Sometimes I do slightly stupid things...

I'm guessing that at some point in your earthly existence you've all received that forward about the World's Most Dangerous Road, aka: Yungas Road, or Death Road in Bolivia, which contained pictures like this...

and this...

and this...

and this...

and this...

and this...

and this.  

The forward goes on to give you all sorts of scary facts about why this road is called The World's Most Dangerous Road, or Death Road.  Like the fact that in 1983 a bus ran off a cliff and killed over 100 people...all in one tragic accident.  Or the fact that an estimated 200-300 people died per year on the road from the time the road was built in the 1930's until 2006 when a new road was built that bypassed the worst of the old Yungas Road.  

The forward also lets you know that the road is only 10 feet wide in most places, has only four short guardrails along the entire 40 mile road, has several waterfalls running through the road, has 2000-3000+ foot cliffs (that's 6-10 times the height that I bungee jumped...yikes!), and often has rain, fog, and or dust creating visibility problems.  Oh, and it's a dirt/gravel road.

And, although in the rest of Bolivia people drive on the right side of the road, on this road you drive on the left side, so that the driver is always close to the edge of the cliff and can stick his head out the window and see exactly where his outside tire is in relation to the cliff.  

Anyway, I've received this forward several times since forwards became a means for sharing "useful" information with friends and family.  And I've always thought 'holy crappoly I never want to be anywhere near that road...if I go to Bolivia some day I will avoid that part of the country!'

But, in the end, what did I do instead?  I not only went on the road but I mountain biked the road...for 40 miles (fortunately about 90% of the ride was downhill).  

So, how did I go from shaking in my pants just from reading a forward about the Death Road to riding a bike down Death Road?  

I don't know.  

I guess sometimes I just do slightly stupid things.  

My friend Kate, as well as the 15 other people from our group that did the mountain biking somehow convinced me that I should do it too.  

And, I didn't want to miss out on potential fun.

And, I might only be in Bolivia once.

And, I know for sure that you only live once.  

And, I'd rather die living then live like I was already dead.  

Plus, the road has gotten significantly safer since the new Yungas road was completed in 2006 and most of the traffic was diverted to that new road.  Although on average they still lose a biker or two per year.  But, a biker already died in 2010 so I figured the odds were with me for living.  

And, I figure that as long as I don't have any offspring who are dependent on me or a husband who would miss me, that I may as well continue to do slightly stupid, but really fun things.  

Okay, my reasoning sounds kind of dumb when you write it all out like that, but it felt like really sound reasoning at the time.  

Anyway, the Yungas Road starts near La Paz at an altitude of over 15,000 feet.   

This is what the beginning of the road looks like.  At 15,000+ feet not much grows so it's pretty barren and desolate.  

One of the coolest things about the bike ride is that in 40 miles you descend over 11,000 feet.  That's a big enough change in altitude to sky-dive!  Yeah, I know, crazy.  

So, as you go from 15,000 feet and end up several hours later at around 4,000 feet above sea level, you get to see quite a change in terrain.  You start in the Altiplano region and end up in the Amazon jungle.  

This is a picture at the end of the road...it was very Jurassic Parkish.  

Oh, and lest you forget that what you are doing is slightly stupid, they have these...

all along the way to remind you.  

We biked down the road and then drove back up it to get to La Paz.  Our driver loved stopping on the way back to La Paz to show us different crosses or memorials along the road and tell us things like, "this is the area where two buses went off killing everyone inside," or "this memorial marks the place where some men from the opposing political party were thrown off the cliff several years ago," or "see where all the vegetation is crushed?...yeah, that's where a van of 16 people went off the cliff last week."  

But, despite the dangers of the road, it was a beautiful and amazing bike ride. 

And, here are a plethora of pictures to prove it...

This "curve ahead" sign is maybe the understatement of the century.  The road takes pretty much a 90 degree turn (or else you go off the cliff) right into a waterfall and all they give you is a little curvy road warning?  

Here we are at the top of one of the cliffs.  The cliff is so tall that you can't even capture it all in one picture...the bottom went way farther down than this picture shows.  

I just feel that the pictures don't do the sheer terror of the cliffs or the beauty of the scenery justice. 

Most of the girls who did the ride.  

We had to wear the bright orange safety jackets...not just so cars could see us but so they could find us if we flew off a cliff.  That's comforting.   

On the far right of the picture is one of the sharp curves we had to go around.  I think they call it "Postcard Point" or something because it's so picturesque.  But, photographers beware...some dude accidentally backed right off the cliff (and died) while he was taking a picture.  

Me, not backing off a cliff and not dying.  

Since cars on the road drive on the left side we were technically supposed bike on the left side too...mere inches away from the cliff (no exaggeration here). 

I, however, have heard of tons of people on bikes surviving getting hit by cars, but have never heard of anyone surviving biking off a 2000+ foot cliff.  So, I decided to take my chances with the cars and biked on the right side next to the mountain.  I think I made a wise choice.  

Just taking a break.  We had lots of breaks during the ride so we could unclench our hands from the bike breaks, stretch our legs, take some pictures, get instructions about the terrain ahead, and, just look around at the scenery.  

They encourage you to not look at the scenery while riding, but to stay focused on the road instead.  I guess people have ridden their bikes right off the cliff while peacefully observing a butterfly, bird, or beautiful vista.  

And, here we are at the bottom.  Not all 17 of our group made it to the end.  Nobody died or anything but one guy in our group did fly off his bike, face-plant, and end up with 45 stitches or something like that.  I'd show you a picture of him but my mom doesn't like blood, and, as my mom is both my mother and one of my best blog fans I will not gross her out this early in the morning.   

But, luckily for our face-planting friend, we had an ER doctor with us and he, as well as a couple other people, accompanied the face planter back to the hospital in La Paz where he got all stitched up.  

In conclusion, I'm really glad I did the Death Road ride but I hope no one I care about ever does.  


The end.