29.11. - 10.10.10

La Paz & the World's Most Dangerous Road

Located high above sea level on an altitude of 3.660m above sea level, LA PAZ sits in a bowl surrounded by mountains. On a clear day, the imposing, snowy Mt. Illamani with its 6.402m looms in the background.

LA PAZ is the legislative capital of Bolivia, the largest city. The legal capital, home of the Supreme Court, is in SUCRE.

On my first day in La Paz I just did a bit of sightseeing and went from the "Plaza Murillo" via the "Plaza San Francisco" up to the "Witches Market". Late in the afternoon I decided to enquire about "THE WORLD'S MOST DANGEROURS ROAD" and went to two different tour operators. After both companies showed me their mountain bikes and photos of the previous tours I decided to go with the tour operator "VERTIGO".

Two weeks ago I told everybody that I won't spent "one Boliviano" for this trip but when I met my 62 year old Canadian friend Rolef who told me that HE did it and it was the highlight of his trip through Bolivia, I changed my mind.

So finally on Wednesday, 01.12.10 I was picked up in front of my hostel at 8.15pm by our tour guide JULIO from Bolivia. After we collected another 5 people from Germany, France and Canada we drove up to the top of the mountain to "La Cumbre" where we met the rest of the brave people who wanted to risk their live.

Julio introduced us to the other two Bolivian guides CHELLO and FELIX. Both of them would race down the hill with us while Chello would be in charge for taking the photos and Felix would be always in the back and make sure that everybody is ok.

First we got out gear, a full covered helmet, knee pads, elbow pads, rain trousers and orange vests so we were always visible to our three guides.

Then we got our bikes. We had about 10 minutes to get used to them and check the brakes and everything else. After everybody seemed to be familiar with his/her bike Julio gave us details about the 64km trip.

The road from La Paz to Coroiba is the most dangerous road in the world owing to how many people have fallen to their death from the narrow track carved into the mountain 600 metres high. So what was the aim of this? Mountainbike at the speed of lightening down the 64km road of course!!!!

It was absolutely amazing; I loved every knee-trembling exhilarating minute of it! We had chance to get the hang of our bikes on the smooth asphalted road before we reached TWMDR. I've never been so fast on a bike in my whole life, and all without peddling! When we reached TWMDR the road narrowed (just 3.2m wide) and was no longer smooth but bumpy and gritty.

I managed to stay on my bike all the way down, as did the other girls but one of the lads in our group hurtled of theirs, thankfully not over the edge but he got a massive fright and a few scratches . We must have cycled for about 4 or 5 hours until we reached the end, where we finished. It was in a little town where we took of our gear and relaxed with a deserved ice cold beer.

JULIO and CHELLO told us a bit more about TWMDR and about all accidents by mountain bike and buses. Around 15 cyclists have died doing the 64km trip (with a 3.600m vertical descent) and a lot of cyclist had nasty accidents on the gravel road. Puhh.....thank God they only told us this after we had finished the trip and I was glad to be alive!

From there we went to a restaurant with an attached swimming pool and while our buffet lunch was prepared for us we all jumped into the cold water and enjoyed some beers and "cuba libres". The buffet was huge and we all spooned it up as every one had a massive appetite.

At around 5pm we jumped on the bus for the three hour drive back up the road we had cycled down. We started off in high spirits after our adrenaline splurge and enjoying our bottles of cuba libre, but the mood dampened as our guide pointed out all the crosses we'd flown past on the way down marking where individuals and busloads of people had fallen to their death.

Thank God I have chosen a really good company and the whole time I felt very save. We always had a guide up front, one behind and the bus inching its way behind us. We would stop frequently to check on everyone and the guides would precisely explain the upcoming turns and what to watch out for.

However, it was a fantastic day and one of my highlights of my trip so far …and for sure a huge adrenaline boost!