Blogs from Yungas Road, La Paz Department, Bolivia, South America - page 3

The worlds most dangerous road This road has many names. The death road, the worlds most dangerous road, the coroico road and the yungas road... The road is going from La Paz to Coroico, and is about 69 km long. It first goes up to 4700 meter, before its descending to 330 meter. This makes it a popular ride for bikers! The official name, I think, is Yungas Road. And it's because it connects the Altiplano with the Yungas (mountain to jungle) The road was build in the 1930s during the Chaco War with Bolivia. They used Paraguayan prisoners to build it. The reason why it got its nickname "the death road", was because of all the people who died during the construction, one of the guides told me. He said that it was maybe one ... read more

Z Uyuni jsem vyrazil nocnim autobusem do La Paz, pricemz na palube jsem byl krome ridice jedinej co nemluvil hebrejsky, pripadal jsem si jak uprostred skolniho vyletu izraelsky stredni skoly. Diky nim jsme vyrazili o hodinu pozdejc, ale aspon to znamenalo, ze neprijedeme tak hrozne brzo. Cesta nam ubihala, nad ranem jsem se probudil zimou, protoze jsem si nevzal spacak. Kolem desaty rano jsme se dostali konecne na predmesti La Pazu aby autobus vzdal svuj boj. Bylo nam vysvetleno, ze dal se nejede, ale aby nam zajistili nahradni dopravu, to uz ne. Takze jsme museli vsichni na taxika. Nased jsem spolu s deseti dalsima lidma do malyho bilyho mikrobusu, ktery brazdej celou jizni Ameriku a vyrazili jsme. Predmesti La Pazu se naziva Alto a lezi na nahorni plosine nad mestem. Vlastni La Paz je potom jeden ... read more

Up at 6, walking through the rain, breakfast at 7:30 and off in a bus with 3 guides and 6 other people. We climbed to 4750m (this will be the highest we have been and will go). At 4750m we all got out of the bus sporting not waterproof trousers, a black jacket, a white waterproof jacket, gloves, helmet, a buff and goggles. We were assigned a bike each with pretty impressive front and back wheel suspension. The guide Matt was great, giving us tips on how to ride your mountain bike fast, how to adjust your weight etc - this all might seem pretty standard stuff but it helped alot! We set off in the snow and mountains down 34km of tarmac. Zooming around twisty roads with waterfalls and steep drops, overtaking lorries! At about ... read more

Frueh sind Diarmuid und ich aufgestanden, zwei Stunden im Bus in die Berge auf 4.700 Hoehenmeter. Nach kurzer Einweisung in die Downhillbikes gehts auch schon los. Etwas ungewohnt, da voll gefedert und sehr weich eingestellt, extra breiter Lenker, gehts dann ein Stueck Landstrasse runter. Noch etwas wacklig mit Traenen in den Augen durch den kalten Fahrtwind fahren wir den steilen Berg hinab, vorbei an Lkw, vorbeit an zwei Polizeikontrollstationen. In einer Kurve stuerzt nach ca. 5 Minuten die erste aus unserer 7-koepfigen Gruppe, weil sie in einer Kurve nur das Vorderrad bremst und die Bremsen wirklich hart eingestellt sind. Nach beruhigenden Wordten, notduerftigen Flicken der Wunden und der zerrissenen Kleidung kann es weiter gehen. Nach Zahlung von 24 Bolivianos (2,40€) an einem weiteren Kontrollposten kommt eine "kleine" Steigung. Zuegig angegangen sind die ersten zwanzig Sekunden ke ... read more

Now how could anyone turn down an opportunity to bike on a road named the "Death Road"? I have no idea. The " Death Road" also very often called the most dangerous road in the world, was, until last year the only way into La Paz from a western approach. The reason it is called this is that in places it is only 5-6 feet in width. And this rout was used extensivly as a commercial rout. Needles to say our guide did point out a couple of trucks at the bottom of cliffs that had never been retrieved. We began the day a 7:30 am and drove with the rest of our group to the top of the road. The altitude here was either 13.5k feet or 14.4k feet. I can´t remember now, I think ... read more