Death Road an the last days in La Paz

One of the highlights in the area of La Paz is the Death road. There are numerous agencies in the city offering bicycle-tours on this road. For two of those agencies breakfast is offered in

Café Chuquiago , for B-Side and Pro Downhill.

I do not know how many tourists I fed before they went on the tour. Some came back after their trip and reported enthusiastically.

Already when I planed my cycling-trip in South America I read about the street and put it to me as one of the objectives, but of course not with an agency, but alone, or preferably with another cyclist.

So again I was rather lucky when on Saturday Pete came into the café, whom I had met in Chile before. Of course he also wanted to ride the Death Road and it was not long until we had planned to go on Monday. Actually, we wanted to get up at 6 o´clock, but we overslept and we had to serve an unbelievable number of breakfasts. Finally we managed to let loose until 8 clock.

At first we went out of the city and at 4600 m on the Cumbre. Early in the morning, slightly offset in time, the tour agencies take their tourists up the mountain. Since I am not one of the tourists, I wanted to go up on my bicycle. Given the late time, we decided at the end of the city to take the bus to the pass.

It was an adventure on its own, and I enjoyed the difference in travelling.

We arrived up here quite quickly and in one piece.

With the aid of Cristians handdrawn map.

we went off the bitumen to the Ghost road right away.

We went across gravel towards a fantastic quite valley.

Some landslides had blocked the road partially and we had to find a different path in the steep slope.

Further down the road conditions improved, but anyway, now the road was blocked by animals.

Then the fog came along, or a cloud, who knows the difference?

Unfortunately we couldn´t identify the ghost road anymore and therefore we went back on the bitumen.

This road leads to the mountain above and we enjoyed a wonderful view down into the valley.

Not far away and the Death road branched off. Until a few years ago it was the only road from La Paz to Coroico, and the name · Death Road was justified. Since the new road was built there are almost only cyclists using the road (about 150 per day), and less deadly accidents happen than on other roads. Pete has more written about it on his Blog .

Nevertheless the landscape still is amazing.

Unbelievable how the street was built into the steep slope.

The road itself is not to steep, it is a track indeed, but it is no diffcult riding if you´re not getting too close to the edge.

Probably the potentially rockfall from above is more dangerous.

A helmet would be useless in such a case!

Some crosses at the side of the road show that there have been fatalities in 2005.

It´s scary to imagine a car coming from the front with such curves in front of us.

But there are no cars there anyway driving today.

We passed along high cliffs, under waterfalls

But I prefered to ride on the inside of the road instead of the slippery street shoulder.

The lower we came the warmer it became and slowly we felt we arrived in the tropics, easily to recognize with all the plants, butterflies and animals.

It was so warm that it was easy going crossing the creeks.

Everything dried up immediately.

In Yolossa, at 1155 m, we finally arrived at the bottom of the valley.

Meanwhile I ask myself if the Coca-Cola-Company substitutes all those little villages because they are allowed these giant advertisments. You see them here quite often.

For us it meant that we had to ride back up the mountain for 8 km over the worst cobstone-road.

With Pete, it was very entertaining, and time went by relatively quickly. We knew that Coroico is a tourist haunt, and we could expect good food.

When we arrived in Coroico, we had enough of the cobblestones and went straight to the next, cheapest Residenzia and then to dinner. Unfortunately, I noticed the many mosquito bites until the next day, the first since I'm in South America.

Pete did´nt like the idea to go down cobblestones again and wanted to take the bus from Coroico. I was not really matter, my forearms were again so affected that I agreed to the bus.

So we still had the whole morning of sightseeing in Coroico. Really a nice little village, even in the clouds you partly could guess what beauty is hidden behind it. The many small roads offer many opportunities for mountain biking. Therefore, a couple of tour operators have also settled here.

Then we went squeezed into a minibus and went nearly 3000 meters altitude up to the Cumbre,with the bikes tied on the roof. The vehicle had a breakdown and for a moment we thought whether we should continue with the bike. As we noted, however, that on the the next 15 km we had to climb up 1,500 meters, so we decided to wait until the bus was running again, which no longer was a long time. Happy we were when we were finally up again released into freedom again..

For 26km we went down to La Paz on a very good road.

At one of the checkpoints some eateries were situated and we had the best chicken ever served with potatoes.

Even when the tour wasn´t too strenous it stimulated our appetite.

Soon we arrived back in La Paz and the café had me again. Luisa wondered if I could be there on the weekend to help her because Cristian was not there. Of course I said yes because I did not think that my credit card would arrive by then.

Oh wonder, on Wednesday afternoon, a monitoring call concluded at the German Embassy, I received the happy news that my credit-card had actually arrived in the morning. What a joy, but I still had promised to be here at the weekend, so I postponed my departure date to Monday 26 April.

I needed this time to organize some things like getting my bike done, buying Souvenirs and sending them home etc.

As I had stated already several times before, there is a great similarity between the Bolivians and Mongols. When I saw this statue

which reminded me of Dschinghis Khaan I decided that threr definitely is an affinty.

I enjoyed the local markets

where thee local people recognized me and they already knew what I wanted and what I liked and I could buy everything for “non-tourist-conditions�.

