Riding on the Death Road of Bolivia

I have a bicycle which I use only in my neighbourhood. I am also a person who has some degree of fear of heights. Not a great qualifications to go on a 64 km bike ride on the most dangerous road. So, it was very surprising when I decided to ride down the death road of Bolivia.

 

Death Road was not in my original plan. I had kept two days in La Paz without having any specific plans. As the date of the trip came closer, I realised that I do not need two days to roam in La Paz. I am not a big fan of sightseeing in cities and would prefer more nature than city. I started reading more stories about Death Road and I was convinced that I could make it. When I got the Bolivia visa and having acclimatised well in Cusco, I decided to go for the death road and booked the tour.

About Death Road

This road built in 1930 by Paraguayan war prisoners linking the city of La Paz and Yungus region in Bolivia. With steep slopes, narrow lane and no guardrails, it was dangerous. Since this was the only route connecting La Paz to the Amazon area, the traffic was quite high. In 1990’s this road became notoriously known as death road due to several deaths. About 200-300 deaths per year were reported on this road leading to the name of “Death Road”.

It is safe to ride today?

Things are changed today and the number of deaths have been dramatically reduced to single digits per year. This was because of the following reasons.
An alternate modern road was built in 2006 which took the traffic away from this road.
Now it is only cyclists who ride on this road.

Today, several tour operators organise the riding trips on death road.

Things to consider before riding on death road

Though Death Road is quite safe today, it is very important to understand few points before undertaking this journey.

• La Paz is at 3700 meters above sea level. Acclimatise well before doing any adventurous activity. Respect altitude.
• Concentrate on the road. If you are scared, do not hesitate to get out of your bike. Even today the guard rails are absent and chances of falling down are very real. But that can happen only due to few reasons – lack of concentration, lack of control over vehicle and mechanical failures on bike (Ex: Brake fail).
• For the last point, it is important to consider an operator who has good reputation on safety. Do not look at only the cost. I went with Vertigo Biking. Some of the reliable operators are:
  • Gravity Bolivia
  • Altitude Adventures
  • Barracuda Biking
  • Vertigo Biking

My experience

There were four people on the tour that day. Apart from me there were three ladies, two from Spain and one from USA. We first had to drive to the starting point of the biking tour which was about an hour from La Paz and situated at the height of about 4900 meters. We were given the bikes, helmet, Jackets and pants, Knee pads and elbow pads. It was a good time to spend time getting used to the bike. The bikes were of solid quality with strong brakes. The guide explained us the safety tips and the way to drive. He would be leading us from the front and van would be behind the last bike.

Start of the ride

The first 30 km of ride was on asphalted road. It was a busy highway and we had to ride along with other vehicles on the road. It was a good opportunity to get used to the bike and the road. The drive was mostly downhill and all we had to do was to apply brakes to control speed. It was amazing to overtake the 18 wheel trucks on bike with ease. There were photo stops all along the way. In the meantime, one lady from our group felt that it was not her cup of tea and decided to come in the van.

 

We rode pretty fast on this stretch. The next stretch was uphill and and was covered on the van. Within few minutes, we were at the start of the “real” death road where asphalted road ended and the dirt track started. The ride would be 34 km and it was expected to take 3 hours to complete.

On “real” death road

The road passing through the hills indeed looked scary. There was one more rule that added to the challenge. While Bolivia follows the right side driving, it was opposite on the death road. It meant that we had to ride next to the cliff!! It was because for a driver on a vehicle sitting on the left side, he could get a clear view on the “space” between the vehicle and the cliff!! As expected, none of us liked the rule to ride next to the cliff!!

 

I was cautious on the initial stretch but I gained confidence as I continued further. There were rough patches that need to be handled. But it was not difficult. As mentioned above, as long as you are in control of the vehicle there was no chance of falling down.

 

While the road was dominated by bikers, there were some cars that came on this stretch as few adventure seekers preferred to drive on this road. I saw that there were also very careful on the road. We did not face any scary moment with those vehicles. Most of the stretch was downhill.

 

There were memorials all along the route indicating the dangerous nature of the route. One place involved an accident between two buses with both vehicles ending up down in the valley. There were no survivors. It was a reminder of the deadly past.

From high altitude to tropical

As we lost altitude, the temperature rose and we started removing the layers. At one point we had to go down under a waterfall (San Juan waterfall).

 

The last hour of riding was bit difficult. It was midday and the weather had turned tropical. The road was also bit rough. But at the end we successfully completed and joined the highway!! We had indeed taken around three hours to complete the stretch.

Post ride, we went to a resort for lunch. Options were available to take shower or jump into the pool. The return journey to La Paz took around 3 hours.

Last words

Death road is not really deadly today and is more of an adventurous activity and fun. If you are in La Paz, go ahead and have an experience on the Death Road. Just take the precautions I mentioned in this post.