http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Yungas-Road/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from South America , Bolivia , La Paz Department , Yungas Road en-us Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:04:01 +0000 Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:04:01 +0000 So wersquore skint sat in La Paz feeling a bit jaded. Wersquove got a few days to burn. Wersquove done one of the hardest Peruvian treks having never trekked before so what do we do With ZERO proper mountain biking experience we decide to sign up for the ldquoDEATH ROADrdquo Mountain Biking. Nice.The whole time wersquod said ldquoNah not our thingrdquo and ldquoWhy bother http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Yungas-Road/blog-404380.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Yungas-Road/blog-401833.html Bonjour bonjourComme vous pouvez le voir jai survecu a la route la plus dangereuse du monde Je nai pas de photos de ma descente a velo car ils nous recommandaient de ne pas prendre les cameras avec nous. En effet de 1 si on chute on risque de briser la camera et de 2 les chocs de la route vont briser la camera anyway si on la conserve dans une poche pendant la descente et je nai pas de http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Yungas-Road/blog-401257.html 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 InterAmerican Development Bank stated that the North Yungas Road a few hours from Boliviarsquos capital La Paz is lsquothe most dangerous road in the worldrsquo and they would not be providing funds to have upgrades o http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Yungas-Road/blog-391777.html So next delated story. We are now beginning of March. After the great bus ride from Uyuni to La Paz.La Paz has remained like 4 years ago one big market spreading on kilometers. We stayed in a hotel in the very center with nothing much to tell about. After the Uyuni adventure our aim was to relax eat well and we did mainly in the restaurant I frequently visited with Marco 4 years ago Angelo http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Yungas-Road/blog-385115.html Mum you might want to sit down.... Yesterday I rode 64kms and travelled vertical distance of 3650m 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 whod been travelling in south america and its something Ive wanted to do for ages. As Heather say http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Yungas-Road/blog-342396.html Thankfully we wake up feeling almost human but weak as kittens. We have just enough energy to drag ourselves onto the bus to Rurrenabaque in the Amazon basin. Apparently its a 20hr drive although its only about 200 miles from La Paz on my map...it later becomes clear why it takes so long. Were assured that the new highway is now open so we wont be leaving the city on The Worlds Most Dengero http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Yungas-Road/blog-335531.html The air is thin and your lungs feel like they are going to explode. At an elevation of 4760 metres above sea level you begin to suffer the effects of altitude and a serious lack of oxygen to the brain. You feel fearless as you cycle through the clouds and down dirt roads at lightening speed. You begin to feel your bike slide on the gravel while dodging boulders and pot holes. You look down the http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Yungas-Road/blog-325021.html The worlds most dangerous roadThis 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 bikersThe official name I think is Yungas Road. And it's because it connects the Altipl http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Yungas-Road/blog-278355.html One of the trips that many agencies organise in La Paz is a cycling trip down The Worlds Most Dangerous Road. The road starts in La Cumbre 4640 metres above sea level and ends in Coroico 1295 metres above sea level and is 64km long with vertical cliffs up to 600m high. Until recently the road was used for traffic and an average of 300 people died a year mostly from cars and buses going ove http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Yungas-Road/blog-270277.html 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 d http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Yungas-Road/blog-262157.html Well were back in La Paz for a couple of days since thursday we leave tomorrow if everthing works with our flightSo with a couple of days to fill we decided to do what every other tourist in La Paz does and that is mountain bike down the most dangersous road in the world. This is the old main road to Coroico. Gravel no guard rails and 400m vertical cliffs make up this trip. We were a bit http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Yungas-Road/blog-261301.html Up at 6 walking through the rain breakfast at 730 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 su http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Yungas-Road/blog-251351.html The Oruro madness winding up I headed back to La Paz for some rest and recuperation only to discover on arrival that in fact Carnaval happens all over Bolivia that week and the capital city is no exception. After an age wandering around the bus terminals taxis bedecked with multicoloured streamers flowers and drunk taxi drivers hanging out of their car doors singing tunelessly to Peruvian pa http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Yungas-Road/blog-249033.html Today's activity would consist of throwing ourselves down a big mountain on a bike in the rain. We went with a company called Gravity Bolivia who have just recently started offering their famous tours in the wet season after previously saying it was too dangerous in this crazy weather. We met in a cafe at 7.15. Our group consisted of two semi pro mountain bikers one of whom had dragged his not http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Yungas-Road/blog-246404.html 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 vorb http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Yungas-Road/blog-240885.html Well it took me two months to finally loose something. Unfortunately it happened to be my Ipod which I left on the bus from Copacabana to La Paz. Bummerhellip.After arriving in La Paz I checked into a really cool hostel called the Adventure Brew Hostel. It is the highest micro brewery in the world and I must say it is pretty good stuff especially after drinking all this South American beer. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Yungas-Road/blog-237443.html 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 56 feet in width. And this rout was used extensivly as a commercial rout. Needles to http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Yungas-Road/blog-235954.html Hola todos I wanted to update you on the weeks since New Years as I only wrote about the Inca trail in the last blog.The Intrepid tour started in Lima on Dec 28 with 11 other persons 6 from Australia 1 Kiwi 2 English 1 Dutch and 1 Russian. We started with two days in the Peruvian Rainforest where I saw some more monkeys and enjoyd a very luxorious lodge we even had a swimming pool . The r http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Yungas-Road/blog-235251.html Well gang hope you all had a peaceful and tranquil christmas day....mine was anything butAfter I wrote the last travel blog Ben Brad Bill and I decided we were bored and would have a couple of pre group meal quiet drinks. Well needless to say it was happy hour 2 for 1 on rum and cokes. We turned up late for the group meal a little worse for wear. When our food arrived i stuffed half of http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Yungas-Road/blog-231548.html