Bolivia’s Death Road (Yungas Road)
For many years this road was the only way into La Paz, Bolivia’s capital, from the north. It is a treacherously steep and very narrow unsealed road, with few passing places, cut into the side of a cliff. The drop offs are up to 600m – no room for mistakes. But plenty have made a mistake and paid for it. Before the road was closed to vehicular traffic in 2007, on average 300 people died per year. In July 1983, a bus fell from the Yungas Road into a canyon, killing more than one hundred passengers. In 1995, the Inter-American Development Bank dubbed it as the most dangerous road in the world.
Now it is a tourist attraction with companies offering cycle tours down the 68km road. But the danger has not gone away; at least 30 cyclists have died on the ride since 1998.
But that was not enough to deter Dave.
It was a long day. Dave set off from Big Bertha at 6am to get to the tour office by 7am from where we were picked up and transported to high above La Paz. Here we unloaded the bikes from the minibus and rode 20km downhill to the start of death road. After our safety briefing we then set out down the road at a careful pace. Suffice to say, Dave was the slowest by far in the group (but he was also twice the age of the eldest and three times the age of the youngest in the group!). There were plenty of rest, snack and photo stops, but by the time we reached the end of the road (at around 4pm) Dave was ready to call it a day! After a celebratory beer we were taken to a hotel for a swim, shower and meal before being bussed back to La Paz. Dave arrived back at Big Bertha at 9pm after an exhausting but thoroughly enjoyable day.
Looks like fun Dave!
Fun in a scary kind of way Linda!!
Oh no!!
I’ve got palpitations just thinking about it!!
I don’t know if you’re all brave, or completely mad😂😂
Completely mad!
A direct quote from the Torres del Paine, Patagonia leg goes
“He was quite proud his old legs still worked”
Needless to say, the ‘old legs’ story has long since been debunked – just consider the thousand and one hikes completed since -totalling tens of thousands of km!!
And now to cap it all, the 68km bike ride along the challenging and dangerous Yungas Road – doubly challenging as accompanied on the ride by much younger people!
Every reason presently to assign to the distant future any reference to ‘old legs’ as we marvel in awe at the adventures of the duo!!! And their generosity in sharing the same with us.
Ha Ha Felix. Nothing gets by you!