Kasia and the death road - la ruta de la muerte - Bolivia (part 1)
In 2015 I was traveling in Bolivia.
Bolivia (named after Simón Bolívar, a leader in the Spanish American wars of independence) is one of South America’s most interesting regions if we take its size into consideration. Unfortunately it is still omitted by many tourists for being too dangerous or less appealing than neighbouring Peru.
When I arrived to La Paz, one of 2! capitals of this amazing country (Bolivia has its constitutionally recognized capital in Sucre, while La Paz is the seat of government), I knew I wanted to ride the so-called death road on a bicycle.
So what exactly “the death road” is?
The Yungas road is winding but picturesque. During 69 km one experience Cordillera Oriental Mountains, large precipices and the Amazonian rain-forest at its end.
The Yungas Road was built in the 1930s using, as a workforce, prisoners from Paraguayan war.
Since its construction the death road was the only connection between La Paz and the Yungas region. Unfortunately the death rate was so high that it started to be measured. A consequence? In 1995 the Inter-American Development Bank described the road as “The World’s Most Dangerous Road”.
What makes this particular road so dangerous?
There are several important reasons why the Yungas Road is called “la ruta de la muerte”. It is very winding. In general i.e. in most parts, it has one track. And did I mention about cliffs of 900 m hight with no guardrails? If it rains (and the raining season lasts from November to march!) the road turns into a mud. If it’s sunny, one has to pay attention to rockfalls and road dust because it quickly limits visibility.
One of the local road rules specifies that the downhill driver never has the right of way and must move to the outer edge of the road. This forces the faster downhill vehicle to stop so that passing can be negotiated safely. Unlike the rest of Bolivia, vehicles are required to drive on the left side of the road to give the driver a better view of the vehicle's outside wheel and making passing safer.
source
Although its modernisation ended in 2009, the road could be easily called "a graveyard”, with a disturbing number of crosses along the way. each cross is a mark of where someone or a group of people (unfortunately more often the latter) died falling into precipice. And the numbers are frightening - between 200 and 300 people lost their lives every year! This is really a sad part of Bolivian modern history.
As a result of the modernisation’s works an alternative road was opened for cars and busses, replacing the most dangerous part of original Yungas Road. Nevertheless, the death road remained open. Nowadays it is mostly used by many companies who organise the death rode experience for tourists.
the death road and “Top Gear”
I highly recommend to watch “Bolivia special”, one of the episodes of the great (in my humble opinion ;)) BBC shows “Top Gear” (series 14, Episode 6 to be exact ;)).
During this 76-minute episode Jeremy Clarkson, and the rest of the boys are driving across Bolivia with cars bought locally in Bolivia.
The part recorded at the “death road” will surely give you chills. :)