The World`s Most Dangerous Road

This is one of the things to do when you`re in La Paz, as I realised - almost everyone you meet on the backpacker trail around here has biked down the most dangerous road in the world. I hadn`t even been planning on doing it, thinking I would have no time to see the city of La Paz itself. But I succumbed. I didn`t go with Gravity Assisted, which is the most popular, expensive and safest company, because they don`t run on Mondays (and by the time I had decided to do the ride, Monday was the only day I could do it on - I couldn´t miss the Australia vs Brazil game on Sunday, and I wanted to leave La Paz on Tuesday). I ended up going with El Solario, a travel agency that also runs a hostel. They have a cool t-shirt (no, that`s not the only reason I chose them! But I did ask the guy wearing the t-shirt how he found the agency and he said it was great, so off I went and booked myself for Monday).

US$36 will cover everything, including the bike, helmet, gloves, thermal shorts, shirt, jacket, dust mask, breakfast, van ride from the hostel and back, snacks, water, lunch at the hotel in Coroico and a CD with all the photos the guide takes on the trip, plus the t-shirt. I paid extra for a bike with hydraulic brakes, which the guide suggested (probably thinking I was likely to veer off the edge if I had normal mechanical brakes).

I met my fellow bike riders at El Solario hostel early on Monday morning. There were only 4 of us (Gravity often has groups of up to 20, but they also have 2-3 guides). Fabian, the alpha-male from Germany, Peter, the tall and skinny, slightly alternative Austrian, and Edward, the responsible Frenchman. As we got to know each other over breakfast of bread, dulce de leche (how can you go wrong with a spread made of milk and sugar?), cheese toasties and tea, I began to worry that these guys would go caning down the road and I would be embarrassingly slow, or worse, I would feel pressured to keep up with them and end up seriously injuring myself (or worse).

The ¨death road¨ is so called because it´s a winding, dusty gravel ¨road¨, often no more than one car width wide, with a sheer drop on the left hand side. Many locals have died when the truck they are in has fallen off the edge. A few tourists have died too, but your chances of dying are decreased if you`re on a bike. I don`t have statistics but it was enough to glimpse that sheer drop as you fly by and sense your own fleeting mortality and wonder why you ever decided it was a good idea. I also met a few people who had done the bike ride and came back with battle scars; one girl from England fell some 15m down the edge (luckily on a part covered with vegetation) and ended up in hospital for 2 days. Another English guy had 2 falls, although the second one can`t be his fault, as his front wheel fell off. Someone fell and broke his nose, etc etc.

The bike ride actually begins at Cumbre, and the road is paved, one lane going in each direction, quite like a highway. This was the most fun for me, as you almost fly down the road but it´s all quite safe (if you can control your bike) as there´s no chance of skidding out. There´s an uphill part that goes on for maybe a kilometre, but at altitidue (you´re still somewhere between 3-4000m above sea level) it´s a struggle. As the only girl in the group, I kindly let all the guys go first, but ended up overtaking the Austrian as we puffed up the ¨hill¨ (he cheated in the end, by grabbing on to the back of our van and getting a lift the rest of the way!).

Then the death road begins. The road system changes; going downhill, you have to ride on the left-hand-side of the road - this is for safety, as in a car you would be able to see the edge a lot more clearly (left hand drives). We set off, pretty damn quickly, I thought. Our guide, Ben, was first, and the van follows slowly behind the last person. The sheer bumpiness of the road is enough to make your hands hurt from gripping on to the handles, and braking is even tougher, but essential as you just don´t want to miscalculate a corner and end up over the edge. If you happen to fall off in the wrong section, you would die - nothing to break your fall but rock some hundreds of metres below. As you´re whizzing away you glimpse crosses out of the corner of your eye, erected in memory of the many people who have died on the road. We stopped several times just to regroup, or to have snacks, or to wait for trucks to trundle past. The narrowest parts of the road are literally no wider than a car width; accidents used to happen when two vehicles going in opposite directions ran into each other - one vehicle would have to back up, and inevitably fall off the edge. They now have local people standing at various points on the road, holding up red or green signs to control traffic flow.

The scenery itself is stunning - the surrounding mountains are covered in green, and as you descend the climate becomes sub-tropical jungle. I´m convinced this valley is deeper than the Colca Canyon in Peru. The death road ends at a little town, not Coroico (the name eludes me right now), where we cheer each other and nurse a beer in our sore hands. I can´t say it was the most fun experience of my life (certainly, biking down the paved bit was pretty exciting), as most of the time I was too stressed out about taking the corners at a reasonable speed while not being too far behind the others, and concerned about whether I was braking too much and whether I should just let the bike fly a little... all the while hearing a little voice in my head saying ¨don´t think about the sheer drop on your left¨. But with not one single fall in our group (except our guide, but I think he was trying to show off), I was happy to have participated in the experience. We were driven to Hotel Don Quijote in nearby Coroico, where we had showers to wash off the dust and sweat, and were treated to a buffet lunch. Then we settled in the van for the long, bumpy ride back up the death road - at times more hairy then biking down. I think the feeling of weary relief and satisfaction was tangible in the air.

I'm only allowed 5 photos for the review, so I hope they give you some idea about the road and the bike ride itself. But for more info, check out Gravity´s website: www.gravitybolivia.com. I didn´t have any problems with El Solario but nothing really stood out about their service or safety.