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Polaroid of the week: Hanging around on Bolivia’s Death Road

Polaroid of the week: Hanging around on Bolivia’s Death Road

Last Updated on May 31, 2022

polaroid of the week bolivia death road Most of the time I would consider myself a grown-up and responsible traveler. My crazy idea to book Jess and I on a mountain bike trip down the Camino de la muerte – the Death Road, in English – may not have been one of my most rational travel decisions.

The road was given the title of the most dangerous road in the world by the Inter-American Development Bank in 1995, thanks to the hundreds of cars that had disappeared over the steep cliffs all along the road. This loose gravel and dirt road is often only 3m (9 ft) wide and essentially a single-lane road with two-way traffic – with almost no guard rails at all.

Even though I knew about the dangers of the road, we kept hearing such positive things about this tour and I thought that the trip from the La Cumbre at 4,670 meters (15,320 ft) to Coroico at 900 meters (2,950 ft) – that’s a drop of over 12,000 ft over a distance of 64 kilometers – seemed like a great adventure.

There is relatively little traffic on this road as a new, paved one was constructed in 2006, which left this road (almost) entirely to us thrill-seeking cyclists. The big news is that we survived the trip without any major injuries or broken bones – though not entirely accident free – and we can’t wait to tell you the whole story here soon!

Cam

Friday 27th of December 2013

Hah! What a fun photo!

Dani

Saturday 28th of December 2013

Thanks, Cam! I thought our guide was insane for doing it but the photo sure turned out well ;-)

Rachel of Hippie in Heels

Friday 27th of December 2013

omgsh how scary! i've watched something about this road on tv! can't wait to read about how it worked out

Dani

Saturday 28th of December 2013

Rachel- this road definitely deserves its name! I was so happy that we made it down to the bottom without any major injuries & incidents :D