Bolivia - Action-Packed Days in La Paz

Mara walks along the walls of buildings in La Paz and speeds down the Death Road on her mountain bike. Unfortunately, this adventure ends for her in the hospital...

After spending just under a week in the Bolivian jungle near Rurrenabaque in Madidi National Park and the Pampas as part of the internship of a lifetime, I returned north to La Paz. Both the three days in the jungle and the boat tour through the Pampas were absolutely incredible and showed me a completely new side of Bolivia - still, I was eager to find out what La Paz has to offer. Shortly after my arrival in La Paz, I realized one thing about this city: It is loud, dirty, and colorful. All of life in La Paz unfolds on the streets, and I could have spent hours just wandering aimlessly through the streets. There's something to discover everywhere - it certainly won't be boring here.

When I found out that you can rappel down from one of the tallest buildings in La Paz, I immediately knew I couldn't miss out on it. My last adrenaline rush of this kind was back in December when I jumped from the Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas. Since that was almost three months ago, it was definitely time for another adventure like this. I had tried rappelling for the first time during a canyoning tour at a steep cliff of a waterfall in Da Lat, Vietnam. At Urban Rush Rappelling in La Paz, I would be descending the 50-meter wall of the Presidente Hotel.

The special part about this was that I had the opportunity to rappel forward looking down instead of the usual backwards, which made the whole experience even more exciting for me. After I convinced the guys from the Urban Rush team to let me rappel with my globe (the inflatable globe I always carry with me), I had to choose one of the ridiculous costumes after a thorough briefing. I chose the cow costume - if I'm going to be silly, I might as well go all the way. Shortly thereafter, I was hanging at a 90° angle to the wall of the skyscraper, bouncing toward the abyss. After the first three smaller hops, I felt like a ninja frog - despite the cow costume - trying out crazier jumps, but then the wall ended. Luckily, the package I booked included two descents, so now that I had the technique down, I was definitely ready to plunge into the depths again.

Wow - I never thought it would be this much fun. Personally, I enjoyed this even more than the jump in Vegas, as I could be much more active during the Urban Rush Rappelling instead of just passively flying through the air. Accordingly, it was much more exhausting than I ever could have imagined, and by the end, my legs were quite shaky. Just as I had gotten over the massive muscle soreness from my Machu Picchu hike, the next one was already oncoming - I suppose I will survive this one too.

Just a few hours later, I was off for my next adrenaline rush. The Yungas Road, known as the most dangerous road in the world, also referred to as Death Road or 'El Camino de la Muerte' in Spanish, is a single-lane gravel road that connects La Paz to Coroico. The approximately 65 km long road overcomes a staggering 3600 meters in elevation and winds in countless hairpin curves, close to the edge and often with no guardrails, through the mountains of Bolivia.

The road was built in the 1930s during wartime by Paraguayan prisoners of war. Construction proved to be extremely difficult, as the steep cliff walls of the Bolivian mountains presented a formidable barrier, causing workers to literally carve the roads out of the rocks in many places, which illustrates why this road is so dangerous. In 1995, the gravel road was officially declared the most dangerous road in the world, as until 2006 approximately 200 to 300 people died on it each year. Nowadays, the Yungas Road is hardly used as a connection road to La Paz, as a much less dangerous alternative paved bypass has been built, leading to a significant reduction in death tolls. The Death Road itself is now predominantly the destination for downhill mountain biking tours, but it is also quite popular among a few motorcyclists seeking thrills.

Of course, I couldn't miss out on such a downhill mountain biking tour. Early in the morning, we set off: After a thorough briefing, we were fully equipped with protectors, protective clothing, and helmets, and then hopped on our full-suspension mountain bikes to tackle the first paved part of the route. The tour began at the La Cumbre Pass at 4500 meters high, and I was excited from the first moment! Not only was I thrilled with the bike itself, as I discovered how easy it was to make small jumps with such a full-suspension beauty, but also by the breathtaking scenery we were riding through. Since the first part of the route posed no major challenge, we could simply let our bikes roll and enjoy the view, while all of us secretly wondered when the real Death Road would finally begin. It didn't take long - after an easy first three quarters of an hour, we finally reached the highest point of the actual Death Road. Gravel, tight curves, deep gorges, and still an impressive natural landscape stretched out before us.

After a final 'don't forget to push the brakes' from our guides, we were off. WOW, what a blast! Everyone in the group could fortunately set their own pace, so the slower ones took their time while those who went faster waited every 20 minutes for the others. At first, I tried to take it a bit easier to get used to my bike and the slippery gravel-mud surface, but over time I found myself using the brakes less and less, and I couldn't help letting out loud cheers in the curves. If downhill mountain biking weren't such an expensive hobby in the long run, I would probably have found a new passion for myself in Germany.

The Yungas Route was truly a dream: After every turn, such stunning landscapes unfolded that it was hard not to remain in awe. The terrain varied not only in scenery but also in texture. Large parts were made of rubble and gravel, mixed with some pretty big isolated boulders. Then came some sections that were muddier, significantly increasing the difficulty of the whole spectacle. We raced through some smaller streams and at times the route even went under waterfalls, ensuring that everyone got wet. What was particularly unsettling for me were the countless crosses that decorated the 'Route de la Muerte'. Each one represented one or even several victims. Of course, I was already aware before the tour that here year after year some people lost their lives. But seeing all these memorials with my own eyes was even more distressing.

I could hardly imagine that up until ten years ago, this road had a lot of traffic with numerous cars, buses, and even trucks regularly passing through. The road was generally so narrow that it only accounted for one vehicle at a time. If even our relatively narrow mountain bikes caused my heart to race at some points, how must it have been to pass through this route in a gigantic bus?

About 65 kilometers later and many elevation meters lower, we approached the endpoint of the Death Road near the beautiful, rainforest-surrounded town of Coroico, welcoming us with a pleasant subtropical climate at just about 1200 meters elevation. Just as I was nearing the end, I took a turn a little too fast, managed to recover, but shortly after my rear wheel slipped out, causing me to fall. A fortunate misfortune (at least I thought so at that time): I had some serious scrapes on my right forearm, and my left wrist, which I had used to cushion the fall almost completely, started to throb painfully - otherwise, I seemed to be uninjured. So I jumped back on my bike - still completely high on adrenaline - and rode the last three minutes to where the rest of the group was waiting for me. However, as the pain increased throughout the afternoon and evening, I had to go to the hospital in La Paz the next day, where my left hand was X-rayed. The doctors told me that I had a small fracture in my wrist and gave me a cast, which I would have to wear for about two weeks.

Shit happens - but I definitely do not regret having done the Death Road mountain biking tour. Although I am now significantly restricted and will have to take things a bit slower in the coming weeks, I wouldn't want to miss out on this amazing day on the Yungas Road (except perhaps for the outcome). Overall, I consider the downhill tour to be one of my absolute highlights in Bolivia and would recommend it to anyone who is into a bit of action, thrills, and beautiful mountain landscapes. In the next few days, I will definitely have to scale back a bit to properly heal my wrist. But don't worry - I won't be easily defeated, and you will still hear, as always, here on my blog, how things go for me. Right now, it may take me three times longer to write an article, but I can still type with one hand!