We Survived The Death Road!
Trip Start
Jan 03, 2012
1
12
19
Trip End
Mar 31, 2012
La Paz, Bolivia
Monday, January 23, 2012
DEATH ROAD!!!! Many have died, we didn't....from 4700m -1200m it took us 6hrs to mountain bike 65km from snow to jungle; a great way to see just what Bolivia had to offer. One of the girls lost her bike over a cliff but our trusty tour guide retrieved it by quickly whipping out a harness and traversing down the valley to get it (this harness is most likely in the car ready for bodies!).
Loz was of course in front looking for that ultimate adrenaline rush and by the end of the day Han was also keeping her hands off those breaks and feeling the jungle air rushing past. We were fully sick! We rode around cliff faces on very narrow roads, under waterfalls and through rivers and not to mention how rough and rocky the road was to ride across. The endless crosses along the road to represent those that had lost their lives...scared the shit out of us...as we hoped and prayed we didn’t have the same fate. But lucky ducks we are...we made it to the finish line alive to tell the tail! This was without a doubt the ultimate adrenalin rush! Another for you to add to your to do lists. Just don’t tell your folks about it...until afterwards!
Loz then Zip lined it up whilst the rest kicked back and relaxed with beers as a celebratory drink! The 3 zip lines were......AMAZING! 1.5KM from one side of death valley to the other I can’t remember how high but it was bloody high! The views were a great way to finish the death road.
After a 14hr day we arrived back to our hotel to meet our new tour group. Although our tour is for 45 days from Lima to Rio...we have people joining and leaving along the way. So farewell to Fernando and a few of our tour friends...and hello One Pablow (Columbian) and Bone Marrow (Argentinean) our new tour guides, and a few extra people that have now joined the group. Looks like the next 7 days is set to be fun with these loose cannons!
In the morning Hannah went to visit San Pedro prison (for those of you that have read Marching Powder you’ll know all about this place!). It is the best book I have ever read! Basically it’s an incredibly corrupt prison where they use to do tours inside (you just had to bribe the police to let you in!)...but a girl on our tours sister got deported a few months ago for trying...as they have recently become extremely strict with tourists being inside. This didn’t stop our new crazy tour guide from trying to talk our way into the prison...one guard looked set to let us in...but we were shut down when another official came over and told us we would be deported if we got inside! So there was the end of that...but we did manage to see some prisoners being walked into the prison...and some women and children also taking all their supplies inside...as they live in the prison with their husbands who have been imprisoned. This prison is like no other in the world...and in fact I felt safer on the Death Road than I did near the prison! You have got to read the book to believe it!
Then we were off on a really shit train to arrive in Uyuni at 3 o’clock in the morning...ouch!
Amazon Woman & Galapagos Tortoise.
xx
Comments
Dendy! I am so fricken jealous you went to San Pedro! Wish you could have got in though that would have been amazing!!! Mind you I'm pleased you didn't get stuck in there or deported. I would have sent you marble choc to get you through the tough years! x
not sure I was more nervous about this ride, or the deportation for trying to get INTO a prison, or being arrested for giving the Border Guard the finger!!!