JG: Been several days since the last post as we've been traveling within the intestines of Bolivia. About a week ago, we mountain biked the infamous Death Road, a 5-hour 70km stretch from La Paz to Coroico, spanning elevations of 4,700m down to 1,200m by the end of it. We finished the day with a 1.5km, 3-prong zip line over Coroico, reaching speeds of 70-80 km/hr. The road is a little less treacherous these days (traveler fatalities in the recent past have numbered a couple hundred per year) as there are a number of tour operators organizing treks along the road but it was still a pretty wild ride, and the terrain was challenging enough (one girl in our group even flipped her bike and broke her wrist in the process). It's paved about a quarter of the way at the outset, then it's all rocky until the end, and in some spots the road is only a couple meters wide.
Back to La Paz afterwards for a night before our overnight bus and salt flat tour south near Uyuni (subsequent post).
SS: Starting at the top, in the clouds, the cold and foggy weather add to the challenge of this road. We were wrapped up in thin snow pants, windproof jackets and gloves starting to wind down the treacherous road passing almost all vehicles around us. By the end it was swimsuit conditions with beers and mass bottles of Cuba Libre to celebrate. The views are spectacular but a must to pull over to check them out as the road sucks in all of your concentration just to stay upright....
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