We got up rather early to get ready for the upcoming biking adrenaline fiesta. Gibbens was still feeling rough and decided not to go with us.
We went with a notoriously good company, Gravity Assisted, that is completely run by Westerners. When it comes to a day full of life or death scenarios, do you want to trust an Australian or a Bolivian? I think the answer's pretty easy.
We met up with our guide, Marcus, a great older guy who is from Australia. About 2 years ago, he sold all his belongings, packed a backpacked as set off to explore the world, indefinitely. He eventually came across Bolivia and did the Death Road circuit. The guide knew that Marcus had zero plans and offered him a job. He figured he would stay for about a week and save up some cash. That was 15 months ago.
We arrived in our bus at a lake to get all of our gear on and get prepared for the journey. The first bit is down a windy highway so that we can get used to our bikes and going downhill. Wow, it was a lot of fun to just not peddle and, like the name says, let "gravity assist" you! Our first stop was at a cliff that gave us a great view of the valley and a bus wreck!
Further down the road, we came across a US installed drug checkpoint. Because of the temperature, altitude, and latitude, La Paz is the largest producer of coca leaves (which is legal in South America), which can be turned into powered cocaine (which is illegal in South America). Over 1/3 of La Paz's annual production goes missing. While the US is just 5% of the world's population but consumes around 50% of the world's cocaine. This drug checkpoint was completely bogus, we just walked right through; no wonder 1/3 of their production goes missing.
Eventually we made our way to the bottom of the hill. Now its either power up the 8km hill to the Death Road, or get in the bus. At this altitude, everyone voted to pile in the bus!
So Yungas Road connects La Paz to Coroico. The road is about 35 miles and in 1995 was deemed the World's Most Dangerous Road. Before the alternative road was built, the road took an average of one life per day. The road is built of one way traffic, but used by cars and trucks coming from both ways. Many vehicles come around a bend and suddenly there's another car coming up the hill; they suddenly react, jerk left and now they are falling off a cliff (none of which have guard rails) 1,800ft to their death. Now the road has much less traffic, mainly tourists doing exactly what we are about to do. Around 300 tourists have fallen to their death since these downhill biking trips began. So lets begin!
What an adrenaline rush. At first, I stayed in the back of our group, taking it slow. Since we are using extremely good bicycles, I became comfortable very fast, as soon, I couldn't go fast enough as I blew past other people in our group. I was using every big rock as an opportunity to grab some air.
Eventually, we stopped for lunch. Not only is the company we are using notorious for being good, they are also notorious for being expensive. We quickly learned why. Our bikes are top notch bikes shipped in from Colorado, USA; our guide speaks English as his first language and is beyond knowledgeable; we are all given great food and Powerade; and we have more than one guide. As we were eating lunch, we saw many groups pass by. None of them had rear shocks; on such bumpy roads as these, our guide calls that "a night in prison." We then see this guy come flying down the road, our guide points our that thats the guide of another group. A large truck is now coming up the hill and the guide is long gone and the rest of the his group is making down. We are all waving telling them to slow down because they can't see this truck. One girl almost skids off the cliff! "Thats why you don't go with a bullsh** company," Marcus says. Whenever there was a bend and a truck was coming along, Marcus was off his bike, blowing his whistle, alerting us all to slow down. Not to mention, we had one guy in the middle of the group and the last guide bringing up the rear to make sure everyone was safe. I was more than happy to spend an extra $20 to ensure I can have a fun and safe time.
We then set off for the next leg of the trip. While it is absolutely amazing, it wears out the body FAST. If you sit down, your ass is going to get destroyed, so I stood up most of the time, killing my long legs. Since I am going so fast and the road is so bumpy, my hands are killing me, I feel like I have the hands of a 100 year old man. However, its going to take a lot more than that to slow me down.
The last part of the this segment was flat. Now I was starting to get passed. A combination of the altitude, sun, and the five pitchers we consumed the night before created a big "monkey" that was hanging on my back. We finally came to a resting point. Now we are at the last leg of the trip. It is a safer part of the trip, but more downhill! Oh yea!
Here's a clip of the last segment. I really wish I knew how fast I was going!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbmIyISSm0Q
Ahh! We are done. We ended in a small town, Yolosa, that survives off of tourists since the alternative road has been built. First thing we did was grab a beer and cheers to the fact that we are alive! After a round or two of drinks, we got in the bus and headed down to La Senda Verde Animal Refuge to have lunch/dinner and SHOWER! A hot body, a cold shower, followed by hot pasta and a cold beer; couldn't think of a better way to end Death Road!!
After we all finished up dinner, we got back in the bus and made the 3 hour ride back to La Paz. Once we got back to our hostel, I took another shower and then we headed up for our free beer. Had another good long night yucking it up with the Canadians as Gibbens completely regretted not going!
