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Published: August 15th 2006
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!!!!!!
Eeek! No crash barriers So, as you may have already guessed, its confession time about our sunny little jaunt into Coroico. The bicycle ride that I mentioned in the previous entry was actually a bicycle ride down The World's Most Dangerous Road (no exaggeration, it was recently voted that again in a British magazine). The road is the main route between La Paz and Brazil so it gets pretty busy with trucks and buses and its actually only big enough for one car in most places. Last week a bus went over the side and 50 people died and our friend Kat told us when she did it about 2 weeks ago one of the cyclists fell off the side and broke her nose and ankle. Insane? Yes I thought we were when we started to consider it.
We set off from a cafe in La Paz at around 7.30am yesterday in a van. We had chosen Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking as our tour company after countless recommendations. We arrived at La Cumbre about an hour later and after getting in to all our protective gear (helmets, goggles, plastic trousers and jacket to protect us from the dust and mud) we were ready. My
bike was called Smiley and Mike's was Burro (not Burro Malo, Amy D), for those in the know both were full suspension (they were designed for a comfy ride for those not in the know) which turned out to be a pretty good thing. Before we set off our guide gave us a little pep talk (alot about people losing teeth and breaking limbs) and then told us we had to make an offering to Pachamama (Mother Earth in Quechuan) before we set off. Each of us then had to drink from a bottle filled with 96% proof alcohol and then pour a little on the ground. Man did it burn going down!
We set off down the beginning of the ride. The first 20K was on a tarmac road, to allow us to get used to the bike's and to "practicise" the proper pedal position. The whole journey was 60K going from a height of 4,700m to 1,100m.
I found the first section pretty alarming as we were told not to brake unless going into a corner. After a little while though I got kind of used to it. Mike found it a breeze from the start
which is unsurprising.
After about 15K, there was an uphill bit for 5K. They recommended that people recovering from a cold, with asthma or just not particularly fit people not do this section as cycling uphill at 4,500m altitude wasn't easy. Becky and I took this as our cue to get in the van! Tim and Mike were much more courageous. After their 5K jaunt (which they did concede was difficult) we had a quick snack stop and then it was on to The World's Most Dangerous Road. The road was incredibly dusty and bumpy and we had to stay on the left hand side which was cliff side! I was terrified at first and went down pretty slowly hands on brakes the entire way. Our instructor Gui swiftly told me that there was no way I could go at my current speed the whole way down and that I was going to have to build up my confidence. After I realised I was holding my arms too stiffly which was making my head wobble so much I couldn't see I was fine. Loose arms and fast speed were apparently the way to save yourself from the bumps on
this journey. Pretty soon I was near the front of the group once I'd got past some Norwegians who kept staying really close to each other which we were not supposed to do in case someone has to stop quickly. I wanted to get as far away from them as poss!
The ride was amazing! We shot down really fast and round all these corners. There was a whistle signal for when trucks were coming the other way and dependent on the width of the road (some bits were barely wide enough for trucks to go along) we either had to stop and get off or just slow down until it passed. A couple of times it was quite hairy! The scenery (when I was brave enough to look) was unbelieveable. There were some points at which I was just aware of the vast expanse of nothing beginning a few inches from me. The whole valley which we were riding through was shrouded in haze. We found out a little later that the people who live in the valley are burning fires at the moment in order for the smoke to combine with the air from the altiplano which
will create clouds and rain. I thought this was some sort of rainmaking ritual but it turns out it can actually work!
The scenery is fantastic though, with big peaks (I think that's my favourite phrase in these blogs!) surrounding us throughout the valley.
Whilst the ride was amazing it was pretty scary aswell. There were a couple of moments when I thought I was going to hit a wall or just come skidding off but thankfully nothing like that happened. Only one person fell off, unfortunately he was one of the few without protective clothing so his arm was all scratched. Becky had just built up her confidence and then nearly had a fall so in the end she got in the bus for a little while. When we had reached the beginning of the last leg, Tim, Mike and I were all hanging around waiting for the people who had gotten punctures when a lone figure came cycling up the hill easy rider style. Only after the figure had pulled up did we realise it was Bek come to join us!
The last leg involved tearing down yet more dusty road and finally coming to a
small ocean (well it seemed like it, really it was a sort of puddle about thigh height which a small river flowed into). We were told there were 2 ways to go across, in the middle or round the side. At the last minute Gui decided we would only get one option and got Oscar our driver to park the big bus across the side route. Mike wasn't impressed. Apparently he'd signed up for "the world's most dangerous road" not the "world's wettest road". His main source of complaint was his only pair of shoes getting wet. We all did it though, making sure we got enough speed up to get through the water. Mike even did a little jump off a ramp into it (show off).
At the bottom of the ride we got a free beer and our t-shirts as evidence of completion. Never has beer tasted so good! Our toast was to no-one having died, led by our guide! When the t-shirts were being handed out the bar owner (a middle aged Bolivian woman with only half a set of teeth) got so excited when Tim got his she started cheering "Yay Timmy" despite having never
met any of us before nor having spoken to any of us. Very random!
So now we are in Coroico. We are staying at the
Hotel Esmereldas. Although not quite as cheap as our accomodation in La Paz its still reasonable. As we are so much lower its much warmer and there is a swimming pool here and everything. My only sources of complaint are a surly bar man (we've christened him "uh" as that's all he seems to say) and sand flies.
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