"Death Road," La Paz to Choroico, Bolivia



The very top of the ¨Death Road¨

The ¨Death Road¨ roughly 8,000 lower than the first picture above

¨Death Road,¨ aka ¨The World´s Most Dangerous Road,¨ is one of the more popular tourist attractions out of La Paz for whatever odd reason. The road is about a 40-mile mostly-dirt road that starts outside of La Paz, twists and turns its way through a large canyon, descends a total of 11,000 feet, and ends near Choroico, a small hillside village in the Yungas region, on the way to the Amazon Basin. Between the guide´s Spaenglish and my own observations, it´s my understanding that this is the old road primarily used to haul resources like timber from the Yungas region to the more-populated La Paz area. In other words, huge trucks passing in the night on this road with frequent blind-turns and sheer-cliff drop offs…. hence the memorials alongside the road and its name.

But somewhat recently, the government undertook the outstanding endeavor of building a new road, leaving Death Road to us tourists. I can´t imagine many of us have added to the death toll. Despite the lack of any cars or trucks (besides our support minivans), we were outfitted in more protective gear than I´ve worn in my life including elbow pads, knees pads, special pants, helmet, biking gloves, etc. I´m not sure how knee pads would help anyone falling off of a cliff, but, regardless, you would have to be very stupid or very out of control to actually hurt yourself on the road.

The new road, which we drove back on after our expedition, was one of the most incredible feats of construction and engineering I´ve seen. It´s a remarkable work that runs along ridges, tunnels through mountains, and staves off massive landslides. For the effort and money the government put into this single road, they could have paved every other road in Bolivia.

The bike ride itself was equally incredible. The views were breathtaking. We started about 15,200 feet, freezing, with snow-capped peaks surrounding us. Over the next 6 hours, we descended through the canyon, through various small rivers, under large and small waterfalls, along (but not too close to) the cliff drop-offs for which the road is notorious. In total, we descended over 11,000 feet into the warm and humid tropics of Choroico.

The plan was to coast downhill to a hostel with a nice, cool swimming pool and a big lunch. Turned out , the last 10 minutes (still outfitted in my winter and protective gear) were straight up a muddy incline where small mosquito-like insects swarmed my legs, biting in such a way that instantly draws blood and itches for 5-7 days afterward. Chlaustrophobically warm, legs bleeding from bites, I made it to the hostel and the first thing I saw was… an empty swimming pool. That was a low point.  But a cool shower and large beer lifted my spirits, and, overall, it was a great day.