La Paz, Bolivia and the World´s Most Deadliest Road

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On Sunday July 6 I headed out by bus from Puno, Peru to La Paz Bolivia. We traveled for five hours on a bus until we reached the border of Peru and Bolivia. It was a simple border and I crossed over after going through immigration and stopped in the small town of Copacabbana, Bolivia on the shores of Lake Titicaca. I changed buses and started the second bus journey to La Paz. First you have to cross the Isla del Sol of Lake Titicaca to continue the journey. You get off the bus and your bus goes on these tiny and falling apart ferries that don´t look like they will make the journey across the Isla. The bus ferries are manuevered by one person and is propelled by a motor that would be on a small rowboat. Even though it looked like my bus was going to sink it made it to the other side, which is a good thing since all our bags were on board. We crossed the Isla on small motor boats that seemed to be put together glue and duct tape but alas I too made it to the other side. After another four hours we finally made it to the hugh urban metropolis of La Paz. The city sits at about 4000 meter elevation but the city is situated in what looks like a bowl. The streets are dirty and the city abuzz with traffic and people selling things every few feet.

Today I signed up to go on a downhill mountain bike ride down the worlds most deadliest road. I signed up with Downhill Madness which had great bikes and good protective equipment. They take you to the starting point which is a paved road at about 4800 meters. Going down the paved road which is almost all downhill you can hit amazing speeds. I was in the slower group but I still went as fast as I dared. There is an uphill section but I opted to take the bus uphill. After two hours of on the paved road and about 30 km we started the actual death road. The death is a narrow dirt and gravel road on the side of mountain with sheer drop offs almost the whole way. You have to ride the back brake of the bike on strait ways because as soon as you let off the brake you accelerate like a bat out of hell. It takes several hours to reach the bottom of the road which is 1200 meter elevation which means you descend over 3400 meters on the death road. It was an awesome experience but scarey at the same time because if you mess up and crash you may fall to your death which about six riders in total have. I didn´t really get a chance to see the views while going down the road but when we were going back by van we could see the hugh drop offs that road along earlier. Tomorrow I head out to Uyuni and take a 3 day and night 4x4 excursion on the Salt Flats of Boliva.

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Comments

[Brenda Hughes]

Blessed your heart for doing the Bike ride on Death row. And you are alive to tell about it. There no way I would be able to do that for I would have panic. Can't wait for the next journal. I am glad that you are having fun.