Blogs from Yungas Road, La Paz Department, Bolivia, South America - page 2

They call it the most dangerous road in the world. Yungas Road has earned its reputation by claiming hundreds of victims. Every year. I’m deciding to travel down this road. By bike. There’s no shortage of tour agencies of various quality in South America. This is one tour where you do not want to go cheap; one where the quality of guides and equipment can actually make a difference between life and death. I choose a company named Gravity, seemingly with a good reputation, solid experience, and professional staff. The group meets early in the morning at a coffee shop in central La Paz. For someone who lives in Amsterdam the idea of meeting in a coffee shop early morning before rushing headlong down the Road of Death on two wheels is rather amusing. Our guides ... read more

Thursday Margot had a day off (Hemelvaart, Kristi Himmelfart) so why not take a weekend camping. Michael is leaving Monday for Europe so this will be our last weekend together for the coming month. We drove of on Friday and the plan was Chulumani. A couple of thousand meters lower and hopefully with sun and probably with a couple of mosquitoes. Margot had a place in mind were she had been 12 years ago, hoping it was still existing. After loads of sand and dust we arrived after 4 hours. It was still there and we found even a luxurious campsite. We were the only two camping there with lots of birds, two Grand Danois dogs, parrots, cows etc. The owner makes ice creams and fantastic cakes so nothing to complain. We even had a quiche ... read more

The Death Road / North Yungas - Bolivia. Andean mountains, rain, mud, a bicycle and a great big smile: An adventure to remind me how much fun it is to be alive. In 1995 the Inter-American Development Bank stated that the North Yungas Road, a few hours from Bolivia’s capital La Paz, is ‘the most dangerous road in the world’, and they would not be providing funds to have upgrades or repairs made. A new route has recently been constructed, while the ‘Road of Death’ remains open for cyclists and tourists with a desire for a thrill and some wicked photo opportunities of the rain forest. It is completely unbelievable that buses would use this goat track perched on the side of massive cliff drops; it is however believable that many vehicles have fallen off and ... read more

Mum, you might want to sit down.... Yesterday I rode 64kms and travelled vertical distance of 3,650m down the most dangerous road in the world on a mountain bike! I survived with no injuries, apart from a dozen or so nasty mosquito bites. I first heard about this a couple of years ago from a friend who´d been travelling in south america and it´s something I´ve wanted to do for ages. As Heather says, my idea of a holiday is throwing myself down a mountain on a bike and hoping for the best. You can imagine how excited I was! It was an early start to met the group and the guide, a friendly swedish guy who liked to take the piss out of everyone. We jump in the van and it´s less than 2 minutes ... read more

*** Ok, so we had vowed to finish our travel blog by the end of the year (that was 2008), so we are somewhat delayed but hey we are determined to finish it before 2012 - so we better get a move on. *** Back in Santiago at our hostel called Bella Vista we excitedly awaited the arrival of our visitor… if you haven’t guessed already it was our friend from university James (you might know him as Jimbo or Bell). We met James with lots of screams and hugs (Sam would like to point out that he was not screaming like a girl; that was just Claire!) and then we pounced on all the “British” goodies he had brought out for us…newspapers, magazines and to real Cadbury's chocolate!! We thought we should ease Jim into ... read more