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Published: March 16th 2007
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Today we biked down ´The most dangerous road in the world.´ I don´t know exactly how many people a year die on the road but enough for it to earn its name. We found a company, Gravity, that was significantly more expensive than the rest, but seemed the safest.
The first 22km of the road were paved and pretty easy. The last 42km were a different story. The road was anywhere from 12 feet across to 6 feet, dirt ruts, waterfalls cascading onto and over the road, a few rivers crossing over the road and thankfully not too many cars. When the cars do come it’s the biker´s reasonability to go to the cliff side of the road and wait for the car to pass. Five white-knuckle hours of braking later we were successfully at the bottom. We stopped at a little villa for beers and lunch. And besides the 100 sandfly bites we each got it was a great place to rest.
Today we decided to fly up to Rurrenabaque (the bus is 22 hours) to venture into the Bolivian Amazon. Our twin-prop was a quick hour flight up with a sketchy banking landing on a dirt/grass landing strip.
We were met by the Chalalan guides who took us into town and checked us into our hotel. We would leave first thing in the morning for our 6 hour boat ride up rio beni and rio tuichi to the eco-lodge Chalalan.
Chalalan was amazing. Lots of flora and fauna…lots of bugs! After three days of walking through the woods with Evan, our guide, we boarded back on the dug-out, motorized canoe for the 3 hour ride down river to Rurrenabaque. We had a day of rest and planned to fly back to La Paz the next day, assuming the weather was alright.
The next morning we went to the airline office to ask if the flight was leaving on time. We were told to come back at noon when they would know more. We went back at noon and it turns out the rain from the previous night made the dirt runway too slippery and the flight would not be taking off…maybe tomorrow.
This went on for four days. Rurrenabaque was a great place to be ´stuck. Very relaxing..lots of time to lounge in the hammocks and read.
Finally we decided to way our other options.
22 hour bus ride or 10-12 hour jeep ride. We opted for the jeep. Carlos picked us up outside the Chalalan office and after a quick stop for provisions (toilet paper, food, drinks) at the market we were off. 450 km and 10 hours later we would be in La Paz.
Leaving at 1pm we expected to be in around midnight. Around 8 pm Carlos informed us the road we in bad shape due to all the rain and we wouldn´t be in until 5 or 6 in the morning! Two hours later we drove through a small town 10 or lean-to´s on the side of the road. A US Aid truck called after us, we reversed and he informed us there was a problem with the road ahead. Two hours down the road (everything is measured in hours, not km or miles) there was a landslide and the road was impassable. We holed up in a fabulous (kidding) place above a restaurant for 2 dollars a bed. Luckely they had 4 single beds for the 7 of us. Carlos slept in the car…I think to protect it and the 6 of us sharred the beds. The wonderful Cholita woman
who owned the place told us to keep the windows closed to keep the moths out. The problem was that the room was swarming with moths, huge ones… on top of that the room was thick with the smell of mold.
Concerned about the sanitation of this pueblo I stuck to canned beer for dinner. After two I thought I just might be buzzed enough to fall asleep in our wonderful abode. Climbing into our sleeping bags, to avoid the bedbugs Anthony and I shared a twin and attempted to get a bit of rest.
Frankly I was glad we would wait until morning. Turns out the ´new road´ which replaces the most dangerous road was closed. The idea of driving up this road from 2 until 6 am didn´t sit well with me.
In the morning we were told the road should be clear by mid-day. We decided to chance it and head to the landslide and wait until we could pass. Turned out the road was ´open´when we arrived around 9 am. There was a large crowed gathered cheering on the trucks and cars as they gingerly crossed the mudslide. Our wonderful driver, Carlos, crossed his chest and slowly drove through. We slipped quit a bit and dropped into some large holes but we made it! The crowed roared as we crossed, most of us gave us the peace sign and few give the other international sign of peace.
All down hill from here! After a few more hours of driving - honking as we speed around turns faster than I was comfortable with and speeding past the large trucks when it was just wide enough - we approached the final road (turns out the new road was open) and we had one last mountain pass. I was fast asleep until we pulled over to the side of the road with steam pouring out of the hood…overheating.
We emptied out all of our drinking water onto the engine in an attempt to cool it and re-filled our bottles from the small stream on the side of the road. As we waited for the engine to cool the hiss from the tire grew loader…flat tire!
Soon enough we were back on the road…until 15 minutes later that is when the car was overheating again. This went on for 2 or 3 hours.
Finally at 6 pm we arrived in La Paz. Poor Carlos would be stuck there for a few days getting a new radiator.
We are now in Cusco and plan to go to Machu Picchu tomorrow!
Sorry for the lack of photos. I will add them when I get back to the states.
Take care
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Carly
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The best
This has been my favorite so far! Thank you for continuing to share your adventures. :)