ari&andrew-aroundtheworld: Death Road.......

So, I might have mentioned in a blog many moons ago that I would catagorically NEVER EVER get on a bike EVER again! So how did I find myself at the top of a mountain about to shoot downhill, 64kms on the world's most dangerous road?? The answer is.....well, I'm still trying to figure that out. It probably had a lot to do with the fact that everyone else was doing it.....& no, I don't need to hear the whole "If everyone else jumped off a bridge....." scenario. I guess I figured that if everyone else can do it, why shouldn't I. This particular road has been named Death Road not only because it is considered the world's most dangerous road but also because many people have died driving along it. These days, there is a nice sealed alternative so there is no need for cars to drive down it anymore.....a minor fact that obviously alluded the half a dozen or so cars & vans that passed us along the way.

Photo: Here we go........

So I put my fear aside & signed up. We started off by riding about 20kms on the sealed rode before we hit the real stuff......dirt! Arrrggghhhh! By the time we hit the dirt, it had fairly started pissing down so it was a bit slippery. After a while though I actually came to enjoy the dirt road. In some spots the track was a car width wide with a sheer drop of a couple of kms down.....not that I looked at that, I was too busy trying to make sure I didn't fall off :)

Photo: About 2kms up on the the side of a mountain.......

Speaking of falling off, poor Charlotte managed to fall off on the sealed road, whilst travelling at about 30kms per hour. Nasty! She was relatively ok but that was her ride over. We all took great delight in checking out her bruises for the next month as they turned from blue to green to purple to yellow then to black.....pretty!! Plus she got the crash site named after her - Charlotte corner will be added to all the guide books I'm sure!

We stopped regularly for breaks, which in reality was just a chance for us slow ones in the back to catch up. The day continued like this until the final couple of kms. Now, it is important to remember that I had had almost nothing to eat in the past 5 days & the final stretch was on the flat. They tell me it was flat but I felt like I was cycling straight up the side of a mountain. I thought I was going to die....I just had no energy to keep peddling. Somehow I managed to make it, despite regular request from Andrew for me to get in the support vehicle. I was being a stubborn cow & there was no way I was getting in the van! Once I wobbled off the bike & sat down, the tour leader for the ride came over & asked if he could do anything....I must have looked like death. Once he found out that I had been sick he disappeared for a bit & came back with a packet of pills. Antibiotics that he had been taking for the previous week for exactly the same thing. The saddest part for him was that he was actually supposed to be trying out for the Bolivian National Downhill Mountain Bike squad for the next Olympics & he had been too sick to tryout.

Photo: River crossing :)

So after we all recovered for a bit, we headed (this time in the vans!) to our lunch spot. A little hotel with showers (cold), a pool & a massive buffet lunch. Then it was back in the van & back to the town of La Paz. While in La Paz we also went on a city tour. This time it wasn't on foot, as La Paz is massive, but we jumped on a massive coach & drove around the town jumping off at all the points of interest. Unfortunately it was a Monday so all the museums were closed & about half way through it started to hail. Not normal hail....not even hail the size of soccor balls like at home...no, hail like razor blades. We just had to run to the site, take a quick picture & run back to the safety of the bus. Not much fun really. It did fine up for long enough for us to venture out to the Valley of the Moons. A collection of strange rock formations that is basically being choked by the expanding city. A bit weird really!