Blogs from Coroico, La Paz Department, Bolivia, South America - page 2

Am nächsten Morgen weckt die Sonne meinen gesundeten Körper. Nach einem Frühstück auf der Yunga-Tal-Terasse wandere ich noch ziemlich geschafft hinunter ins Dorf und suche mir eine schöne Bleibe für die nächsten Tage. Es gibt entweder Ranz oder gleich mit Pool und Wifi, der Luxusbackpacker setzt sich durch. Am Abend speise ich mexikanisch in amerikanisch-italienisch-österreichischer Begleitung zu französischer Jazzmusik. Wir laden den Amerikaner am Nebentisch zu uns ein, er will aber nicht, da wir spanisch reden. Fünf Minuten später. Der Nebentisch-Amerikaner unterhält sich mit unserem Amerikaner quer durchs Restaurant auf Englisch, wir sitzen stumm daneben: Sprachimperialismus. Schließlich schließt er sich aber doch an und wir fahren in Spanglish fort und verabreden uns für den Wasserfall-Trek am nächsten Tag. Der fällt für mich dann prompt ins Wasser, ein Tag Ruhe war ja auch gen... read more

Well we did all survive the Road of Death, well sort of, as we were returning from Coroico back to La Paz, Allan hit a big hole and snapped the front assembly on his car, which dropped the front left down to about 60mm off the road? We pulled off the busy road as it was getting dark after such a big day. What can we do now??? Well it took Cory about ten minutes to locate a welder about 100metres up the road, so we greased the front drive shaft as it was rubbing on the suspension arm and he drove up to the welder fellow to re weld the broken component. Cory stayed with him and I led the rest of us back to the hotel, with a little help from Karen (my GPS). ... read more

So, after the crazy day we had on the World’s most dangerous road, we decided to take it easy for a couple of nights and take in the picturesque views in the town of Coroico. We were still in our group of 5 people consisting of Donna, Helen, Troy, Adrian and myself and the plans for the coming days were pretty simple, to chill, relax and maybe even get some laundry done! The night we arrived was pretty much taken up by trying to find a suitable hostel at a good rate, as well as getting ourselves a nice but cheap dinner. Luckily enough for us, we managed both. The next day, we decided to do some washing as most of us had clothes that pretty much wanted to walk in to the wash due the ... read more

You have to do it to understand it, to feel it. The very notion of being able to descend 3600m in only a few hours is awesome enough on its own - the idea of being able to do that one one of the world's most infamous and dangerous roads, on a mountain bike, is even better. The Yungas Road from La Paz to Coroico was constructed by Paraguayan prisoners of war in the 1930's, it was required to link the fertile environments of the Yungas valleys to La Paz so the produce could be transported easier. The road is of incredibly poor quality however, clinging to a cliff edge, under a cliff and of course, not even remotely paved. In the mid-nineties it was christened 'The Death Road' due to an incredible average of 250 ... read more

Lapaz, an interesting city, a city full of big red brick buildings, thousands of taxis who seem like all they want to do is run you over, hundreds of tourist stores selling everything llama and alpaca you could imagine, a million pharmacys selling anything and everything you could imagine including penicilin and viagra; take your pick! hundreds of tour companies, some great hostels; namely the Wild Rover, which might I add has the most comfortable beds in South America! Route 36, some great resturaunts; I won't be forgetting that steak and red wine date with my Irish lads any time soon! and a nice temperate climate; sunny days and chilly nights; perfect for rugging up, or going out without a million layers on for once. I'd like to thank Lapaz for some big nights which resulted ... read more