La Paz is fun but it is a big busy place after the gentle pace of the jungle. (Other than the mozzie speed which is ludicrously high in the jungle!) However it is just the place to organise adventures from. In this case a cycle down the Death Road.
The road travels from La Paz, accross the Cordillas Real mountain range and down to Coroico, a distance of about 70km and a height drop of just over 3000m. (4700m to 600m) The road was built in the 1930s by Paraguayan prisoners of war who, I´m sure, were getting their own back on the Bolivians by building a very dangerous road. It has been averaging about 100 deaths each year until the last couple of years when a new road has opened.
Nowadays, there is very little traffic on the road but hundreds of cyclists which we joined for the day. Truely amazing views, from the dry tops of the Altiplano then plunging through the cloud forests and into the tropical jungles at Corioco, all the way with the breaks firmly on and our bodies being shaken on the rough track. One thing to remember when speeding round the corners is never to look down and to the left where drops of 1000m or more are looming.
On arrival at Corioco we relax with a buffet lunch and a frolic in the pool before rejoining the bus to go back to La Paz. It turns out that Corioco is having a festival that day so the nice new safe road is considered to be the very dangerous road as all sorts of drunk drivers are heading to Corioco for the party. This means that we go back up the death road in the van, actually more scary than cycling down it.
Don´t worry though, the driver was fine and we made it back to La Paz safely. Copacabana tomorrow for some time relaxing by the shores of Lake Titikaka and checking out Inca ruins.
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