasa so that people could pick up lunch before arriving in Coroico. I don´t know what the rush was because Coroico was only another 7 km away. Yolasa is a very small town which as far as I am concerned, exists only as the checkpoint onto to highway. The only road in Yolasa is the highway that runs through it.

Finally, we arrived in Coroico, along with hoards of people. Why as these people? Besides the fact that it was a long weekend, there was also a MAS (Movimiento al Socialismo) convention in Coroico that weekend. MAS is the party that is currently in power in Bolivia, led by Evo Morales (who was not in

Dusty Men

These men rode in the back of a truck standing up along that interesting highway. As the road is really dusty near Yolasa, these men were covered in dust.

town). All the hotels around the plaza were packed and charging more than advertised, but I was able to find a hotel that overlooked the town for $12/night with bathroom (which is expensive, but it was a treat). I would have stayed at the same place where my friends were staying but they weren't where they said they´d be. I searched for them for a while but gave up, had lunch and went for a short hike before the rain came down. What spectacular views of the surrounding areas for an area just above where my hotel was located. Too bad that it started raining, otherwise, I am sure the few from even higher would have been even better. I spent a lot of time roaming around the town, keeping an eye for the girls and asking at hotels whether there were three Canadian girls staying there. The answer was always no. I ended up walking by the MAS convention (if any of you CUSO people are reading this, I walked by the convention, I did not participate in it 😊 ) where lots of people were gathered. I heard some music playing somewhere in the distance so I decided

Another truckful of people

There were teams of people showing up on Coroico on Saturday for a MAS political covention.

to check it out. I couldn´t believe it...the people of Coroico were still celebrating the Day of the Dead. There were tents everywhere near the cemetary serving food and of course, beer. On my way back into town, I heard "PATRICK" and that´s how I found my friends. They were heading back to there hotel for dinner and they found me in a part of the town that isn´t very touristy... go figure! I joined them for dinner at their hotel, and the food was amazing. I had curried vegetables over quinoa and it was delicious. I had been craving curry for a long time and finally I found it.

After dinner, Lesley decided to walk into town with me and she heard that music from the Day of the Dead celebration and wanted to investigate. What a great idea that was! We decided to have a beer in one of the tents close to the cemetary. Lesley and I were the talk of the party being the only non-Bolivian people at the celebration. Some old, drunk man was sitting beside me and told me all about how people in Coroico celebrate the Day of the Dead. He was

The River in Yolasa

I saw lots of people throwing water from this river onto themselves, because the heat in Yolasa was almost unbearable.

hard to understand (mainly because of the amount of alcohol he had consumed) but was a really nice guy. He even shared his beer with Lesley and I. Oh yeah, before I forget, a large bottle of beer (710 ml) on cost 6 bolivianos at this celebration... so cheap!! Some people came up to us just to shake our hands. Our bartender was a girl, about 10 years old, that had a purple Little Mermaid shirt on. She stared at us the whole time. She was so cute! After finishing off a few beer, Lesley and I decided to head into town and the people were celebrating there as well. Men and women were playing music and dancing in the plaza. Again, why don´t we have plazas in North America!!! What a day it was. The whole day I felt that I was immersed in the real Bolivia.

Unfortunately, I had to leave town early the next morning due to the high demand for buses returning to La Paz after the long weekend. My visit was short but it was very enjoyable!

The best part about the whole trip was: I SURVIVED!!!

(En español)
Bien, esta entrada

A view of the Yungas

This is the view from the hotel I was staying at. The Yungas is the region that Coroico is located in.

es dificil a escribir porque contiene un asunto polémico. Si Ud. sabe ago sobre de Bolivia, puede saber que La Carretera Más Peligroso del Mundo está ubicado aquí y es cerca de La Paz. Al otro lado de la carretera es un pequeño pueblo espectacular llamó Coroico, cuál es una partida del fin de semana para muchos Paceños (qué gente del La Paz se refieren como). Daré una descripción breve de porque está se considera la carretera más peligroso del mundo. La carretera no está pavimentado, solo carril (ie. muy estrecha), no contiene los pretiles y sin duda, no exista un hombro. El salir el camino y la muerte son sinónimos en el caso de este camino. De media, 26 vehículos entcontran su destino en este camino cada año. La mayoría de los accidentes están relacionado a los conductors sin experencía en los vehíchulos privados o los autobuses grandes que no debrían en este camino en el primer lugar. Tambíen, la mayoría de los accidentes occuren durante la época de lluvia. Por los consejos de los lugareños quien fuieron a Coroico muchas veces en sus vidas (y ellos sobrevivieron obviamente), tomar un minibus a Coroico es el más seguro manera

A view of Coroico

This is the view from the hotel I was staying at. Coroico is a village of about 4500 people, needless to say, it is much smaller than La Paz.

a ir allí como estos son pequeñito (se puede cabar 15 personas) y los conductors, por regla general, tienen mucha experencía. Los lugareños mencionaron que Coroico es un lugar que no se puede perderse en Bolivia.

Pues, viernes por la mañana mis amigas Karla, Lesley y Véronique dejaron para ir a Coroico pero yo debía querdarme en La Paz para ultimar todos con CUSO, como recoger mi pasaporte con un visado de trabajar, mi tarjeta de identifación de Bolivia, y el abrir de un cuenta de banco. Las dije a ellas que intentaría a encontrarlas in Coroico el sábado. Debatí con me todo el día y finalemente decidí que voy a tomar un bus mañana por la mañana para Coroico.

Entonces, el sábado por la mañana, me desperté a las seis de la mañana. No estoy seguro como el noche anterior, Margott de la oficina de CUSO tuvo une fiesta de cena a su casa y su esposo no nos permitiría a tener una bedida vacía. Tomé un taxi a Villa Fatima, un barrio norte de Miraflores, para encontrar un minibús a Coroico. No realicé como popular Coroico era para un destinario de fin de semana hasta vea

Another view of the surrondings

I started taking a hike up into the mountains and was fortunate to get this picture before the heavy rains started.

cuantos personas fuieron buscando para un minibús a Coroico tambíen. Esperaba a tomar un minibús a las seite, pero solamente encontré una por las ocho. Como debía esperar cerca de la parada de autobús, noté que este barrio está muy animado en la mañana con un mercado grande. Si se olvidó llevar los bocados por el viaje, hay muchos lugares donde se puede comprarlas. Finalemente, llegó las ocho y salté en la silla del medio de la primera fila del minibús. Con una mirada por el minibús, noté que fuí la sola persona en el minibús que no fue boliviana. Me asentaba al lado de Pele, un paceño, que realmente fue interesado a habler conmigo, y una mujer Aymara, el sombrero "Bowler" incluyido. Finalement, una verdad experencía boliviana. Desgracidamente, después 10 minutes en nuesto viaje, unos de nosotros necitamos sacar el minibús porque hubo una cuesta empinada y el minibús no pudo subir esta cuesta con todos nosotos. Después, todo va lisamente por 20 minutos, yo ví unas llamas y unas alpacas paciendo al lado de la carretera, y entonces, nosotros encontramos un embotellamiento grande al control de la carretera. Después 20 minutes del esperar, nosotros estábamos esta carretera famosa.

Here comes the rain

I could the rain coming my way and luckily I wasn´t that far along on my hike so I headed back to the hotel.

Estuve tan impresionado por las condiciones de la carretera sobre una hora después el control. Dos carriles, pavimentado, los pretiles. ¿La carretera está realmente tan mala? Entonces, llegamos a un punto donde la carretera estaba cerrado, y nuestra minibús iba en un pequño camino de tierra.

(Voy a terminar esta entrada pronto en español)

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