Rygsækrejsen 2015-2016: Death road, Bolivia

Pick up from the hotel this morning was at 7 AM - 7:20 AM so we were ready for our Death Road experience at 7. Malene went out in the street to find some breakfast and came back with some rather dry bread. Still no pick up. Eventually our guide picked us up, walked us to a mini bus and then we said hello to the two other participants in our group - a British couple, slightly younger than us, also travelling south america for some months.

The first part of the trip was transit - out of La Paz going uphill to the mountain pass of El Choro. From there the plan was to bike - downhill. We had breakfast - tea and cookies - and then spent some time getting all the gear on. Safety was really an issue our guide took seriously, full face helmet, jacket, pants, gloves and elbow and knee armour. We looked more like somebody who were going in a race car than on a bike. Then a short briefing on the route, where to pay attention, remember to keep distance - and we were on our way down. Two hands on the brakes to control the speed, trying to keep a safe distance and once in a while admire the impressive mountain landscape around us. Like in really, really impressive. We had been told not to do any pictures with our own cameras on the way down so our guide did the pictures on his camera.

After some 20 kilometres we had a short break. Everything ok? YES ! Then we continued some 20 kilometres more, had a short stop to go around a car tunnel before having the first morning break with a bit of food and drinks at the check point where we also had to pay entry fee to the rest of the road. We saw many other groups of bikers all wearing the same outfit. We did the next 10 kilometres by car since the road levelled out a bit. So in order to speed up the trip we were forwarded like cargo to the place where the real "death road" begins. The cool part about the first part of the downhill section was how fast the landscape changed from very high mountains at the starting point around 4700 meters to now where all the hillsides looked green, the temperature had come up and the next section to a us Europeans at least looked like jungle on the hillsides.

A few instructions from our guide about how to behave on a bike on a gravel road and we were off. Narrow road, gravel, big drop off to the right and the left. This felt better but on the other hand also hard to imagine going here on car, bus or truck and having to negotiate oncoming traffic. It was the "death road" but now it was more the tourist road with other groups of young bikers going downhill.

We spent the better part of the next two hours going down hill, doing photo stops and admiring the landscape. The temperature increasing as well as the humidity. At one stop where the road levelled out for a bit our guide let us take the big jacket and pants off and then biking was really fun again. The last stretch of the road was a bit less maintained with more loose gravel and more potholes but we made it to the end, did photos, got the t-shirt and were driven 10 minutes into the nearby village where there was buffet, showers and a pool we could use. How great. Lying at the pool Malene noted that it was the first time at all on our trip that we had been pool side. 6½ months without having been at a place with a outdoor pool.

This was perfect. 30 degrees, warm and humid. We hung out for a hour before the trip home on the "new road" being able to see what we just made it down on. After negotiating La Paz rush hour traffic we got dropped off at the hotel, rested a bit and then went out for a bit of Mexican food for dinner. A bit tired from the trip today.

Compared to other bike tours on this trip our "death road" experience was definitely worth the money however the bike trip we did in Atacama on our own going into Moon Valley and back was a better experience in terms of enjoying the landscape at our own pace - and of course the KVR trail is also a favorite forever.

Oh, yeah. The pictures from our guide was included in the price on the trip. So we got the - on a CD?!??!