Day 23: Death Road

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We got picked up by our shuttle bus early and drove up to the start of the road. We got fitted out with helmets, bikes and gloves and had a safety briefing. They have a tradition where they tip alcohol on the ground, on your bike, and you have a taste, for good luck before you start the ride. 96% alcohol is not nice! The first 20km of the road was sealed and we used it to get used to our bikes and turning corners. It was a real struggle when we hit the first patch of gravel road, some of us slid all over the place. Once we got used to it we were fine and I ended up going much faster than I thought I would for the 44km of the actual Death Road. The road wasn’t as narrow as we had thought it would be, but the sheer cliff drops were just as big as we’d thought! The scenery was beautiful, and on the way back up on the shuttle bus we stopped and took some cool photos.

At the end of the ride we were given cold beer and a tshirt as a souvenir. We had a great buffet lunch in a wildlife reserve where there were spider monkeys wandering around and climbing all over us. They were super cute! After lunch and a swim we headed back on our 3 hour drive back into La Paz. We were all really shattered by the time we got back, but it was an awesome, awesome day and well worth doing. Rach was really gutted she missed out but was in bed sick all day.

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