The World's Most Dangerous Road

Mom, I may have mentioned I was doing a "bike ride" the other day, but I intentionally left out some details of where this bike ride would be. There's a road about an hour north of La Paz known as "The World's Most Dangerous Road" or the "Death Road" that you can actually pay to bike down, so we did. Used as an actual main highway from La Paz to Coroico since the mid 1940's, there were many deaths due to cars plummetting off the 2,000 foot drops from the narrow road with little to no guard rails. There are all kinds of contradiciting statistics about the numbers of deaths and stuff, but what I can tell you from my own experience is that it is a very long, steep, narrow road with many winding turns and dropoffs that cars really have no business driving on in one direction, let alone both directions. Admittedly, it has gotten safer in the past few years due to the "New Death Road" they built on the other side of the valley which greatly minimized the amount of car traffic on the Old Road. After arriving in La Paz and hearing it was one of the highlights to do in Bolivia, we set out to find a reputable company that would let us bike down the road and experience it for ourselves.

We decided this wasn't the type of thing to try and go budget on, so we went with the biggest company called Gravity, which is a little bit more but we decided was worth the price. We heard stories of people paying half what we paid and having the back brakes fail, so we felt good about the choice. The bikes are all new with full suspension and disc breaks, and well maintained. The guides are well paid and experienced. A young English couple, Joe and Lucy, who we met and befriended through our Salar de Uyuni trip joined us. We boarded the bus in the morning and headed up and out of La Paz to the top of the road at about 15,700 feet where we pleasantly discovered it to be snowing heavily. We bundled up and got a saftey lecture from our guide, boarded our bikes and headed down the road. Over the course of 4 or so hours, we dropped about 10,000 feet in altitude over about 40 miles of road, mostly dirt, with very little pedaling. The road wound along the cliff side, under waterfalls, and past many crosses and memorials to those who managed to not stay on the road. The temperature went from near freezing to sunny and sweltering heat. We arrived at the bottom to enjoy a cold beer and buffet lunch at an animal sanctuary and resort in Coroico.

It was a great feeling to know we survived, but it wasn't really until the ride back up the road in the bus that we realized what exactly we had just come down. We stocked up on some cervezas for the three hour ride back up the Old Road we came down. It had been a few weeks since they drove back up the road due to mudlsides, so we were told it was quite a treat to go back up. Despite the snow storm at the top, we were also blessed with one of the clearest days in a long time, allowing us to see all the way back down the valley to see the road, as well as up to the snow capped crags up the valley. We stopped to take a few pictures, as well as for a bathroom break, and though I contemplated peeing off the ledge, I got scared. We arrived back in La Paz exhausted, surprised at how much riding a bike without pedaling can wear you out. So Mom, I am alive and well, don't worry. Our next stop is not quite as dangerous, but has a much funnier name... Lake Titicaca.

Oh and when I walked into the bar in the hostel the other day, a girl yelled "THIS IS SPARTA!!!" at me, so I guess the beard is doing just fine.