প্রকাশিত হয়েছে: 08.11.2017
The 'camino de la muerte', translated as 'Death Road', is considered the most dangerous road in the world. It is the only route that connects La Paz with the Yungas, the jungle area located north of the city. The Yungas Road records 200-300 deaths annually, mainly due to lack of safety measures and the poor condition of the road.
Naturally, our first thought was: 'We should definitely ride down this road on mountain bikes!'
And that's exactly what we did yesterday...
Located at an altitude of 4600 meters, the official start of the approximately 60 km long Death Road is marked by the barren, rocky landscape of the surrounding mountains. Here, the road is two-lane and paved, allowing for a comfortable and safe ride.
In the second section of the route, things start to get more dangerous. The asphalt turns into gravel and sand, and the generous 6-8 meters width narrows to an average of 2-3 meters. The 'camino de la muerte' winds its way down the open cliff in tight curves, descending into the valley.
Driving is further complicated by small waterfalls and fallen rocks along the way.
If you don't drive with concentration here, you'll put yourself in danger faster than you can blink.
As a result, there was a somewhat tense atmosphere most of the time in the second section. Our guides contributed to this by stopping us every two minutes to tell us the most spectacular accident stories that happened right where we were standing.
Still, I had a great time riding down into the valley and especially through the jungle. The view of the green valley made up for everything.
In the end, we all arrived safely and a little proud in Yolosa, after descending 1200 meters, where we ended the day with a lot of food and a refreshing swim in the pool.