Blogs from Coroico, La Paz Department, Bolivia, South America - page 5

THE DEATH ROAD.....AARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!! No seriously it isn't that bad. If you have no common sense and no idea how to handle a mountain bike on a dirt track than maybe this isn't for you. But for most kids who grew up tearing around their neighbourhoods and hitting some "sweet jumps" as Napoleon Dynamite would say it is one of the most enjoyable and exhilarating rides I have ever done. After sifting through all the agencies in La Paz I ended up going for Barro Biking which were charging a mid-range price of 380 Bolivianos (a bit under $40US). They had nice Giant bikes with disc brakes which was all I really wanted. I don't usually wear shinpads, elbow pads and a motorbike helmet when I ride back home so why would I want to wear that ... read more

Phew I made it! I successfully made it down the World Most Dangerous road on a mountain bike in one piece and loved every minute of it. The Word Bank has officially named a very high and narrow mountain pass in Bolivia, the worlds worst as it has killed the most people on the planet. Trucks and buses have gone off the side not to mention the amount of tourists who have lost control of their bikes and toppled off. The fall is sheer and very real (nearly 1 km) - I don´t think I have concentrated as hard as I did while going down the track in a long while. This was obviously an AOA (Amy Only Activity) as Giss was too scared but I had him well prepared should he have received a knock ... read more

Hey Everbody So we arrived in Bolivia the other day, very smooth border crossing with no issues whatsoever. We arrived in Copacabanna and as you can imagine we all felt it necessary to sign the song. Not much to do in Copacabana, but it was very pretty with the lake in the background, and the white beaches. Made you almost feel like you were in the tropics....ALMOST. On Thursday we left Copacabanna and headed towards La Paz. Little did we know we had to cross the lake and our bus had to get on a "ferry" where it rocked precariously back and forth to the point that I thought we would lose it. Passengers were NOT to be riding in the bus, but instead got to take a tiny boat over, with enough lifejackets to replay ... read more

Am Dienstag ging es los mit dem Trail. Pascal unser Fuehrer holte uns vom Hpstel ab und dann ging es immer aufwaerts bis auf 4900 m. Oben war es eiskalt, der Wind bliess und Nebelschwaden zogen umher. Am ersten Tag ging es in 6 Stunden 2000 Hoehenmeter hinab. Einen Tag bevor die Tour los ging haben wir ein bolivianisches Fast Food Restaurant ausprobiert. Das war keine gute Idee (wahrscheinlich kam alles davon), denn ich hatte mir den Magen total verdorben. In der Frueh ging es mir noch gut, doch im laufe des Tages wurde mir immer uebler. Die Landschaft war echt wunderschoen. Unglaublich beeindruckent. Am Ende des ersten Tages bekam ich aber erhoehte Temperatur. Im Zelt zu schlafen war echt in der Situation nicht das beste und am naechsten Tag wachte ich mit 39 Grad Fieber ... read more

Polly: We returned to La Paz for a night and hooked up with some of our friends from the GAP Adventure´s tour. Whilst looking for their hotel Ross caught some dude pick-pocketing me, but he only got away with a snotty tissue. Yucky! We couldn´t party too late as we had a big day coming up. We´d signed up with Freebikes to cycle the "Death Road". That night I started feeling a bit sick with nerves as I´m kinda clumsy and don´t have a good track record with bikes. We got up early and were too tired to be scared, but as the minibus took us up to the summit, "La Cumbre", at 4700m above sea level, we were all eerily quiet. In our group were 6 Swiss and us. We had 2 guides and the ... read more