For those of you following my travel blog. You have already seen the first part of this post. Because of too much text, photos, and videos, this time I decided to split it into two parts. So in case you missed it, go back and read the first part, but if you have been patiently waiting already, I will no longer hold back.
Enjoy the ride, go ahead and read all about our next stops. 😎
6. The Devils Trail
The longer we rode the bike the better we all felt. We had a good feeling about the bike and the street and got used to many things. It got more and more difficult but we were all warmed up and of course with our guide on the side always knew what to do.
The Devil's Trail is a part of the road where you have a lot of curves, even 180-degree ones. The climate was very warm now so we started to sweat and also our hands started to get a little bit tired from all the breaking. I was so happy to have gloves on - without them, I would have had blisters on my hands already for sure.
The road here was very on the edge. It was the first part where we actually could look down to our left while riding the bike - before you could imagine the height but not really see it because of the many plants... here the vegetation was changing and you could see everything. Some of us were happy to have some clouds around, so they didn't have to look at it all the time 😅
7. Postcard Corner
I guess this part is the most known - at least from pictures - of the whole road. Here all the agencies made a stop with their group to take pictures. It was a long curve with space right on the edge, so you could sit down and take a picture with a stunning background.
Since we were already in photo session mode here, we did some more individual pictures with just us and our bike. This edge just looked super dangerous. If you are afraid of heights, this spot is your final enemy.
8. SanJuan Waterfalls
With that foto stop behind us and the hands already hurting some of us started to get tired. So our guide decided to take another break at the next stop to recharge batteries just before we would pass the last and and the same time most dangerous part of the road: the San Juan waterfall.
We stopped enjoying the view looking right at it and the van parked just next to us. We all got snacks and water to get back some strength and we had the opportunity to change clothes once again, as the climate was tropical now. The clouds had been coming back and all of a sudden it was also starting to rain.. - Great I thought. Now we are at the most dangerous part, hands are hurting, everyone is tired already and it starts to rain, so streets where even more slippery, and visibility is low also. - I started to get nervous once again.
When we were all ready we jumped on the bikes again and started riding it downhill. Passing the waterfall was quite wet, but amazing! - What a great feeling to pass by it! It was really loud and I could feel the water splash down next to me.
But I didn´t have much time to watch. The road was not that easy to drive as it was very slippery and a lot of gravel was on it. Almost no chance to break in a save way - so I got faster and faster. I couldn´t see much as my sunglasses were covered in water. I tried to wipe it away and took the road as well as possible.
There was one short moment where I was really scared because I was sooo fast and the curve was coming. - I couldn't break because of the gravel. Of course, right at that time, we passed another cross.. (which means someone had died just there), not really helping in a moment like that 😅
So I went around the curve without breaking and was happy to see that the road went a little bit up again and there was some good part to slow down. - My heart was beating fast and I was breathing deeply.. but I was sooo relieved to be on the other side.
9. Cerro Rojo
After we had passed the waterfall the road we all stopped and our guide gave us once again more instructions for the next part and told us another spooky story about the place including how many people died here.
From that part on it was not that steep anymore, which meant we would need some strengths to go up sometimes or straight forward. - Less breaking more riding. The weather was now tropical and the vegetation had changed once more.
10. River Crossing
The last part was pretty exhausting. We had been riding the bike for more than 4 hours now and here it was not that much going downhill anymore. Also, a lot of waterfalls and rivers were crossing the street, which we had to cross by bike. - I had never crossed a river by bike before - a whole new experience 😅
I learned fast that you don't want to press the pedal while crossing it if possible, or your shoes will get wet as the water was sometimes pretty high.
After a while, we started to be back in civilization. Several villages were lying on the foot of this trail right between the rivers. So we crossed them. I could feel how my energy was getting low and I was fighting with my muscles. My hands were hurting and I was sweating a lot now with this tropical climate. - I was happy to be almost at the end of the trail.
11. Yolosa
When we arrived at Yolosa we almost did it. I opened my jacket at the next stop to get some fresh air on my body and we took another group picture. Our guide informed the restaurant, that we would arrive now and we knew now it was just a matter of time.. the last part was only 10 minutes riding through more villages, crossing bridges, and riding along the wild tropical forest until we finally arrived at the Animal refugee.
12. La Senda Verde Animal Refuge
Once we got to the entrance we left our bikes outside at the van and crossed the bridge to the refugee. - only one person at a time so the bridge wouldn´t break down.
This refuge was founded many years ago to stop animal trafficking and help hurt ones recover. Locals and tourists around bring them to the refugee to give them a new home or to recover and go out into the wild again. Mostly Volunteers are helping to take care of all those animals and organizations like Gravity are funding the place. - When we arrived we got an ice-cold beer while learning about the history of the refuge.
Afterwards, we got a little tour. The animals are in a big area almost free walking around. You can only see them if they want to. The fence was mostly to keep us safe - felt more like we were in a cage 😅. There we were offered toilets and showers before we would go to the restaurant were we got something to eat.
After everyone showered and we had a great late lunch we celebrated ourselves and finally got the t-shirt as a prize for surviving the death road all healthy. 😎😅 - What a milestone! We were so glad that we had finally made it and that it was such a great adventure! - Here at 3500 meters lower than our beginning point it was a very warm, humid rainforest.
If you want to get more info about the refuge go ahead and check it out:
https://sendaverde.org/
We talked with the others about the road and the experience and exchanged pictures. Everyone agreed that it was great on our tour that everyone was able to go at their own pace, no one was rushed and no one was slowed down.
The breaks every five to twenty minutes, depending on the section, were great to come together again. Our provider also took a lot of photos, for which we also made stops.
The landscape and the views are simply amazing: you look down into the huge green canyon, drive through waterfalls, and notice how it gets hotter and hotter over time. It was really special that while there is still an icy wind blowing at the starting point and a jacket is definitely advisable, you ride your mountain bike through every climate zone in South America until you arrive in the humid tropical rainforest.
So a very special tour on a great day! - It was also the first tour where I regretted not having a go-pro. - I only could take videos at the stops, but maybe it would be very interesting for you to hear what kind of instructions we got and which histories we heard - so feel free to check out also the video of our second part of the trip:
To give you an idea of what it is like to ride the road yourself I found a video of one guy doing the trip with gravity, who had actually brought a go pro:
I hope you enjoyed the adventure just like we did!
Cheers,
Liz