We went with a notoriously good company, Gravity Assisted, that is completely run by Westerners. When it comes to a day full of life or death scenarios, do you want to trust an Australian or a Bolivian? I think the answer's pretty easy.
We met up with our guide, Marcus, a great older guy who is from Australia. About 2 years ago, he sold all his belongings, packed a backpacked as set off to explore the world, indefinitely. He eventually came across Bolivia and did the Death Road circuit. The guide knew that Marcus had zero plans and offered him a job. He figured he would stay for about a week and save up some cash. That was 15 months ago.
We arrived in our bus at a lake to get all of our gear on and get prepared for the journey. The first bit is down a windy highway so that we can get used to our bikes and going downhill. Wow, it was a lot of fun to just not peddle and, like the name says, let "gravity assist" you! Our first stop was at a cliff that gave us a great view of the valley and a bus wreck!
Further down the road, we came across a US installed drug checkpoint. Because of the temperature, altitude, and latitude, La Paz is the largest producer of coca leaves (which is legal in South America), which can be turned into powered cocaine (which is illegal in South America). Over 1/3 of La Paz's annual production goes missing. While the US is just 5% of the world's population but consumes around 50% of the world's cocaine. This drug checkpoint was completely bogus, we just walked right through; no wonder 1/3 of their production goes missing.
Eventually we made our way to the bottom of the hill. Now its either power up the 8km hill to the Death Road, or get in the bus. At this altitude, everyone voted to pile in the bus!
So Yungas Road connects La Paz to Coroico. The road is about 35 miles and in 1995 was deemed the World's Most Dangerous Road. Before the alternative road was built, the road took an average of one life per day. The road is built of one way traffic, but used by cars and trucks coming from both ways. Many vehicles come around a bend and suddenly there's another car coming up the hill; they suddenly react, jerk left and now they are falling off a cliff (none of which have guard rails) 1,800ft to their death. Now the road has much less traffic, mainly tourists doing exactly what we are about to do. Around 300 tourists have fallen to their death since these downhill biking trips began. So lets begin!
What an adrenaline rush. At first, I stayed in the back of our group, taking it slow. Since we are using extremely good bicycles, I became comfortable very fast, as soon, I couldn't go fast enough as I blew past other people in our group. I was using every big rock as an opportunity to grab some air.
Eventually, we stopped for lunch. Not only is the company we are using notorious for being good, they are also notorious for being expensive. We quickly learned why. Our bikes are top notch bikes shipped in from Colorado, USA; our guide speaks English as his first language and is beyond knowledgeable; we are all given great food and Powerade; and we have more than one guide. As we were eating lunch, we saw many groups pass by. None of them had rear shocks; on such bumpy roads as these, our guide calls that "a night in prison." We then see this guy come flying down the road, our guide points our that thats the guide of another group. A large truck is now coming up the hill and the guide is long gone and the rest of the his group is making down. We are all waving telling them to slow down because they can't see this truck. One girl almost skids off the cliff! "Thats why you don't go with a bullsh** company," Marcus says. Whenever there was a bend and a truck was coming along, Marcus was off his bike, blowing his whistle, alerting us all to slow down. Not to mention, we had one guy in the middle of the group and the last guide bringing up the rear to make sure everyone was safe. I was more than happy to spend an extra $20 to ensure I can have a fun and safe time.
We then set off for the next leg of the trip. While it is absolutely amazing, it wears out the body FAST. If you sit down, your ass is going to get destroyed, so I stood up most of the time, killing my long legs. Since I am going so fast and the road is so bumpy, my hands are killing me, I feel like I have the hands of a 100 year old man. However, its going to take a lot more than that to slow me down.
The last part of the this segment was flat. Now I was starting to get passed. A combination of the altitude, sun, and the five pitchers we consumed the night before created a big "monkey" that was hanging on my back. We finally came to a resting point. Now we are at the last leg of the trip. It is a safer part of the trip, but more downhill! Oh yea!
Here's a clip of the last segment. I really wish I knew how fast I was going!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbmIyISSm0Q
Ahh! We are done. We ended in a small town, Yolosa, that survives off of tourists since the alternative road has been built. First thing we did was grab a beer and cheers to the fact that we are alive! After a round or two of drinks, we got in the bus and headed down to La Senda Verde Animal Refuge to have lunch/dinner and SHOWER! A hot body, a cold shower, followed by hot pasta and a cold beer; couldn't think of a better way to end Death Road!!
After we all finished up dinner, we got back in the bus and made the 3 hour ride back to La Paz. Once we got back to our hostel, I took another shower and then we headed up for our free beer. Had another good long night yucking it up with the Canadians as Gibbens completely regretted not going!
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