On Monday the 26th April, I left the city after more than 3 weeks, but I promised that I would come back. There are still so many roads and trails to explore here, but Iwould need a real mountain bike. For this time,after the tens of thousands of kilometers on the bike for me the Café a far more interesting experience. Thanks again to Cristian and Luisa.

In and around La Paz

Now I'm about two weeks in La Paz, the time flies by. Most of the time I spend in the café, there are always things to do and there are usually interesting people around

There have been elections on Easter Sunday. Apparently this means that during daytime it´s not allowed to sell alcohol or drive a car. All other cafes were apparently closed, for in Chuquiago all hell broke loose. For me it was like jumping into cold water. Except me Francois, a cyclist from France and his girlfriend Elli from Spain were there. That day I learned a lot, especially that there is no “right” or “wrong”, but only a “different” and that it is the best if I do it the way I would like to have it. Here in Bolivia everybody is used to wait and most people are very broadminded.


Only towards the late afternoon I could ride on the empty streets to my friend Caroline, who fortunately also had a washing machine and where I took the opportunity to stock up with German and English literature.




It is also fun to discover the endless markets.

You never now where the first market ends and the next one begins.


Especially on the weekend more and more women arrive with their tomatoes and bananas and the road is closed for traffic.




Cristian not only operates the Bike-Café, but also is President of the bike-club of La Paz. There was a downhill-race organized for the 11.April, beginning in Chacaltaya, the highest Ski-area of the world, down to La Paz. Because of the global warming the whole glacier is molten, and there is no Ski-running possible anymore.


On Thursday before the race Cristian had to check the track with his 4WD and to complete all the markings. So I had the pleasure to test the course with my bike.


We traveled up backcountry roads until the top of the mountain.

The landscape was absolutely stunning. Many small lakes,

With a view of Illimani, 6438 above sea level the second highest mountain in Bolivia.

It was very astonishing to see how many lamas survived at this altitude.

In parts the track was so narrow and hard to recognise at all and I wouldn´t believe that there was space enough for 4 wheels.

2 other Bolovian bikers were accompanying me, 1 official, a driver and of course Cristian.
 

The light on this altitude is terrific.

Finally we reached our starting point at the height of 5183 m.a.s.l. I´ve never been up so high. It was a weird feeling, a bit dizzy. You shouldn´t worry about high-altitude-sickness. Anyway I was glad that I just had to ride downhill.

Just in time when we arrived some clouds appeared and it began to snow, it was very cold, and we started to fix our bikes.

And we made our way downwards on gravel

With a fantastic view of the surrounding mountains.

The track was marked nearly completely for the race on the following sunday.

From above we catched a glimpse of the city of La Paz, built in slopes and cliffs.

At the end of our tour there was a single trail until the finish line.

Back on the main road we quickly arrived at the cafe. Although we only rode downhill I was really exhausted. Before the tour I refused a bike with a good suspension offered by Cristian because I didn´t want to do it without my brakes. In the evening my forearm hurt badly.

On Sunday morning, the day of the big race, we first delivered Elli and Francois to El Alto. After 3 months in La Paz they really wanted to go on. Let´s see for how long I will stay here.

Cristian took the opportunity to explore the area to discover some new mountain bike tracks.

Sometimes I ask myself how someone can live in these slopes and cliffs.

All streets will be washed away by the next landslide.

But obviously there are no earthquakes at all.

And above all the Illimani is enthroned.

 

Afterwards Cristian drove up the Chacaltaya and I went back to the Café, because Sundays is the busiest day.

Not until late afternoon I rode with my bike up to El Alto to the finish line to welcome the winners of the downhill race.

The winner was two times faster than us on the previous day.

In the beautiful light of dusk I headed down to the café in La Paz


The next week I have spent almost only in the café. For me, it was a fantastic variety. It is rarely so busy that you can no longer talk to the guests. On my recent trip I saw so many places, churches and museums that I found the café more exciting.


Only Cristian and Luisa wanted me to sightsee in La Paz. They took me with them wherever they went. One day I viwwent to a Bossa Nova concert with music that I am not familiar with, but of course, fits much better here in the Bolivian culture. It was then totally fantastic.




On Saturday I decided to ride to the ”moon valley, ”Valle de la luna”. I have been there with Luisa before, but I wanted to go back with my bike and a camera. Because I went to the southern part of La Paz anyway because of a students-bike-race I took the opportunity to go there. The southern part of the city is situated 400 m lower than the city centre.

It was unique again. Every time I am astonished how well riding the bike works after such a long break.

Imagine a landscape on the moon only with pointed jags.

It is amazing that plants can survive in such a rugged landscape.

When I arrived back to the cafe, I recognized a familiar face. At first I thought it was a guest who had been here before, for now I know a lot of faces. But then he said we met in La Serena, Chile, before. It was immediately clear to me who he was, a bike rider form the UK., and he came as summoned.

On Monday, I wanted to ride the · Camino de La Morte ¨, the death road, still hoping that someone came along with me. A guided tour was inconsiderable. Almost everyone, whether cyclists or not, makes this tour if he is in La Paz. Peter wanted to ride it too, so we decided to start together on Monday, 19:02.

On Sunday I was invited back to Caroline, also with many other Germans. Amazing to see how many Germans remained here already. Very understandable. My plan is still to go further, if I receive my credit card.